ARTifact
EXHIBIT Closed on August 14th 2016
Juror: Davy Rothbart
![]() Detritus - The Aeroplane Juror's Choice by Jeff Moorfoot from Lyonville, Victoria Australia |
Relics of the past rediscovered and redefined through the medium of photography.
Exhibit Calendar (Subject to Change) | |
Exhibit Opens: | 21 July 16 |
Artists' Reception: | 5 August 16 17:30 |
Exhibit Closes: | 14 August 16 |
![]() Exhibit Catalog now available at PrestoPhoto |
Just as Vivian Maier’s story, the secretive nanny-photographer who becomes a photography world sensation shortly after her death, spurs levels of excitement found in the rolls of undeveloped film and unacclaimed genius, a dropped scarf on the city street can alter the scene in many ways. It can become the scene.
Juror Davy Rothbart's musings on this theme, "discarded items found in the weeds; abandoned buildings; broken-down trucks in a field; scraps of metal left to rust and decay. I'm reminded of a koan that my mom, a Buddhist teacher, often shares. She'll hand someone a fresh scrap of paper, ask them to crumple it into a tight ball, and then uncrumple it. "Do you see," she'll ask, "within the crumpled paper, its original perfection?" All of the decayed, lost, abandoned places and things in these photographs possess their original glory and perfection and their wizened present hints at a rich, textured journey which is up to us to imagine."
Darkroom Gallery is calling for photographs that redefine found objects or subjects of the past. Whether you are foraging in a far away land or in your own backyard we are looking for images that embody this murky realm of faded glory; haunting happenstance, and beauty found in the lost details of the human condition.
Juror's Statement: For 15 years, I've been collecting notes, letters, and photos plucked up off the ground or found on the street, and publishing them in an annual print zine called FOUND and on our daily FOUND Magazine website. Each scrap of paper offers a raw, revealing, and riveting peek into someone else's life. The same instinct that compels me to treasure lost love notes, To Do lists, and journals, and marvel at the stories within also beckons me into abandoned spaces to examine the traces of lives that passed through these spaces years, decades, even centuries before. I don't believe in ghosts, exactly, but inside each sagging barn I've explored, each abandoned pickup truck lost in the woods, each eerie ghost town saloon, the presence of those who once called these places home is always close at hand. I feel powerfully drawn to these places, like a crow to the graveyard, and am frequently rewarded by a jolt of self-recognition and a tingle of discovery. What struck me, as I pored over hundreds of beautiful, striking, poetic images submitted by a global array of deeply talented artists, was the thrilling fact that so many other people share my fascination with abandoned places and things. It brought me great joy to imagine each photographer on their own journey of discovery, jolted and tingled themselves, as they explored a shambling house at the edge of town, a rotting cabin in the desert, a junkyard heaped with ancient vehicles. These pictures gave me a chance to explore a range of haunted and exquisite spaces I might never have reached on my own, but more than that, they gave me a sense for just how many kindred spirits we have out there, a vast community of folks who share a particular curiosity and sense of wonder. Thank you for exploring; thank you for your unique vision; thank you for documenting what you've found. —Davy Rothbart, creator and editor of FOUND Magazine & host of the FOUND Podcast (launching July 13th) |
Detritus - The Aeroplane
Juror's Choice
Jeff Moorfoot
Lyonville, Victoria AustraliaBillboard, East 13th Street
Honorable Mention
Bruce Berkow
New York, NY USAWhere did all the money go
Honorable Mention
Ibai Rigby
Austin, Texas USA Tire and Mulga Ant Nest in the Desert
Honorable Mention
Karen Burgess
Frenchs Forest, NSW AustraliaBabe the Blue Ox
Honorable Mention
Nancy Stalnaker Bundy
Minneapolis, MN USAWhere we used to Walk
Honorable Mention
Rachel Eubanks
Lucedale, Mississippi USA Untitled (Snow)
Honorable Mention
Ruth Raveh
Brooklyn, NY USAFlashbacks
People's Choice
Shannon Beaston
Blain, PA United StatesWeathered
Alexandria Donovan
Westport, Connecticut USA Within the Oz House
Amanda Marie Harner
Damascus, Maryland USAWeak and Powerless
Amy M. Krencius
Clackamas, OR USA2016
Barbara Redondo
Coral Gables, FL USA Repairs
Ben Davis
Rochester, NY USAAlley Reflections
Ben Davis
Rochester, NY USAForgotten Trophies, Waycross, GA 1-2015
Benita VanWinkle
Winston-Salem, NC USA Cakewalk, Black Hawk, Mississippi
Betty Press
Hattiesburg, MS, Mississippi USAMidnight Snack Shop, Midnight, Mississippi
Betty Press
Hattiesburg, MS, Mississippi USABillboard, Paris Metro
Bruce Berkow
New York, NY USA Abort, Retry, Fail?
