Photo-montage works by Pendle Hill alum and former staff member Walter Francis Elling will be exhibited on campus beginning March 30 and running through June 13, 2014.
Drawing from the extensive collection of 15,000 photographs he has taken from around the world, Pendle Hill alum and former staff member Walter Francis Elling has created a striking series of photo-montages highlighting the boundaries between cultures and religions. The series explores the mysterious and tenuous separations between life and death, consciousness and dreaming, and order and chaos. Thai Buddhas coalesce with Christian saints, images from the Cambodian killing fields haunt a teeming jungle, and graffiti adorn monumental skyscrapers. East mingles with West, past with present, in Elling’s provocative series ‘Between Worlds.’
“Creating art is how I deal with the brokenness and the beauty in myself and the world. I was a potter for 11 years, but laid it down due to the significant carbon footprint involved in firing up a kiln. I am new to photography, having started studying in 2012. I enjoy the challenge and almost unlimited creativity offered by photo-montage. I often incorporate journaling and prayers into images from my travels around the world, using the words as a sort of ‘text-ure.’ Using this technique I can incorporate more sense of myself, my dreams, prayer life, and the beauty of Creation into my work. While I continue studying, drawing and printmaking, I am preparing ‘The Scarlet Letter Series,’ which will focus on portraits of formerly incarcerated persons and the effects of the new Jim Crow on returning citizens”
Travel directions to Pendle Hill.
