Stephanie Eley
Discipline: Photography
Website: Eley Photo
Facebook: Marie Eley Fine Art
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Instagram: @eleyfineart
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Bio
Stephanie Eley is a photographer based in Atlanta, Georgia where her fine art develops conversations around social activism. She has shown at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Georgia, and the National Women’s Caucus for Arts Organization in New York and California. Her current work Invisible to Others focuses on the limitations of the medium of photography as it communicates to the visually impaired.
Artist Statement
In examining a group that has been traditionally excluded from the fine art gallery, this work addresses universal humanity, while creating new inclusive ways that art can be presented through secondary senses as well as sight. Invisible to Others incorporates a multi-sensory presentation of portraits, alternative processes, and audio.
“Reflecting on personally having poor vision, I am captivated in the concept of a tangible experience. Questioning the permanence of sight, I fear the idea of experiencing this world without my primary means of connection. I now continue to revisit this concept as I create work that welcomes those living an altered visual experience into the gallery by examining their existence.”
Invisible to Others features hands-on creations about and for those with visual impairments. Presented through two series of portraits; the viewer is invited to explore imagery enhanced by luminosity as well as Braille. The second portraits are intimate cyanotype, which portray those interviewed in the making of this art. Alongside the photographs are tactile embossed diptychs, inspired from diagnostic tools used to gauge levels of perception. Welcoming both sighted and visual impaired, this exhibition presents various ways to perceive art. This exhibitions’ soundscape expands on how those with a visual impairment have coped and persevered in living in a sighted society, elaborating on the individuality and audacity within this community.
The willingness of various visual communities to work together addresses our culture’s social gap and develops a system for visual communities to coexist in the world of art.
- Press Release for the 2014 exhibition -