Dana Dal Bo
Montréal, QC CanadaConey Island
Dave Levingston
Springfield, Ohio USAStar for Sgt. Friscia, Staten Island
Edward Coppola
Staten Island, NY USA Burt's Bed
Edward L. Rubin
Los Angeles, CA USAAluminum Cans
Hsien-Chih Chuang
Taichung City, TaiwanTyre Graveyard
Ibai Rigby
Austin, Texas USA Played.
Jeff Wiles
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania USALost Memories
Jeffrey Olson
Coral Springs, Florida USASurvivor
Jeffrey Olson
Coral Springs, Florida USA Megalithic Monument, France
Julie O'Connor
Weston, CT USAPeople's History Awaits Fate, Chicago
Julie O'Connor
Weston, CT USAWilliford House 1
Kristin L. Ware
Huntsville, TX USA Old Master
Les Schmidt
New Orleans, LA USAWhat Once Was
Lora Mancini
Shaftsbury, VT USATreasure Island Transitions 2
Mark L. Hannah
Sunnyvale, US-CA USA End of the Road
Mark Melnick
Palm Desert, CA USAGarage
Matt Brittenham-Jones
Montpelier, VT USAFlags
nancy oliveri
Brooklyn, NY USA Pullman
Nicholas Teetelli
Manalapan, NJ USAAbandoned Dreams
Peggy Reynolds
Essex Jct., VT USAOut of Service
Pete McCutchen
Alexandria, VA USA Alex, with grandmothers lace collar
Rebecca Moseman
Purcellville, VA USAGreen Giant, Los Angeles
Richard Greene
Los Angeles, CA USAOld Atlanta Prison Farm #3
Richard Greene
Los Angeles, CA USA A New and Accurate Map of the World
Richard K. Kent
Lancaster, Pennsylvania USAZenith
Ronan Considine
delta, bc canadaRoute 66
Sandra Chen Weinstein
Lake Forest, CA USA The View
Sandra Jungling
Sun City, Az USAChinatown Window
Shannon McClatchey
San Francisco, CA USALost Words
Stephanie Guillen
Zurich, Switzerland Ugandan Legacy
Stephen Milne
Alliston, Ontario CanadaMormon Row Outhouse
Steven Winker
Mascoutah, IL USAIce Sculpture. Greenland
Thomas Pickarski
New York, New York USA Chalkboard 5
Tom Morin
Houston, TX USAEntrance, Samson Tire Factory, Los Angeles CA
Wayne M. Peterson
Philomont, Virginia United StatesThree Crosses, Monterey CA
Wayne M. Peterson
Philomont, Virginia United States The Fun Is Gone
Wil Scott
Annapolis, MD USA
- Juror's Choice receives a 30x48" vinyl exhibit banner featuring their image, free entry into a future exhibition and a free exhibition catalog
- Honorable Mentions receive free exhibition catalogs and free entry in a future exhibition.
- People's Choice gains free entry into a future exhibit.
- We offer free matting and framing of accepted entries for the duration of each of our exhibition, subject to standard sizes.
- Photographers set their own prices if they wish to sell their work and retain all rights to their photographs.
Juror: Davy Rothbart
Davy Rothbart is the creator of Found Magazine, a publication dedicated to discarded notes, letters, flyers, photos, lists, and drawings found and sent in by readers. The magazine spawned a best-selling book, Found: The Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World, published in April 2004. A second collection was published in May 2006, a third in May 2009. The magazine is published annually and has a worldwide following, it's online blog is updated daily.
Rothbart is a frequent contributor to This American Life, and author of My Heart Is An Idiot, a book of personal essays, and the story collection The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas. He writes regularly for GQ and Grantland, and his work also appears in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Believer. He is also the founder of Washington II Washington, an annual outdoor adventure for inner-city kids. Rothbart lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Los Angeles, California.
Found Magazine:
My Heart is an Idiot:
This American Life:
Washington II Washington:
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