Obscura Gallery presents a photographic exhibition by Lebanese-born American artist Rania Matar entitled SHE which focuses on young women in the US and the Middle East who are leaving the cocoon of home and entering adulthood,  highlighting how female subjectivity develops in parallel forms across cultural lines. Artist and mother Rania Matar’s cross-cultural experiences inform her art. She has dedicated her art work to exploring issues of personal and collective identity through photographs of female adolescence and womanhood—both in the United States where she lives, and in the Middle East where she is from.
The Obscura Gallery exhibition is in conjunction with the Radius Books release of the same name and celebrates an opening reception with the artist on Wednesday, August 25 at Obscura Gallery from 5-7pm. The exhibition is on view August 25 – October 31, 2021.
Future Intercept transverses through time, rejecting western exotic, white gaze, stereotypes of Native people in America as a way to re-imagine the future of Indigenous and Native communities. Through the exploration of Futurism, we are presented with a narrative that looks back on a distraught past to reconstruct and foretell an impending future. By bending and folding the past and future as it collides, Apache artist Douglas Miles’ photo exhibition speaks on lineage and legacy within a community whose roots are deeply embedded across the Americas.
By appropriating online early images of Native Americans and juxtaposing them with his own contemporary photographs of his community, Douglas brings us from the past to the present day in a two dimensional image but creating a three dimensional reality. The contrast of his sharp contemporary imagery made with his hand-held smart phone, alongside often pixelated images found online of early Native American portraits, the viewer is transported through time both viscerally and literally.
There will be a reception with the artist on Friday, August 20, 2021 at Obscura Gallery from 5-7pm. The exhibition is on view August 6 – August 21, 2021.
Obscura Gallery is thrilled to present our 2021 Summer exhibition, Where Shadows Cease: Resonance of America’s Dream, with gallery artist Susan Burnstine. The prints in the exhibition include recent additions to Burnstine’s ongoing color series captured on self-made cameras, which explore the connections between the personal and collective unconscious during an unparalleled period in America. By infusing common dream themes and symbols found within the familiar, Susan Burnstine has observed commonly shared memories and universal representations found at places connected to the ethos of the “American Dream,†which reflect the collective hopes, fears and aspirations found in the social topography of America. Through revisiting iconic locations and landscapes across the United States she has explored corridors of this land through visual metaphor and symbolism as a means to uncover the hidden uniformities that reside within the nations’ collective unconscious in the present era.
The exhibition coincides with Susan’s workshop at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops and the artist reception will take place at Obscura Gallery on Thursday, July 29, from 5-7pm.
We are thrilled to share an exhibition of vintage photographs by Ernest Knee, a well-known photographer and cultural figure who lived in Santa Fe in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Knee is best known for his images of northern New Mexico and other southwestern cultural landscapes, Native American dances, and many other profound Southwest locations which reveal a remarkable visual record of the Southwest between 1930-40, comprised into two books: Santa Fe, N.M. (1942, Hastings House) and Ernest Knee in New Mexico (2005, Museum of New Mexico Press). Also included in the exhibition will be a selection of photographs from Mexico of which were published in his book, Mexico – Laredo to Guadalajara (1951, Hastings House).
Obscura is taking part in the virtual New York Antiques Show starting January 29 and on view through Sunday, January 31st 6:00pm MST. This show usually takes place at the Armory in NYC every year and is the largest antique show in the world.
Richard Dansberger, Glass Patterns, 1960, Vintage Gelatin Silver Print, 9.75 x 7.5″
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Obscura Gallery launches our 2021 season with a solo exhibition of Kurt Markus’s dune forms photographed in Namibia, Africa, home to the largest sand dunes in the world. These images celebrate the meditative beauty found in these sensual shapes and forms created by the winds and natural forces ever-changing this unique landscape set within the coastal desert of Namibia. This is Kurt’s second solo show at Obscura Gallery focusing on his personal work in the landscape, the first being an exhibition of Monument Valley landscapes in 2018. Markus approaches this landscape with the same respect and admiration, demonstrating his attunement with the natural world as one would be when impacted on a spiritual level. Many of the images included in the exhibition were taken at Sossusvlei, in the southern part of the Namib Desert, which is a salt and clay ‘pan’ surrounded by sand dunes uniquely red in color and which are 5 million years old.
HUGO BREHME, Cuernavaca, Mexico, c. 1920, 13.25 x 10.5″, gelatin silver print.
Obscura Gallery is excited to debut a solo exhibition by Hugo Brehme, one of the earliest Modern photographers working in Mexico in the early 20th Century. This photographic exhibition will include photographs and postcards focused on iconic Mexican subjects from that time period including scenic landscapes, colonial architecture, and the everyday life of indigenous peoples. Complementing the work of Hugo Brehme, we will also have a small selection of work by Manuel Alvarez Bravo, a prominent Modern Mexican photographer heavily influenced by Brehme, as well as Mexican photographer Manuel Carrillo who resonated his predecessor in the beauty and authenticity of photographing his culture in the mid to later part of the 20th Century.
