Camille Seaman: Melting Away, The Sol Mednick Gallery of Photography, Philadelphia Open Studio Tours 2013
As part of the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours 2013 annual city wide art crawl, the University of the Arts presents ‘Melting Away‘, a photographic exhibition by Camille Seaman documenting the steady disappearance of the arctic ice fields. The exhibition is in The Sol Mednick Gallery in the Terra Hall building at 211 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA. and is on display through October 25th. Melting Away will break your heart. The stunning beauty of images we just shouldn’t be able to see are overwhelming and emotional: a lone Polar Bear almost invisible against a snow field, powerful portraits of dissolving icebergs and stoney fields that should be covered with ice. I remember my 10th grade science teacher warning us that climate change was coming fast, that was 1969. When will we learn? Camille Seaman offers undeniable evidence that big changes are happening faster than we think.
‘Melting Away‘ is Camille Seaman‘s collection of images made over the course of a decade traveling back and forth between the Arctic and Antartic regions of our planet. Polar ice continues to shrink at record levels because of climate change. ‘ Melting Away‘ is represented by a set of beautifully printed color images of icebergs and the arctic landscape and wildlife, at once a dichotomy of absolutely gorgeous vistas and details, yet cognizant of its documentation of the ecosystem of the arctic during a period of accelerated change. The work is a continuation of Camille Seaman‘s effort to call attention to and document the quickly disappearing ice in both polar regions.
“I Approach the images of icebergs as portraits of individuals, much like family photos of my ancestors.” Camille Seaman says of the project she began in 2003. “I seek a moment in their life in which they convey their unique personality, some connection to our own experience and a glimpse of their soul which endures…My photographic project comes at a critical time, having spent over a decade working as an expedition photographer on small ships in both the Arctic and Antarctic for many months at a time. I have documented what only can be described as the ‘Melting Away‘. – Camille Seaman
Camille Seaman was born in 1969 to a Native American (Shinnecock tribe) father and African American mother. Camille Seaman graduated in 1992 from the State University of New York at Purchase, where she studied photography with Jan Groover and has since taken master workshops with Steve McCurry, Sebastiao Salgado and Paul Fusco. Camille Seaman‘s photographs have benn published in National Geographic, Italian Geo, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Newsweek, Outside, Zeit Wissen, Men’s Journal, Camera Arts, Issues, PDN and American Photo among many others.
Camille Seaman frequently leads photographic and self-publishing workshops. Her photographs have recieved many awards, including a National Geographic Award, 2006 and Critical Mass Top Monograph Award, 2007. In 2008 she was honored with a one-person exhibition, ‘The Last Iceberg‘, at the National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC. Camille Seaman works in a documentary/fine art tradition and since 2003 has concentrated on the fragile environment of the Polar Regions. Camille Seaman is currently a TED Senior Fellow 2013, as well as a Stanford Knight Fellow 2013-14. Camille Seaman lives in Palo Alto, California and takes pictures all over the world using digital and film cameras in multiple formats.
The Sol Mednick Gallery, celebrating its 35th year of operation, is located on the 14th floor of Terra Hall, 211 South Broad Street at the University of the Arts offering a year-round schedule of contemporary photography. The only endowed gallery in Philadelphia dedicated solely to the exhibition of photography, The Sol Mednick Gallery earned the Photo Review Award for service to photography. Associate Professor and former director of the Photography program Harris Fogel has been director/curator since 1997. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10:00am – 5:00pm, weekends by appointment, 215-717-6300.
DoNArTNeWs is more than grateful to Professor Fogel for providing the content for this post.
Read about the companion exhibition at the University of the Arts, Nigel Dickinson: Roma Beyond Borders + Smokey Mountain on DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog
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