Houston, TX – Houston Center for Photography (HCP) is proud to announce the seventh exhibition of the Collaborations program, Portraits of Self.
From May 7 - June 27, HCP’s Learning Center Gallery will showcase the work by twenty participants in the Collaborations VII program. During the six-month program, participants from ten Houston area high schools explored the subject of portraiture by turning the camera on themselves and their lives. Investigations into self portraiture brought out diverse responses from the participants - from personal experiences to abstract images using the body.
Some looked into themselves and explored their feelings, fears and desires as Yesenia Chavez does in conquering her fear of heights, Alex Chavez in examining a traumatic experience, and Rachel Walker expressing her love of literature, while others responded with a physical approach and photographed their bodies like Lauren Januhowski's examination of her curved back, Adrienne Duncan's fascination with facial makeup, and Thora Ansell's abstraction of herself. Some took a look at their their place in the world by either using their personal space and their daily interactions as in Jody Lu's documentation of her daily life at her desk, Caroline Brimberry's study of her morning routine, and Javier Macia's explorations of saying good bye to a familiar place or by inserting themselves into situations as Alex Goss and Amanda Hafemeister do with their mirror reflections, and Kayla Stewart does by re-enacting stories from her childhood. Others are using themselves to create an image using props like Amanda Singer's and Alex Liso's images of light and Maria Morfin's work of things covering her body.
This year's schools include Bellaire High School, Cy-Fair High School, Episcopal High School, High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, KIPP Houston High School, Lamar High School, Reagan High School, St. John's School, The Chinquapin School , and The Kinkaid School.
Collaborations VII participants are Thora Ansell, Caroline Brimberry, Alex Chavez, Yesenia Chavez, Magaly Deleon, Adrienne Duncan, Alex Goss, Amanda Hafemeister, Lauren Januhowski, Alex Liso, Jody Lu, Javier Macias, Maria Morfin, Ellen Phillips, Bobbie Richardson, Amanda Singer, Kayla Stewart, Judith Vite, Rachel Walker, and Alex Walker.
About Collaborations
HCP’s Collaborations is a non-competitive educational outreach program that celebrates photography and encourages collaboration and teamwork with Houston-area high school students. Each year, HCP brings together individuals from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds to collectively plan and execute an exhibition of their own photographs.
HCP’s Collaborations helps students build confidence as they learn to talk about their work, share ideas with others and learn about artistic, curatorial and commercial aspects of the art world. HCP works with various organizations and commercial businesses to educate participants about photography and its history; field trips are both informative and hands-on. Once the students select a theme for the exhibition, HCP forms collaborations with experts in the field to educate and inform the students about their chosen subject. The program culminates in a final exhibition of the students' work and fosters the students’ public speaking and presentation skills through the vehicle of artist talks which are attended by the general public in HCP’s galleries.