HUGO BREHME, Amecameca, Mexico, c. 1920’s, 13 x 10.25″, gelatin silver print.
ALINE SMITHSON, Still Life Altered, from Fugue States, 2020, Archival pigment ink print, 16 x 16″, edition of 8.
We are offering a fifteen percent discount and free shipping on any purchases made from this special Holiday 2020 Edition through December 31, 2020. Just use the code HOLIDAY2020 at the checkout on our website. For the works that have a price on request, please inquire with us at here for more information.
Obscura Gallery is proud to have facilitated a grant between one of our Gallery artists we represent, Manuello Paganelli, and the grantee Sharon Chischilly, a young Native American Navajo student at University of New Mexico for her photographic work on the Navajo reservation during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sharon Chischilly for The New York Times Nathaniel Garcia outside his home near Window Rock, Ariz. The coronavirus has killed more than 500 people in Navajo Nation.
Manuello Paganelli offers a small photojournalism grant each year to a deserving individual and this year he wanted to focus on giving the grant to a young Native American photojournalist. With University of New Mexico student Sharon Chischilly’s name on the forefront of our minds because of her incredible Covid-19 work showcased most recently in the New York Times, we shared her work with Paganelli and he was equally impressed.
“I received the name of Sharon Chischilly through Jennifer Schlesinger, the owner/curator of Obscura Gallery. From there I read a NYTimes article and saw the work she has been doing within her Native community on the heavy told Covid-19 has taken on them. I was quite impressed by the maturity, seriousness and depth of her work†– Manuello Paganelli
My name is Sharon Chischilly. I’m a junior at the University of New Mexico and a student photojournalist at the New Mexico Daily Lobo. I began my professional journalism career at the Daily Lobo in August of 2019, and since the pandemic started my work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Getty Images, and more. I have been documenting the COVID-19 pandemic in the Navajo Nation since the first cases surfaced on the Navajo homeland in March. I would use this grant to start saving up for a second camera to help me document the scenes on the ground in my homeland.
Sharon Chischilly for Navajo Times Miss Navajo Nation Shaandiin Parrish helps distribute homemade facemasks and hand sanitizer to families in vehicles on Aug. 20 in Chinle
Sharon Chischilly was born and raised in the Navajo Nation, an area that has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last six months, Chischilly’s photography has been featured in the Navajo Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and other international outlets and as of November 16, she accepted a full-time position with The Navajo Times starting on November 23, 2020.
Sharon Chischilly for the Navajo Times Biden/Harris supporter Cindy Honani stands outside the Navajo Nation Council Chamber while holding a sign above her head to protect herself from the snow in Window Rock in late October.
Sharon has also been photographing the Election 2020, and one of her videos has garnered over five million views on Twitter. Captured in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she was in the area photographing the community’s reaction to the election results when she caught sight of Ashkia “Kia†Randy as he left his car idling and jumped out onto Downtown Central Avenue to spontaneously perform a portion of a men’s northern traditional storytelling dance. Trujillo’s dance was part of a larger community celebration in honor of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s defeat of Donald J. Trump in the 2020 presidential election. The dance is one that has been done for generations “to depict a successful hunt or a victorious battle†depending on the dancer, Trujillo said to the Daily Lobo in an interview. Sharon Chischilly captured the moment on video and posted it to her Instagram and Twitter accounts where the video had garnered 240,000 likes, over 34,000 retweets and more than 9,000 overwhelmingly positive comments. A number of verified Twitter users shared the video, including the rapper Common, Congresswoman Deb Haaland and actor and Indigenous rights activist Mark Ruffalo.
Manuello Paganelli of Italian-Cuban descent, grew up in Santo Domingo, Italy and Puerto Rico. After a mentorship with Ansel Adams, he worked as a photojournalist at the Chattanooga Times. In 1989, he began to explore Cuba, its land, its people, and its complex relationship with the USA. In 1995, he had his first solo photo show of his work on Cuba and that same year earned him a fellowship grant. The Washington Post wrote “Manuello Paganelli’s Cuban photographs are a brilliant window on a land and people too long hidden from North American eyes. Working in the tradition of Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank, Paganelli brings an artist’s eyes and a native son’s sensibility to his superb photographs.â€
In the early 1990s, he started work on his Black Cowboys series with a selection being featured at the Annenberg Space for Photography. In the summer of 2012, this same series was selected for the Photo Vernissage at the Manage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. His award-winning work has graced the covers and pages of many well-known magazines including GQ, LIFE, Bloomberg Business Week, Forbes, Newsweek, Men’s Journal, People, Time, Reader’s Digest, ESPN, Sports Illustrated and many more.
