EXHIBITION: What the Living Carry
What the Living Carry
MORGAN ASHCOM
MARCH 2 – APRIL 21, 2018
Preview + Artist Talk: Thursday, March 1st from 5 – 8pm
Opening: Friday, March 2nd from 5 – 9pm
Morgan Ashcom, “Untitled #91,” Edition of 8. Archival Pigment Print, 24 x 30 inches
Candela Gallery is pleased to announce our first solo show with Virginia-based photographer, Morgan Ashcom. The exhibition coincides with the release of Ashcom’s recent book, What the Living Carry, published by MACK Books.
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” ― William Faulkner
Born and raised in Free Union, Virginia, Ashcom chisels his work out of the rural Americana of Hoys Fork – an amalgamated fiction of a small town, nestled in the South. Influenced by memories of his Shenandoah upbringing and deeply rooted in southern literature, Ashcom depicts landscapes obscured by climbing vines and dying brush, while everyday subjects perform menial tasks amongst their dated surroundings. Much like Faulkner’s mythical Mississippi-inspired county, Yoknapatawpha, Ashcom has constructed a place galvanized by the past – its resoluteness, and its refusal to be tied down or easily consumed.
Morgan Ashcom, “Untitled #56,” Edition of 8. Archival Pigment Print, 24 x 30 inches
Through a collection of hand-typed letters written by ‘Morgan,’ requesting a DNA analysis from a certain ‘Eugene’ at the ‘Center of Epigenetics and Wellness of the Spirit,’ What the Living Carry chronicles a quest for understanding. By weaving together fragments of the living with this murky, shadowed past, Ashcom’s reality provides a prompt to mythicize one’s own memories through the lens of Hoys Fork.
Ashcom holds an MFA from the University of Hartford and currently lives and works in Charlottesville, Virginia. His work has been exhibited and published both nationally, internationally, and has won numerous awards including: Center’s Choice Awards, the German Photobook Award, and Center for Photography at Woodstock’s Photography Now Purchase Prize. Ashcom has been an artist in residence at Light Work and has taught photography at Western Connecticut State University, Ithaca College, University of Hartford, Cornell University, and the University of Virginia.
Morgan Ashcom, “Untitled #105,” Edition of 8. Archival Pigment Print, 24 x 30 inches
Preview Reception & Artist Talk | Thursday, March 1st from 5-8pm
Opening Reception & First Friday Art Walk | Friday, March 2nd from 5-9pm
RELATED LINKS
Morgan Ashcom, “Untitled #9, Edition of 8. Archival Pigment Print, 24 x 30 inches