All images ©Alana Celii
This work was passed my way a few days ago for which I am most grateful. It is titled, Odd Sympathy and was produced by a very precocious young talent called Alana Celii who quite rightfully won the inaugural 2008 New York Photo Festival Student Award.
This is a very interesting body of work which as she tells me "focuses on the ties between memory and relationships." She goes onto explain,
"I would like to re-involve myself with the people who are, or who have become a part of my family. I've been inspired by the aesthetics of painting, and would like to reinterpret the poses and iconography through a contemporary lens. As humans, we collect tangible and intangible artifacts to voluntarily remember places and times. However, it is often the most nondescript cues that trigger recollections of the past without conscious effort. Through photographing the interior spaces of my family's homes, I want to address the ties between memory and collecting. I am curious about the value and significance we give to objects, and how that value does not always transcend our personal and cultural differences. In addition to the interiors, I want to re-address the landscapes of my childhood by photographing the spaces I grew-up in."Alana Celii was born in Chicago in 1986. She is currently pursuing her BFA from Parsons School of Design, and lives in Brooklyn. Her work has been featured in publications such as A Field Guide to the North American Family, Hijacked, Canteen Magazine, Beautiful/Decay Anthology, Ruby Mag and Look-Look magazine. She has exhibited work in group shows in New York, Berlin, Los Angeles, London, Sydney and Dallas. I expect we will be hearing a lot more from her in the future.