“Home on the Range: An Artistic Exploration of Cowboys in the Southwest presents the work of four contemporary photographers — Joan Myers, Kurt Markus, Manuello Paganelli, and William Albert Allard — as well as historic photos by Huffman and Elsa Spear Edwards Byron. Their imagery captures more than a century of changes in the Western landscape and the ranching life, and challenge our ideas of the West as an American idyll.” – Michael Abatemarco, Pasatiempo, October 9, 2020
The exhibition features a selection of photographs from Obscura Gallery’s contemporary photographers William Albert Allardand his legendary Vanishing Breed cowboy book; Kurt Markus’spoignant cowboy photographs from his three volumes of cowboy books including the seminal After Barbered Wire; selections from Joan Myers’ recently published Where the Buffalo Roamed – photographs of the ‘new’ West; andManuello Paganelli’sphotographs of African American cowboys in the West. In addition, the exhibition will include photographs by legendary 19th Century ranching photographer Laton Alton (LA) Huffman from Montana, as well as images from one of the first female ranching photographers, Elsa Spear Edwards Byron. In addition, Brant Mackley Gallery will be exhibiting a selection of Navajo saddle blankets and Northern Plains Indian beadwork from the late 19th through early 20th Century as well as other related material.
DOUGLAS MILESÂ – LA VIE EN RES
An online exhibition of photography-based media by Douglas Miles, whose work is rooted in Apache history and deeply engaged with the world of contemporary pop culture.
August 13 – September 7, 2020
We are thrilled to present an online exhibition with the photographic work of San Carlos Apache-Akimel O’odham artist Douglas Miles whose artistic work is rooted in Apache history and deeply engaged with the world of contemporary pop culture. Douglas Miles (b. 1963) is a multi-faceted artist working as a designer, filmmaker, muralist and photographer who blends Native history with political resistance. His work encourages reflection on how art can foster community-building and promote pride and well-being, especially among young Native people. The photographs in this online exhibition include portraits of Miles’ community of family and friends taken in San Carlos, Arizona, as well as the places Miles has traveled with his Apache Skateboards team in Utah, Navajo Nation, Los Angeles, Phoenix, AZ and other locations. The exhibition also includes images from the The Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Phoenix, Arizona in June and July of 2020.
DOUGLAS MILES, Bonnie Skates, 2020, 13 x 19″, archival pigment ink print, edition of 15.
In coordination with what would have been the busiest month in Santa Fe known worldwide for the celebration of Native American art markets all throughout our city, we had been planning an exhibition of the exciting work of Miles for nearly a year. We had to change our exhibition plan and schedule several times to accommodate the sporadic nature of the Covid pandemic. We hope you will enjoy Douglas’ online exhibition, and when the time is right again, we will be honored to have Miles’ work grace the walls of our gallery.
DOUGLAS MILES, Bex Paints in the Night, 2019-2020, 13 x 19″, edition of 15.
With themes that cover tradition as well as modernity, a major focus in Douglas Miles’ artistic work is on Apache warriors, dancers and musicians. Through these images, he hopes to instill a sense of pride and empowerment in his subjects. Miles sometimes adds the names of important chiefs and warriors to his work in the style of street art, be it hand-cut stencils, murals or graffiti.
DOUGLAS MILES, Faceless Kimono 2019-2020, 13 x 19â€, archival pigment ink print, edition of 15
The warrior is an important image in Apache history and their greatness is at times forgotten, even amongst the Apache. I hope to reignite the strength, endurance, leadership and tenacity of the warriors of the past thru art, education and political awareness in all communities. – Douglas Miles
DOUGLAS MILES, Breeze Graffiti, 2019-2020, 13 x 19â€, archival pigment ink print, edition of 15
Miles developed and founded Apache Skateboards in 2002, a program designed to support the athleticism of skateboarding that emulates the strength, endurance and tenacity of warriors. Since its original inception, the program has expanded to include the arts, education, political awareness and empowerment by connecting mainstream skateboard culture with contemporary Native life. Many of the skateboard designs depict Apache warriors and the youth of the San Carlos Apache reservation on skateboard decks.
The skate team is comprised of women and men so you’ll see them [in the photos] as well.. I’m not an action sports photographer, mainly portraits. My skate team is probably the most innovative group I’ve ever worked with. They’ve used skateboarding as a way to build community and created excitement in Native Youth across Indian Country. – Douglas Miles
DOUGLAS MILES, Off the Reservation 2019-2020, 13 x 19â€, archival pigment ink print, edition of 15.
Of his photography he says, I’m in love with the people , the faces, the times and the spirit they convey in each face.… I marry social media platforms and graphics with my photos and other borrowed imagery adding and layering the meanings and messages I want. To use social media the way it’s intended you have to see the world around you as a quick communication platform . Maybe I reclaimed some space but really just not sure if that’s what I’m really doing. I don’t feel I’m reclaiming anything at times . I’m really making my own space in my own image in my own time for my own people. It’s needed. Lack or representation plagues Native people. These photos punch up into those systemic barriers that keep us out of a larger cultural conversation. It’s about time.
Miles enjoys collaboration with other artists in almost all forms of his work and has worked with such artists as actor and author Ethan Hawke and artist Greg Ruth on a New York Times bestseller graphic novel, Indeh: A Story of the Apache Wars. He’s also collaborated with actress and artist LivÃndrea Knoki on a selection of pieces with text and image in this exhibition including the Yves Saint Le Res and the Your Song pieces.
