PHOTOGRAPHS OF WOMEN BY WOMEN ON VIEW AT BEN SHAHN GALLERIES

“A Woman’s Eye,” an exhibit of photographs by three women artists who create different and distinct images of women, is on view at the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University in Wayne from October 25 to November 24, 2004. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. A reception for the exhibit will be held on Sunday, November 14 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Featured in the exhibit in Ben Shahn’s East Gallery are photographs by Amy Arbus, Flor Garduno and Graciela Iturbide. The exhibit examines the views, attitudes and portrayals of women of various ages and cultures, and also focuses on the similarities and differences in their artistic visions. “All three attempt to capture in their photographs a magical moment that has an ability to challenge, to enlighten, or to disturb,” says Paola Rached, curator of the exhibit.

Arbus began her career as a photographer with the Village Voice, for which she contributed photographs for a style page called “On the Street.” She describes photography as “a way for me to get close to people, to make sense of things and to investigate the strange, wonderful and uncanny.” Her work has since appeared in more than 100 periodicals, including New York magazine, People, and The New Yorker, been the subject of 10 one-woman exhibits worldwide, and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. She is the author of two books: No Place Like Home, portraits of people who live in unusual homes, and The Inconvenience of Being Born, a photo essay on the extreme emotional nature of infants.

Garduno has established herself as one of the foremost photographers of her generation. A former printing assistant for Manuel Alvarez Bravo, one of Mexico’s most prestigious photographers, Garduno is perhaps best known for her body of work titled “Witnesses of Time,” which has been published in a highly acclaimed book and exhibited internationally in Europe and the Americas. The result of travels through rural towns in Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, “Witnesses of Time” encompasses landscape, architecture, ceremonies, tableaux, and portraits. Most recently, her work has focused on her own personal, interior landscape, including still lifes, nudes and portraits taken in and around her homes in Mexico and Switzerland.

Iturbide first studied film in her native Mexico, but later turned to still photography during an apprenticeship with Manuel Alvarez Bravo. She became committed to documenting the indigenous people of Mexico, including a matriarchal society in a rural area in Oaxaca, which led to her one of her five books, Juchitan de las Mujeres. Her photographs tell a visual story of a culture in constant transition though images of identity, sexuality, festivals, rituals, daily life, death and the role of women. Iturbide has exhibited her photographs in shows throughout the world and won numerous grants and awards.

Rached is a senior at William Paterson University pursuing a bachelor’s degree in fine art. A photographer who has exhibited her works in student shows in the Power Arts Gallery on campus and the Paterson Museum, Rached curated the exhibit as part of an independent study project. She is a resident of Wallington.

The exhibit is one of three shows on view concurrently in the Ben Shahn Galleries. “Merging Cultures: Contemporary Art and the Merging of Traditions,” on view in the South Gallery, features works by five artists from diverse backgrounds as part of the Transcultural New Jersey Project. On view in the Court Gallery is the Annual Art Faculty Exhibit, featuring art in a wide range of media by William Paterson’s faculty artists.

For additional information, please call the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University, 973-720-2654.

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For Further Information, contact:

Mary Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966