Christine Burrill has spent thirty years looking at the world through the lens of a camera. She is an award winning filmmaker, cinematographer and still photographer who has exhibited in Europe, Latin America, and the United States. This exhibition represents a departure for Burrill, whose previous body of work, photocollages of Amazon Indians, is currently completing a world tour .
Burrill's earlier work was inspired by David Hockneys theory of photo-collage, the joining of many different still photos to achieve an enhanced sense of time and space. The technique made it possible for her to produce large photographic panels that captured more complexity than was possible in a single, still photograph -- something she was drawn to because of her motion picture background. She found her subjects at the many locations where she was filming, especially in the Brazilian Amazon.
Several years ago, she began looking more closely at the fragmented, close-up shots that made up the collages, and began enlarging individual frames. This began a journey into macro and abstract photography, which resulted in the "Seeking the Unseen" series. The colors of the prints are exceptionally vivid -- moody close-ups of bristling, orange thistles, lime-green unfurling palm fronds, glistening purple folds of sweet-peas and wisteria, as well as monumental artichokes and spider web-draped matilija poppies. Each photo has a concentrated area of focus, which is isolated from the energetic fields of light and color swirling around it.
Ms. Burrill began making digital prints in the early days of Photoshop 2.5, when Nash Editions and Duganne Ateliers would print her work on an Iris printer. She is now making her own prints from 35mm and 6.45mm color film negatives (Portra VividColor), using the Epson 9600 printer. Making the prints herself has allowed her a degree of control over the output that was previously unattainable. The photographs in this exhibit will be produced in a limited edition of twelve signed and embossed 24 inches x 32 inches prints and five 44 inches x 60 inches prints. The images are printed with Archival Hahnemule, William Turner watercolor paper and Epson Ultrachrome inks. (see www.wilhelm-research.com for archival verification)
