A Sense of Place
I am participating in the exhibition A Sense of Place at PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, Vermont, United-States. The exhibition will run from June 7 to 28, 2024 at the gallery, and the online version will be posted on the site permanently. A link to the participants' website or e-mail is available at the bottom of each photograph in the exhibition.
Link to the online gallery: https://photoplacegallery.com/online-juried-shows/a-sense-of-place-2/gallery/online-gallery
Printed catalog of the exhibition
Juror's Statement
"For this exhibit, “a sense of place” is an understanding of the essence of a place as seen through the eyes of the photographer. Using light, composition and content, the photographer evokes a deeper understanding of place by selecting details so that the viewer knows how it smells and feels and sounds there — what it’s like to stand where the photographer stood."
I used this guidance in trying to choose works that answered the call. I also took liberties using my own personal ideas about place.
When one begins to digest the concept of place, one must consider the inhabitants of the land as well and those places that are connected to it by migratory birds and animals like the salmon, the swallows and the turtle doves.
In thinking about a sense of place, many looked for widening skies, the poetry of tides and light as well as a communion of man to the earth, sea, sky, along with a dash of an obsession with the wind. I personally see place as a buildup of all of these observations and liken it to uncovering a secret in interstitial time with a sort of detachment as we wait for something to happen.
Christopher Isherwood in his “Goodbye to Berlin” wrote, “I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking. Recording the man shaving at the window opposite and the woman in the kimono washing her hair. Someday, all this will have to be developed, fixed and carefully printed.”
Thank you to PhotoPlace Gallery and to all of the photographers who submitted to “A Sense of Place” and for allowing me the opportunity to observe all of your works that I will embed in my memory for another day.
— Paula Tognarelli
About the juror
Paula Tognarelli recently retired after a long run as Executive Director of the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA. As the executive director she produced approximately 54 exhibitions per year, having started as an intern in 2001. She graduated from Boston University’s Masters in Art Administration program in 2003. Prior to a museum career, she spent 25 years in the printing industry contributing to the graphic arts industry’s efforts of moving analog processes to completely digital workflows.
Paula frequently reviewed at national and local portfolio events and jumpstarted hundreds of photographers’ careers. She has also juried and curated well over 100 exhibitions for other institutions nationally and internationally.
About the Gallery
PhotoPlace Gallery offers monthly, juried photographic exhibitions to photographers worldwide, each with a new topic and internationally recognized juror. Juror gallery selections are exhibited in the physical gallery in Middlebury, Vermont, and all juror selections are permanently displayed on the website.
Since the founding in 2009, the gallery has gained a reputation for exhibiting photography of a high level of excellence, while promoting photographers and providing them with tools to further promote their own work. To that end, the gallery encourages photographers to provide their social media and website addresses when enrolling.
