Group Show, Grayscale

For the month of November, Obelisk Home presents a photography group show, “Grayscale”. A variety of local photographers were asked to submit a sampling of their black-and-white work. While all of the imagery relates in their monochromatic approach, each artist uses their own technique, materials, and voice to compose this unique exhibition celebrating talent in the Ozarks.

  COLBY KERN | @heycolbykern  
Colby has always had a fascination with photography. While most kids begged their parents for the latest toys at the store, he was always asking his for disposable cameras. He loved using his sisters and cousins as “models” and setting up scenes to photograph. This began early lessons in composition and lighting. After years of experience, he now shoots all sorts of subjects though he mostly focuses on the male form with the goal to capture authentic moments.

“I share little parts of my life through photography that I hope can inspire yours.”

  DAVID BURT | facebook.com/davidburtimages  
David Burt is a local photographer who has devoted a lifetime to his craft. The three black and white portraits in this exhibition represent a small sampling of his portrait work, created from 1979 to 1988. His intention was to capture a certain essence of beauty and mystery, projected by each of these three women.
Living in the Ozarks, he also often captures the beautiful landscape. The print, “Waterfall On Long’s Creek“, is a very special area within the Hercules Glades Wilderness Area, near where he lives and works. This particular spot is dear to his heart, where he has camped many a night close enough to be soothed by the sounds from the waterfall. His image reminds him of the essence of this place, revealing its beauty and mystery as well.

  JESSE TYLER | @jessebtyler  
From 2016 to 2017, I found myself restless and aimless. I had finished riding a bike across the US and began my first attempt at being self-employed. I was 22. I carried a camera wherever I went, then went home to develop and process the images that were created. I was aware of how strange this period was and asked myself, “What will all this mean to me?” Already, the answer to this question has changed, and it’s changing still.

  JOE BULGER | www.joebulger.com | @bulgerjoseph  
Joe Bulger is a photographer and storyteller. He has spent the past 5 years traveling and documenting a diverse range of stories from the battle against ISIS in Iraq to documenting poverty in Ethiopia. Joe’s work highlights the humanity in people and their separation from their situations or crises. He strives to use his camera as a way to break down walls of intolerance, ignorance, and hate.
The photo set being shown was photographed during the 2017 battle against ISIS in Mosul, Iraq. Through these images, Joe wants to guide the eyes of the viewer through imagery showing the destruction to the resilience of the Kurdish people.

  JOSH BEECHER | joshbeecher.com  

  MACY STEVENS | @macydaisy  
My perception of myself has largely been influenced by the words of others, especially harsh criticism from those I have loved and the monsters their words have manifested into. Taking an old projector, I project these words that often occupy my mind and shape the feelings I have regarding myself. In an effort to combat the affect they have on me, I use affirmations.
Affirmations are phrases that can be repeated again and again until they are believed. For me this project is a way of rewriting my narrative. I explore themes about the affect our words have, body image, mental health, and the way women are often spoken to, dissected, and heavily investigated. I create an atmosphere where we can take a step in, observe ourselves, break the negative cycle, and write our own stories.

  PAIGE WHITCOMB | @paige_whitcomb  
Paige Whitcomb creates photos using the traditional method of wet collodion photography with an authentic 19th century studio camera. This historic process allows for a single photo to be captured without any possibility of duplicating the image. Paige creates tintypes to capture a staged fictional world, literally. Using double exposure techniques she photographs genuine found objects from the 1800s to portray memories of a past generation. Paige’s intention is to have the observer question what century the image was taken, where, and why.

  RUSSELL COX | @417nights  
Russell Cox is a native of Springfield, Missouri, and documents a combination of the ordinary and odd in his city at night, where the atmosphere of downtown serves as a backdrop for the various characters in his photos. He became interested in photography after being inspired by the work of street photographers like Daildo Moriyama, who takes candid photos of everyday people and embraces the grittier elements of photography like blur, low light, and noise.

  SHON CELE RAINEY | @scrainy  
My name is Shon Cele Rainey. I am a photographer and video artist born and raised in Springfield, MO. In my work I gravitate towards exploring otherness using analogue and obsolescent formats. This collection of photographs, “Do They Look at You Too?”, was a meditation in the grief of losing my father. It was both scary and soothing spending time with him again. In the past I have focused on conceptual and academic deconstruction of image making. For this collection I wanted to confront the sadness and anger of “losing”. I imagine I’ll be shooting this collection for the rest of my life. This particular illustration is a juxtaposition of knowing him and seeing how people reacted to him in what felt like an anonymous setting. My curiosity comes from observing the handling of my father during his last days in the hospital and my dissatisfaction with the impersonal nature of life and death in the medical field.
Do They Look at You Too?