Annie Buhrone

Finding solace in moments of great tension, my work often considers dynamics of power, relationships (specifically mother/daughter, siblings, and sisterhood), and the incessant desires to return to one’s past. Whether these elements are apparent and present or not, they serve as the foundations for my visual thought processes, guiding my eyes first, mind sec- ond. I am continuously enamored with the subliminal power of photography. Through the act of making photographs, collecting, gaining, and remembering, I began an ongoing project centered around my sisters and I. Simultaneously existing as ourselves and as each other, together we embody three different versions of the same woman. The motivation to make this work came from my desire to reconcile our beginnings and honor our unified present.

This work, for now, mainly consists of black and white 4x5 photographs. In the beginning, I was shooting 35mm, Holga, and Polaroid, I was pulling from the family archive, but I wasn’t feeling satisfied until I turned over to large format. The process is slow, meditative, one that forces me to step back, reconsider, formalize. The images it produces have such a transformational quality; now they are an invitation to not only look, but step into the backyard with us, the front porch, the parking lot. Moving forward, this work will change as my sisters and I change. In the current moment, the 4x5 suits us. It is a celebration of our girlhoods while we relish in the progression from young adults to grown women

@anniebuhrone anniebuhrone.com

Annie Buhrone

What are five things that influenced your thesis project?

› Roxi Pop › Stacy King › Liz Albert › Chucky Carbone › Jillian Lemons.

How would you describe the visual language in your art?

Muted, symbolic, analytical, tense, subconscious. I initially struggled by trying to deliberately define what concepts were influencing and important to my work. Through research and personal reflection, I find it best to do as I please, utilizing photographic processes and materials as a communication line between my inner and outer lives, trusting my subconscious to provide connections to my future self. The work, consisting of photographs (found and created), collages, collections, bits of paper, remembered and noticed patterns, wasted film all serve as documentation, experimentation, markers of time. My practice realizes itself through experimenta- tions in both the traditional image making process and new potentials in materiality of The Image. My practice embraces fluidity for sake of pleasure in the present moment, and seeing if it sticks. The process of creating a relationship with a body of work fosters a layered consciousness, allowing my visual language to offer my experience while also remaining mysterious, in motion, and empathetic.