Environmental Rebirth and Human Interaction through the Photography of Stan Raucher and Adam Ottavi

The two drawer photographers whose work is on display this week, Stan Raucher and Adam Ottavi, explore human interaction and rebirth in the natural world: Raucher creates scenes focusing on human connections, while Ottavi's work explores the rebirth of Mother Earth, juxtaposing burnt wood, surrounded by the still living and thriving forest in the background.

 

Stan Raucher has spent most of his life traveling and photographing the people who reside in different areas around the world. In this particular work, Raucher seeks to point his viewer towards the natural human conditions and the interactions one has with their surroundings. Stan writes in his statement "An expressive gesture, a telling glance, a concealed mood or hidden emotion may suddenly materialize and then vanish in a split-second. Such ephemeral events are often overlooked or quickly forgotten. My photographs capture these fleeting moments as evocative, richly-layered images that invite the viewer to generate their own personal narratives."

Raucher's portraits of people in their homes and on the streets of their cities signify his effortless approach to make these images intimate and personal. This approach is seen in almost all of Raucher's work in different areas of the world. Raucher explains, "At a time when fewer of the images that we see on a routine basis are honest representations of real life, my candid photography opens a window to the world that actually surrounds us here and now."

Photographer Adam Ottavi works primarily in wet plate collodion, an historic photographic process. Beyond his wonderful portraiture, Ottavi has found a passion for photographing burned forests and wildfire ruins. These wet plates have been created in collaboration with the American poet Kevin Goodan, and the two artists are currently working on a book of this project that is to be published in 2016. With Ottavi currently living in Alaska, it's no surprise that he has put his focus in this project, surrounded by mountains, never ending wildlife and trees. The smoky and abstract effect produced by the wet plate process only strengthens Ottavi's intent of photographing the burnt and dying forest after a fire. The emulsion appears as though it's melting off the side, bubbling and brewing to make abstract marks across the plate.

- Kory Jean Kingsley