Curatorial Statement

A Certain Slant of Light

A Certain Slant of Light is a two-person exhibition featuring the work of Adrienne Defendi and Anna Rotty. With a sensitivity to materials, image permanence, and the behavior of light, each artist explores the possibilities of the photographic object. The exhibition title is based on the poem, “There’s a certain Slant of light” by Emily Dickinson, in which a beam of light transforms the author’s understanding of the world itself. This sentiment is reflected in the work of both Defendi and Rotty, who each possess an acute consideration for light as a material. Light is both an origin and a critical element of the destination for their work.

The artists bring our attention to the surface of the photograph and the dimension and tangibility of the art object. Defendi’s continued study of 35mm slides unfolds in numerous representations of the archive. She transforms the archive’s function from a practical record to an exquisite artifact cast in pewter. Rotty employs non-traditional materials in the creation of her photographic objects, including dry dirt from the Rio Grande, privacy screen, and etched mirror. Each substance invites viewers to move around the piece, consider its physicality, and investigate the conceptual underpinnings of the material choice.

Unlike the fixed perspective of a traditional photograph, the work in this exhibition demonstrates the shifting and malleable potential of the medium. Each artist explores this fluidity through a process of iteration, rephotographing, or layering as a means of further examining the concept of impermanence. Adrienne Defendi deconstructs a single image of a Madrone forest and reforms multiple views that emphasize the pliability of the photograph and the changing landscape. Defendi’s work considers the impermanence of memory, specifically as it relates to place and objects associated with loss. We see multiple iterations of the slide archive, which is both a memory aid and reflection on photography’s past. Anna Rotty rephotographs a printed image that has been manipulated or reintroduced into the landscape. This act of rephotographing creates connection to multiple points in time and environmental change, while drawing our attention to the layered illusion of the photograph. Water, as a resource that is scarce and fleeting yet vital and pleasurable, is the subject of much of Rotty’s current study. Her work builds an empathy for this natural resource and reflects the complex relationship with water in her current home of New Mexico.

A Certain Slant of Light is a conversation of light and form, an ode to material exploration, and a poetic musing on transformation. 

- Arielle Rebek, October 2023