Michelle Van Parys
EMBRACING THE SHADOWS
by Amy Stockwell Mercer
Jungle Slide, Michelle Van Parys
Michelle Van Parys’s black and white photographs are a visual narrative of the changing landscape and our complex relationship to the natural world.
A creek meanders beneath a highway overpass in one image, and a twisting waterslide is concealed by an overgrowth of trees in another. These are not romanticized images of the Holy City meant to stir the desires of tourists. Van Parys says the images from Beyond the Plantations: Images of the New South tell the story of real places.
SC Overpass, Michelle Van Parys
Van Parys moved to Charleston when her husband, Mark Sloan, was hired as the director of the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. At the time, the College of Charleston didn’t offer photography in the Studio Art Department, but they had a lot of interested students. So one year over winter break, she got a group together and they renovated two bathrooms and a janitor’s closet for darkrooms. Now they have a state of the art darkroom and digital lab in the Cato Center.
Deer Crossing, Michelle Van Parys
Images of the New South is an extension of Van Parys’ 20-year landscape project of the American southwest entitled The Way Out West: Desert Landscapes. “After photographing in the west for so many years, I found it very difficult to photograph in the Lowcountry. It literally took me years to figure out how to see and capture the landscape here. I was used to seeing wide-open spaces and bright high-key tones. I kept looking for similar spaces here. Also, I was not used to dealing with so many trees and the dark shade that they create. Finding a way to expose and develop film so that I would have beautiful shadow details without losing the highlight details was a challenge.”
Brick Tree, Michelle Van Parys
This ongoing search for inspiring Lowcountry landscapes means driving for hours and sometimes days. “I photograph subjects that people pass by every day but never really notice.” The juxtaposition of man-made objects (like the waterslide or the overpass) in the natural landscape creates a visual narrative.
“These images are offered in contrast to the idealized or romanticized landscapes that are often illustrated in depictions of the south through literature, cinema, or visual art. Images of the Old South are often sanitized views of a perfect and prosperous plantation life yet ignore the conflict, conquest, and transformation that is manifested in the changing landscape.”
Van Parys works in black and white because it captures the beauty of the light and pays homage to early geographic survey photographers. “For me, black and white is a myriad of grays; it is unlimited.” She explains that traditional selenium gelatin silver prints capture tone and detail, and are more permanent than any other process.
David in a Manicured Garden, Michelle Van Parys
These stark and haunting images offer a compelling story of the evolving contemporary southern landscape. With her unique perspective, Van Parys focuses her lens to capture the subtle beauty in the places most people overlook.
UPCOMING EXHIBITION
Beyond the Plantations: Images of the New South
Corrigan Gallery | Opens November 4, 2016
by Amy Stockwell Mercer
From ART MAG 2016 Fall Issue
Michelle Van Parys
Corrigan Gallery
62 Queen Street
843.722.9868
corrigangallery.com
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