Sanctuary: into the woods

The Master of Fine Arts culminating exhibition, Sanctuary: Into the Woods, draws upon two themes, which are my struggle with expectations of feminine beauty and how nature has become my place of sanctuary. As the viewer enters the smaller gallery of the exhibition, the west wall consisted of twenty-six encaustic digital prints on panels with detailed imagery of plants. The opposite wall contained landscape photographs sequenced to show the progression of the seasons. Once exiting the smaller gallery, the audience walked through the images of nature, similarly to how I search for photo shoot locations. In the larger gallery, the photographs depict nearly life-sized photographic images of female figures in the forest. In the center of the main gallery, there is a handmade perfect-bound book that contains images and poetry based on my internal struggles. In this exhibition, I have looked to the allegorical narrative work of the Tableau photographers for ways to render my narratives. I learned techniques for creating dreamlike worlds from the Photo-Secession photographers. The Romantics’ nostalgic idea for a simpler life and the idealization of nature is noticeable in my work. In my pursuit of closure, my photographs have given me a place of solace and beauty as I venture into the woods.