Exhibition Dates: December 2, 2011 - January 28, 2012
Opening Reception: First Friday Gallery Walk, December 2, 6 - 10pm

 The Presence series is a poetic interpretation of historical material that resulted from Cynthia Farnell’s interest in the photograph as a coded document embedded with cultural significance. The source images, from archives as well as Farnell’s own collection, are altered and reprinted. Working this way allows Farnell to incorporate the information embedded in the image with her own visual and emotional experiences of a place, a community, or an individual.

The body of work on view at Artspace is selected from two different series: Presence (Conway) and Presence (Veils). The Presence (Conway) images were originally conceived as part of a site-specific installation for the Lower River Warehouse, a circa 1880 building located in Conway, SC. Built as a site for river commerce, the building is still a gathering spot for the community. In the original installation, ten printed banners were distributed throughout the interior of the warehouse and a video was projected on the north wall. Presence (Veils) is a response to images of Farnell’s female ancestors and the spaces they inhabited: the home, garden, and church. The artist intermingles her family portraits with fragments of contemporary Southern landscapes as a way to link these women’s lives with her own.

An Alabama native, Farnell is a multi-disciplinary visual artist whose projects encompass a range of media including photography, video, and installation. Farnell earned her BFA from Auburn University, Auburn, AL, a Certificate of General Studies of Photography from The International Center of Photography, NYC, and her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. Her work has been widely exhibited including throughout New England, the southern United States, NYC, and France. She has been awarded residencies at The Sloss Furnaces Visiting Artist Program, Birmingham, AL, and at the Virginia Center For Creative Arts, Amherst, VA. Her work is in the permanent collection of the International Center of Photography and the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. She has received grants to support her work from the South Carolina Arts Commission, The Horry County Arts and Cultural Council, Coastal Carolina University, and the Humanities Council South Carolina. Farnell is currently director of The Welch School Galleries at Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. Cost: free