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Houston Center For Photography Presents 'Travelogues'
15 August 2014
Houston Center for Photography has announced Travelogues, an exhibition of images by Nathan Hoang, Sara Macel and Natalie Slater, will open Sept. 12 and run through Nov. 2. Curated by HCP's Programs Coordinator Caroline Docwra, the exhibition reflects the classic American road trip and artists like Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Dorothea Lange and others who went before them.
"The photographers in this exhibition are three young American artists who have been inspired by this tradition and have approached the theme in their own way," stated Docwra. "They each have traveled across the country and told their story in a way that is unique to their own perspective and personal history."
NATHAN HOANG
Texas. Nathan Hoang (Brooklyn, N.Y.), from the series Home, courtesy of the artist.
Hoang's HOME is a documentation of all 50 states, expressed both by familiar images and a list of memories graphically represented in the shape of the state. As a native Texan who no longer lived in his home state, Hoang naturally became homesick and subsequently created a poster that listed out all the things he missed about Texas.
SARA MACEL
Dennis Anthony Macel, Hitchcock, Texas. Sara Macel (Brooklyn, N.Y.), 2010, from the series May the Road Rise to Meet You, courtesy of the artist.
In May The Road Rise to Meet You, Macel followed her father, a traveling salesman, on his trips across the U.S. In the same way that a family photo album functions to present an idealized version of their history, these photographs are what both Macel and her father want the visual narrative of his working life to be remembered as.
NATALIE SLATER
Tulsa, Oklahoma -- Mingo & 11th. Natalie Slater (Tulsa, Okla.), from the series Mother Road Revisited, courtesy of the artist.
Mother Road Revisited is Slater's celebration of the history of Route 66. The project consists of nearly 100 photographs taken in the 1950s, which Slater has paired with photographs she shot along the modern day Route 66, many taken as she traveled the route in her revamped 1964 Shasta.
For more information see the news release below.
Houston Center For Photography Presents 'Travelogues'
Works from Nathan Hoang, Sara Macel and Natalie Slater explore the American road trip
HOUSTON, Tex. -- Houston Center for Photography presents its newest exhibition Travelogues featuring works from Nathan Hoang, Sara Macel and Natalie Slater, three artists who join the long-time tradition of photographers who hit the open road in search of something.
Curated by HCP's Programs Coordinator Caroline Docwra, the exhibition draws reference upon the classic American road trip and the artists such as Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Dorothea Lange and others who each captured the open road and explored unfamiliar cultures. "The photographers in this exhibition are three young American artists who have been inspired by this tradition and have approached the theme in their own way," stated Docwra. "They each have traveled across the country and told their story in a way that is unique to their own perspective and personal history."
Each artist undertook a different challenge to create this body of work and yet the photographs in this exhibition each have the same end goal, which is to ultimately aim us back home. Hoang pulls at our heartstrings with images and memories from our home states across the country. Macel brings her father home from years on the road as a traveling salesman with one last hoorah. Slater urges us to remember our past, cherish our hometowns and preserve our memories of home as she compares the past to the present along historic Route 66.
Hoang, Macel and Slater will be present at the exhibition opening on Friday, Sept. 12 starting at 5:30 p.m. to discuss their works and answer questions. A formal talk will take place at 6 p.m. that evening.
Nathan Hoang: HOME
HOME is a documentation of all 50 states, expressed both by familiar images and a list of memories graphically represented in the shape of the state. As a native Texan who no longer lived in his home state, Nathan Hoang naturally became homesick and subsequently created a poster that listed out all the things he missed about Texas. After receiving a few requests asking if he could make some posters for other's home states, his project "HOME" took shape. Hoang raised the funds to travel to every state over a three month period via a successful Kickstarter campaign, which allowed him time to meet and live with locals to learn why they really call their state home. To accompany the text, he found a symbol for each state that is often an everyday visual occurrence for locals, but captured through Hoang's humorous eye to show a more colloquial view on the landmark. Each image holds a story unique to that state and the people he met on his journey.
Sara Macel: May The Road Rise to Meet You
In this remarkable pseudo-documentary and biography, Brooklyn-based Sara Macel followed her father, a traveling salesman, on his trips across the U.S. In popular mythology, few professions are as emblematic of this mobile, ambitious and commercially minded nation as the traveling salesman. As the Internet and outsourcing make this once ubiquitous occupation obsolete, May the Road Rise to Meet You explores the life of a businessman alone on the road. On a larger scale, this project explores the changing nature of "the road" in American culture and in the history of photography. With these images, Sara Macel creates a visual narrative of her father's life separate from his family structure. In the same way that a family photo album functions to present an idealized version of their history, these photographs are what both Macel and her father want the visual narrative of his working life to be remembered as.
Natalie Slater: Mother Road Revisited
Mother Road Revisited is a project conceived by photographer Natalie Slater that celebrates the history of Route 66. The project consists of nearly 100 photographs taken in the 1950s, which Natalie has paired with photographs she shot along the modern day Route 66, many taken as she traveled the route in her revamped 1964 Shasta. Part of her process is finding the exact location where each historical photograph was taken and setting up her own shot from the same vantage point. Natalie then studies the difference between the old photograph and her view before she combines the two pictures into a single image that shows both the new parts and vintage aspects of the scene. The resulting collage dramatizes the transformation that have shapes the route over the years: Once one-way streets now show two-way traffic and swimming pools brimming with guests have given way to abandoned lots.
Additionally, after photographing each vintage image Natalie places a historical plaque at that site that displays a QR Code specific to the location of the photo. The viewer can scan the QR Code with their phone in order to see the vintage image of the scene in front of them. This addition to the project causes the experience to become an interactive history lesson of Route 66 and ultimately help show what America has done to its once booming American symbol, the "Mother Road."