Photographer searches for herself in portraits

Published 2:38 pm Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Jenn Reidel’s new series of photos “The Desk,” will open from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5, at Gallery 070.

Reidel named the series after a 1920s secretary desk that appears in each of the photographs.

Reidel, who is also a writer, often includes words with her artwork, but for this exhibit, she relied only on her photographs, combined with the image of a writing desk, to tell the story.

Reidel studied fine art photography at the Photographic Center Northwest for three years on a full scholarship. It was during that time that she created her first series, “In Her Dreams,” in which she acted out her nightly dreams, which she had documented over a period of 14 years.

“What seemed to have started as a matter of convenience, using myself as a model, has turned into an art career with self-transformation as the main goal,” she said.

For this series, Reidel documented her spontaneous expressions in front of the desk using the camera’s self-timer. She gave herself 20 seconds to come up with a pose. She often did the pose over and over with slight variations. The result is a series of very intimate portraits with symbols from fairy tales and her own personal mythology.

For information about the exhibit, call 463-9280.