Online Group Exhibition - "Reflections” January 2022
Analog Forever Magazine is pleased to showcase 58 images in this month’s online exhibition, entitled “Reflections,” curated by fine art photographer and copy editor and contributor for Analog Forever Magazine, Lisa Toboz!
Lisa had this to say about this month’s exhibition:
Reflection images are classic photographic tropes, and it’s a challenge to come up with new visions of ourselves and the world around us in creative, unusual ways. The 58 images I chose from 229 (!) submissions demonstrate the dichotomy of distortion and representation: taking the outdoors indoors; how we see ourselves versus how others see us, broken or whole; and portals to other worlds that exist in nature. It’s inspiring how these photographers use reflections as a composition tool, working with their environments to piece together seemingly opposing subjects like collaging with their cameras. It is the closest viewers can see the photographer’s mind in action as they make sense of the subject looking back at them; what emerges is not what it appears to be, the truth coming to the surface through ingenuity.
Among these gorgeous works, I was especially taken by Yentl Gijbels’s hand reflection in a puddle: the red color streak across the frame and curl tendril peeking in the right-hand corner disorients perspective, as if the subject is rising out of the water. Marco Ragana’s photo is astoundingly emotional: a broken mirror reflecting a steady gaze in contrast to what appears to be a missing eye. The overall darkness and soft tone give this image such weight and poignancy, I return to it again and again.
Thank you so much to all who shared their works. I spent hours getting lost in your art, and for that I’m really grateful.
~ Lisa Toboz
GALLERY
About the Curator
Lisa Toboz is a self-taught, Pittsburgh-based artist with a background in writing and literature. Her work explores self-portraiture and creativity as a form of healing using various Polaroid cameras and film. She is inspired by vernacular photography, Victorian spirit photography, and ‘70s supernatural cinematography, as well as reading fiction. Her recent photo books include Dwell (Polyseme, 2020) and The Long Way Home (Static Age UK, 2018). Her Polaroid photography can be found in various publications including Shots Magazine, as a featured artist in She Shoots Film: Self Portraits, and Polaroid Now (Chronicle Books, 2021). A copy editor by trade, she has exhibited internationally and is represented by photographer Stefanie Schneider’s Instantdreams Gallery (Palm Springs, CA).