2008 Woodie Awards
Portable Universe carries on
Kimmie Jordan
Issue date: 10/10/06 Section: Entertainment
- Page 1 of 1
As college students living life on the go is not an unusual concept, for some it is going to class from work or class to work. This causes them to constantly be loaded down with stuff. Who can say that they walk out of the house empty handed?
There is always something needed for the day at hand. The items a student carries may be important to the role they play or it may pertain to the personality of the individual. Honey Lazar, a photographer originally from Akron, Ohio, took this thought of the things people carry and how it pertains to the person and spent the greater part of seven years creating a body of photographs based on the concept.
The exhibition titled "The Portable Universe " is being displayed now until Wed.
Oct. 18 in the Beth K. Stocker Art Gallery. She developed the idea when her youngest son read the book "The Things They Carried ", by Tim O'Brien and suggested she read it.
"It's a book about Vietnam soldiers and the things the had to carry. It contained statements like 'They carried all they could bear, and then some'. I began to think about how women do the same thing." Lazar explained at the reception for the show on Friday, Oct 29.
She started the process by photographing anyone willing to step into her studio. She focused on showing the diversity of women, "Women of all colors, women of all economic backgrounds, young women, old women, educated women, uneducated women, immigrants and exiles alike pack a 'portable universe of things' with them each day".
With the help of Karen E. Salsbury, set designer for the shoots, Lazar photographed these women in clothing that they felt would portray their roles, and then photographed the items they had with them that farther explained who they were. The intimacy Lazar formed with the women and girls was apparent as she talked about the stories of the photographs in the gallery.
" There is no simpler way to form an intimacy with a person than when they allow you to see their things" Lazar said.
This process went on for more than two years covering about 80 women. Lazar, at that point wanted something new, so she took the process out into the world.
She wanted to photograph the women in their universe, so that their environments could tell their stories as well. She traveled to Berlin Germany, Prague, and Oaxaca Mexico.
Through her journeys she found that all the women photographed were unique, but some that stuck out were those that had to carry toilet paper. She ended her process with Victoria (Last Name unknown) women whose picture portrays what she brings to her daughters grave.
Lazar considered an appropriate subject for her final photograph. Lazar is now preparing for her next exhibit to be displayed, " Neither Plain Nor Simple " a photo series displaying the life of an Amish women.
There is always something needed for the day at hand. The items a student carries may be important to the role they play or it may pertain to the personality of the individual. Honey Lazar, a photographer originally from Akron, Ohio, took this thought of the things people carry and how it pertains to the person and spent the greater part of seven years creating a body of photographs based on the concept.
The exhibition titled "The Portable Universe " is being displayed now until Wed.
Oct. 18 in the Beth K. Stocker Art Gallery. She developed the idea when her youngest son read the book "The Things They Carried ", by Tim O'Brien and suggested she read it.
"It's a book about Vietnam soldiers and the things the had to carry. It contained statements like 'They carried all they could bear, and then some'. I began to think about how women do the same thing." Lazar explained at the reception for the show on Friday, Oct 29.
She started the process by photographing anyone willing to step into her studio. She focused on showing the diversity of women, "Women of all colors, women of all economic backgrounds, young women, old women, educated women, uneducated women, immigrants and exiles alike pack a 'portable universe of things' with them each day".
With the help of Karen E. Salsbury, set designer for the shoots, Lazar photographed these women in clothing that they felt would portray their roles, and then photographed the items they had with them that farther explained who they were. The intimacy Lazar formed with the women and girls was apparent as she talked about the stories of the photographs in the gallery.
" There is no simpler way to form an intimacy with a person than when they allow you to see their things" Lazar said.
This process went on for more than two years covering about 80 women. Lazar, at that point wanted something new, so she took the process out into the world.
She wanted to photograph the women in their universe, so that their environments could tell their stories as well. She traveled to Berlin Germany, Prague, and Oaxaca Mexico.
Through her journeys she found that all the women photographed were unique, but some that stuck out were those that had to carry toilet paper. She ended her process with Victoria (Last Name unknown) women whose picture portrays what she brings to her daughters grave.
Lazar considered an appropriate subject for her final photograph. Lazar is now preparing for her next exhibit to be displayed, " Neither Plain Nor Simple " a photo series displaying the life of an Amish women.
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