A 1/4 plate ambrotype that I made of John Coffer in 2008 appears in the trailer for Artists & Alchemists, a documentary film on artists in the digital age working to revive 19th century photographic processes. (@ 1:01 on the YouTube video). The film will be released this year.
John Coffer - Ambrotype by Bryan Hiott
April 3, 2012 at 6:16 pm
Dear Bryon,
Ten years ago you wrote a very kind, generous and perceptive review of work I did that was shown at the Figurworks Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The drawings were of former child soldiers whom I had met at two rehabilitation centers in Gulu, Northern Uganda. You spoke of the pain and anger you saw in the pieces and commented about what I left out rather than what I included. It is a rare thing for an artist’s intention to be understood and I was very grateful to for your kind words. The review was never published but that was secondary to the compliment you paid me with your attention.
We have been working for these ten years to send former child soldiers to school. We now have 7 who have graduated from college and 17 presently in college including one in medical school; many have finished high school. We had intended to simply keep them from re-abduction from their remote villages by sending them to boarding school: their education was secondary in our minds. But they grasped the opportunity and have excelled beyond anything we could have imagined.
This past year I visited Uganda and took photographs at a party we held for our students and their families. I have been working on a series of these happy faces and hope that I have captured their joy and pride. My first series was of tortured incomplete children. These new pieces are of determined and happy adults who have worked hard towards a productive and hopeful future.
These new pieces will be shown from April 27th to June 2nd (reception May 11) at the Figureworks Gallery along with a few of the previous portraits. I hope that you will visit the gallery, not necessarily to write a review but to celebrate with me the success of these remarkable and determined young people.
Thank you,
Mary Westring