My photographs from the series World Was in the Face of the Beloved are about a character who is becoming one within the landscape.
She is someone who is okay with who they are and where they are in the world, while at the same time, she questions her place in the universe. She is my protagonist. There is certainly the suggestion of spiritual tranquility in the photographs. I want my work to offer a respite from all the courser conundrums of humanity.
These photographs speak about ideas of beauty: the beauty of this woman; the beauty of the specific style of clothing which speaks so much of Stacy’s character; the beauty of the landscape and the figure relating to that space; the beauty of color relationships; and also about the beauty of analog photography. There are aspects of portraiture in the work, as well as self-portraiture and fictional narrative. I blur the line between these different strategies, creating a hybrid of the three. There are also numerous art historical and cultural references embedded in this series of photographs, which offer further complexities.
All of my work involves contemplation and exploration into the nature of human relationships and experience. In past series I have examined the connection to family, looked at the bond between couples, addressed ideas of masculinity in a portrait series of men, combined photographs of seemingly disparate subjects to suggest metaphysical and corporeal connections, and most recently created short films capturing ephemeral human interactions. The images of my wife are part of this investigation.
About Eric Weeks
Eric Weeks is an artist using photography and video, a curator, and Chair of the Photography & Video Department at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA. He has exhibited his photographs and videos internationally, including in Australia, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, Singapore, South Korea, Spain and the United States. His work is in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Maison Européene de la Photographie, Bibliothèque Nationale, Yale University Art Gallery and the Sir Elton John Collection, among others. He is the author of two monographs, World Was in the Face of the Beloved and A Rose By Any Other Name. Portfolios have appeared in Zoom, Photo +, Fahrenheit and Dear Dave magazines. Awards include an Individual Creative Artist Fellowship Grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts; Open Call Winner, Art Speaks Out, ikonoTV, Berlin; Finalist, Black Maria Film Festival, Jersey City; Semi-Finalist, G2 Green Earth Film Festival, Los Angeles; and Award for Portraiture, The Society of Publication Designers, New York.
Weeks has recently curated exhibitions in China, New York City and South Korea. His short film epistrophy was an Official Selection of the New Filmmakers New York Film Festival, New York City, and the Society for Photographic Education SOUTHxSOUTHWEST Film Festival in Los Angeles, both in 2020. The Wind Dies The Sun Sets, a film about energy extraction in Pennsylvania made in collaboration with Joshua Reiman, will exhibit at the Vault Gallery, Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg in 2021. The film has also screened at: The 8th Cairo Video Festival, Cairo; Art COP22, Arkane Afrika, Marrakesh; 2018 Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine; Paddington Town Hall, Head On Photo Festival, Sydney; ALC Festival Internacional de VideoArte, Alicante, Spain; and Manifest Dismantling (curated by Mobius artists Margaret Bellafiore and EL Putnam), Boston Cyberarts, Boston.
Weeks received a MFA from Yale University, and a BFA from the School of Visual Arts. His work is represented by Galerie Catherine & André Hug in Paris. [Official Website]
