Documenting Spaces Illustrated in FotoFest Exhibit at UH

‘Archiving Places: Documentary Photography’

From New Orleans' French Quarter to the Texas Hill Country, stories are told in the people, landscapes and buildings.  A new photography exhibit at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture examines the process of using black and white photographic images to document spaces, landscapes and people.   

"Archiving Places:  Documentary Photography by Lewis Hodnett, Jr." will be on view from March 11 - April 25 in the college's first floor gallery.  A presentation by the photographer is planned for 6 p.m., Thursday, March 25 in the theater.   

"My images are simple things, but unseen by the average person," he said.  "People don't always see their own place as being unique or beautiful.  The idea behind my work is not for me to convey my personal impression of the things I photograph, but to allow people to draw their own conclusions from the photographic images." 

The black and white documentary photographs are from eight portfolios of work created from 1971 through 2009. 

The college and exhibit also are participating space in FotoFest 2010, Biennial.   

"Hodnett's black and white photography of cityscapes captures the life of the spaces in between buildings. In so doing, he reveals the heroic and the mundane of everyday life," said Michelangelo Sabatino, architecture professor and curator of the exhibit.  

A Louisiana native and former assistant professor in the college of architecture, Hodnett's 75 images convey landscapes of the Gulf Coast beaches, skies of the Texas Hill Country, alleys in the French Quarter and the monolithic sculptures that are downtown Houston buildings.    

The images were taken with many different camera formats to capture the static building, landscapes or people with great clarity and detail.  Approximately half of the photographs were shot with a 4x5 view camera, or one of two custom designed panoramic cameras he uses.  Included are photographs shot with the revolving panoramic camera that covers a 360 degree view.   

"When you freeze that frame and capture that subject it can distort reality or it can actually represent it," Hodnett said.   

For more information on the UH Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, visit http://www.arch.uh.edu/.

 WHAT: "Archiving Places:  Documentary Photography by Lewis Hodnett, Jr." 

WHEN:  Exhibit on view March 11 - April 25

               (Gallery hours Monday - Friday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Saturdays 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.; Closed Sundays)

               Opening Presentation and Reception 6 p.m., Thursday, March 25  

WHERE: University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, Gallery/Theater

Metered parking available in lot 16B (entrance 18 off of Elgin)

For directions, visit http://www.uh.edu/campus_map/buildings/ARC.php


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