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Katherine Westerhout

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Statement

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Statement

Closely related to the language of dreams, photography's language creates a landscape of reflections that inform my life. Through them I seek a richer view, moving beyond the literal world we have been granted, to a place in the moment where I experience "reality" in expanded dimensions--the material world becomes animated, and a sense of place, frozen in time, seems everywhere and eternal. Within the empty spaces of abandoned buildings, I meet a vision of the psyche, a dark and quiet place that reflects the deepest parts of the self. An echo punctuates human absence; carried on the light is a message not wholly decipherable. This is a mysterious place, full of possibilities, and the longer one lingers, the more embraced one feels by a presence that is familiar. True to the initial exposure, the photograph speaks directly.

About the Work

These photographs are a selection from an ongoing series of urban landscapes that focus on interior spaces of abandoned buildings in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond; in 2003, the work included temple sites in South East Asia, and has now moved into other areas of this country, as I continue to photograph the abandoned cityscape of America.

Since 2002 I have printed exclusively in the pigmented inkjet process, at Oakland's Magnolia Editions and SF Electric Works in San Francisco. With this new technology comes a huge increase in contrast range, color space, and print media, as well as print longevity; working with digital image delivery systems has opened the photographer's world to the wonders of printmaking. And now, with the ability of the computer to communicate images to a Jacquard loom, an exclusive approach to the medium developed at Magnolia Editions, I have begun to transform my photographs into tapestries that access the world of public art. These technologies facilitate the creation of large-scale works that allow the viewer to enter the image, rather than view it through a window. I want people to feel a part of these places, to feel connected to the light within.