Women of Vision

From the time of Julia Margaret Cameron on, women have made a substantial and well recognized contribution to photography as a fine art. Vision Neil Folberg Gallery is pleased to present images from the contemporary women artists that we represent alongside images by some of the greats.

Defining the feminine element would be too challenging, so we’ll let the women speak for themselves. In a conversation with Neil Folberg, Imogen Cunningham stated, "I don't need to travel any further than my backyard to make photographs." Beth Moon, Yaara Sylva and Agnieszka Sosnowska would all agree. Though they have not limited themselves to their backyards, they have all made memorable images near their homes. Yaara notes that “By making our world a place in which bees thrive, we are insuring our own survival. The world as seen through the eyes of the honeybee is a warm and fertile world of blossoms, nectar and sunlight.” Agnieszka speaks more directly of women’s art, saying: "To embody what is sometimes ordinary, sometimes purely feminine, and sometimes supernatural is to seek a way to make private images public."

Ruth Bernhard writes “Although I was an ugly duckling as a child, I know what it is like to be a woman. Women are beautiful. I have learned that beauty is within; to be alone with your passionate vision is to lose all sense of time, and for that moment to experience something beyond the physical self.” Perhaps the best reflection of that statement is found in her photo of mother and child presented in this show. And it is as true of the nudes for which she is best known as it is for her photographs of straws and shells.