You are alive. What does that mean? Living is fundamental. But, it’s possible to live without ever being alive. Aliveness exists beyond the biological requisites. To be alive is to realize and maximize our passions, our gifts, and our purpose. Five Alive is inspired by a chapter in Radical Curiosity. The book proposes aliveness as a moral responsibility. The artists featured responded to the essential questions:
- How can we pursue meaning as an antidote to the state of languishing?
- How and in what ways is spontaneity critical to self-actualization and collective actualization?
- How can photography be a language for curiosity?
- What spaces and conditions create the greatest opportunity for human potential to flourish?
Five Alive is an exhibition that demands that we consider and reflect upon this central truth: The mean task we all share is to be Alive; we have a responsibility to be Alive and to do so as best we can for as long as we can. ¡Olé!
Kannetha Brown | Cat Laine | Rafael Medina | Jonathan Pitts-Wiley
What spaces and conditions create the greatest opportunity for human potential to flourish?
As a first generation Cambodian-American and fourth-year photography student, I have been drawn to creating work that responded to the increased xenophobia brought on by the pandemic. Amid the despair and uncertainty, I saw Providence, my city, build bonds like never before as there was a deep recognition that unity was key to my community’s collective survival. Despite the hardships, I noticed a distinct pride growing in our shared histories; pride in our foods, our traditions, and the keepers of our memories. With a desire to visualize these important stories, to contribute to the historical record of this moment and how we survived, I began photographing my community; these families, friends, and individuals who comprise my strong circle of recent immigrants and their children. With a desire to contribute to the historical record of this moment and how we survived, photographing my community became the focus of my thesis work. I use my large format camera to reclaim our extensive histories and connect us together. I’m reminded that this work–my life's work–came as a response to what we need most: spaces and places where we can find human connection, support, unity, visibility, and vulnerability with one another.
– Kannetha Brown
Peter Ting and Sophia Oeung, 2022
11x14
$450
Thanadron (Mikey) Phenglee, 2022
Inkjet Print on Archival Paper
11x14
$450
Alex and Kelly Yan, 2022
Inkjet Print on Archival Paper
11x14
$450
Song Kim, 2022
11x14
Sold
Chan Ting and Sophia Ting, 2022
Inkjet Print on Archival Paper
11x14
$450
How can photography be a language for curiosity?
This work was inspired by Otomo Katsuhiro, Juan Gatti, Rene Gruau, Maya Deren, and Hans Feurer. The images I chose for this exhibit are one-frame psychodramas in exuberant color. They are an invitation into my subconscious whose terrain I explored through an intense daily art practice in 2022. I present minimal iPhone self-portraits that focus on the body. These are intimate diary entries scribbled in light. Why self-portraiture? Much of the photography I loved as a young artist was created by men whose respect and care for their female subjects left much to be desired. But I needed a body I could puppeteer and have available at my whim. I needed to be able to make demands without the stain of exploitation. So I made a muse of myself. Why color? For me, the question is “Why not color?”Color is passion, energy, aliveness, and hyperreality. Color is the feeling of high noon set against a cloudless sky.
– CAT LAINE
Shell, 2022
Inkjet Print on Archival Paper
11x14
$400
Turn Out the Light, 2022
11x14
$400
Passionfruit and Willow, 2022
Inkjet Print on Archival Paper
11x14
Sold
Flood, 2022
11x14
$400
Meshes of the Afternoon, 2022
Inkjet Print on Archival Paper
11x14
$400
How can we pursue meaning as an antidote to the state of languishing?
A few months ago, I began to feel a little bored with some of the work I was producing in Providence, where I do most of my shooting. I felt like I was hitting a brick wall and wasn’t making the progress I was hoping for, so I decided to take a photography trip on my own to Washington DC. Street photography is all about taking the time to be present and truly observe your surroundings. While initially reticent due to being in an unfamiliar space,once I started getting closer to my subjects, I quickly remembered how satisfying it is to take that leap. I couldn’t be happier with the experience. Getting lost in a brand-new environment in order to shake off the languishing that can come with an overabundance of the familiar truly ignited my creativity.
– RAFAEL MEDINA
Lost in DC, 2022
11x14
$300
Wrong Way, 2022
Inkjet Print on Archival Paper
11x14
$300
The Transaction, 2022
Inkjet Print on Archival Paper
11x14
$300
Lost in DC, 2022
11x14
$300
Wrong Way, 2022
Inkjet Print on Archival Paper
11x14
$300
How and in what ways is spontaneity critical to self-actualization and collective actualization?
When selecting work for this exhibition, my own criteria were fairly simple: no planned or directed photos. Embracing the spontaneous requires a certain humility, faith, and commitment to being truly present in the moment. Spontaneity demands that we absorb and evolve on terms that we do not dictate. Often–and for good reasons–we consider the spontaneous or unplanned to be the stuff of chaos and imbalance. Even in moments of spontaneous joy, we often overlook the sense of equilibrium these moments afford. Some very timely reading helped me better understand what Henri Cartier-Bresson was articulating when discussing “the decisive moment” for photographers. As Michael Rubin notes, these moments are not about preserving quintessence; they are about composition, about recognizing those “fleeting moments where moving objects align naturally in the frame. Photography of this sort is proof that actualization, on the individual and collective level, is possible. What is an actualized life but a series of decisive moments?
– JONATHAN PITTS-WILEY
Right of Way, 2020
Inkjet Print on Archival Paper
11x14
$400
Jump Ball, 2022
11x14
$475
Town & Country, 2019
Inkjet Print on Archival Paper
11x14
$475
Hands On, 2019
11x14
$400
Communion, 2020
Inkjet Print on Archival Paper
11x14
$400
If you're interested in purchasing a print, please send an email with the subject line "Five Alive Gallery Purchase Inquiry" to liz.newton@curiosityand.company