Elsewhere: Mary Heller & Ernest Kafka

November 4, 2011 - February 5, 2012

Serious travel photography is a genre that dates back to within a few years of the invention of the camera. By the early 1840s, photographs of the outskirts of Paris, the pyramids and excavations of Egypt, and the American West were in wide circulation. In 1888 the National Geographic Society was founded; its photographs remain the gold standard of travel photography today. Many of us were introduced to and became fascinated by world cultures and monuments, wildlife, and vast stretches of the globe by the photographers of National Geographic magazine. Travel photographers are tireless, curious world wanderers with a passion for capturing places, cultures, and vistas that few of us will experience directly. Their eyes link ours to pieces of lives lived, to monuments created, and to breathtaking views across cultures and across time.

Mary Heller and Ernest Kafka are two artists with remarkable bodies of work. Each travels the globe, camera in hand, with a discerning eye and an open heart and mind. Each creates images that reveal sensitivity to people and places. Our understanding of the lives and habitats of people half a world away, of ancient religious sites still in use today, of a pristine river or a scarred landscape is shaped through their viewfinders and their nuanced perceptions. The beautifully crafted images of Elsewhere fill us with wonder and ignite our curiosity about the people and places of the world beyond our borders.

— Mara Williams, Chief Curator

IMAGES:
Click here to view selected images from this exhibit.

RELATED EVENTS:
Artist Talk & Book-Signing: Mary Heller (11/25/11)