FOTOFEST 2024

Paul Hester: Prisoners of Masculinity

Paul Hester: Prisoners of Masculinity is a re-examination of several projects made over a number of years. My purpose is to reconsider my own assumptions that influenced the original moments and critically think about the representation of masculinity in contemporary culture.

Approaches from documentary style to directorial mode are evident. Formats include multiple-printing of negatives on gelatin silver paper, black and white gelatin silver prints, interventions in the camera, photograms combined with negatives, distressing of negatives, appropriation of images, manipulations with the computer, collaging of text and images, and archival pigment printing.

Subjects range from Boy Scout competitions, livestock shows, street scenes, the State Fair of Texas, weddings, architectural photography assignments, a workshop with George Krause sponsored by the Houston Center for Photography, self-portraits, family, friends, students, strangers, paid models, brain surgery, camping trips, road trips, hallucinatory trips.

The time extends from 1966 to 2024.

Sarah Sudhoff: The Past is Ever Present

Sarah Sudhoff: The Past is Ever Present explores the use of cyanotypes, an alternative photographic process. The images created through the performance process are imprinted with lace patterns found in the windows and entrances to the homes in Galatina, Italy.

This new photographic, performative and textile-based work explores, through lace ornamentation, domestic roles, invisible labor, matriarchal lineage, and public/private expressions of self – the saintly, the erotic, the ornamental or mysterious.