Meet the Artists – Night Vision: A Night Photography Exhibition

NIGHT VISION
A Night Photography Exhibition by the Bay Area Photographers Collective
Curated by Cameron Brian and Ruth Santee

Meet the Artists, January 11, 1–4 pm
with Anthony Delgado, John Martin, Neo Serafimidis, Chris Stevens-Yu, Alison Taggart-Barone, and Nick Winkworth

Photographs in the show by ​​Chad Amory, Maria Budner, Ingo Bork, Anthony Delgado, Tim Glinin, Anastasia Shubina, John Martin, Ari Salomon,
​Neo Serafimidis, Chris Stevens-Yu, Alison Taggart-Barone, Rusty Weston and Nick Winkworth

Hovering on the periphery, in the shadows, or boldly exploring an illuminated twilight adventure, the selections for Night Vision invite a complex and layered experience for the viewer.

Readily apparent are the sensations of seeing and being seen, key and competing elements of human experience. The longing to be noticed and observed stands at odds with the uneasy excitement and sense of control experienced when one steps into the place of the voyeur peering from the shadows. Heightened by the sense of being cloaked in darkness, looking in on an unassuming neighborhood or scene of easy comradery triggers a mix of emotions. A momentary feeling of belonging and connection emerges, giving way to an unsettling feeling of audacious superiority coupled with a sense of aloneness and otherness.

Isolation and connection are explored further in several images of urban life, with shifting perspectives driving the narratives threaded through the work. The viewer stands at the heart of the moment, a pivot around which other stories unfold in nearby reflections—oblique, imagined perhaps, but provoking a wide range of potential responses, sorrow, anxiety, envy, resignation, hope, affection, and acceptance.

Historically night vision can be associated with mystical experience, another theme evident in the work. Obscured and unlit spaces become the borderline between everyday presence and the realms of spirit and mystery. Obvious in dark images of ritual practice, less so but nevertheless present in more prosaic subjects, buildings and large machinery can be read as portals to the mystic unknown. Other works inspire a sense of wonder and vastness in their grand view, whether launching into the natural world or beholding the piercing lights of immense civilization recreating the night in energetic brilliance.

In addition to the mystery, wonder, vulnerability and daring voyeurism sparked by night photography, Night Vision celebrates the exuberance and vitality we embrace as we light up in performance and spectacle, pushing back the dark and unknown with glittering lights and bright enthusiasm.

image: Nick Winkworth, Good Signal, open edition, 2022, archival pigment print, 18 x 12 (framed 21 x 15)