Photographer Jonah Boudreau. Photo by Katy KorkosLIBRARY News:
An exhibit of photographs by Jonah Boudreau opens to the public Saturday, Jan. 26, with an opening reception 3 to 5 p.m. at Mesa Public Library’s Upstairs Gallery.
Boudreau has created a body of work that speaks to his love of the natural world, and his grief about the death of that world. The photographs are dark and moody, to reflect Boudreau’s feelings.
“The planet’s expiration date is currently set at 2060,” Boudreau says in his artist statement. “We have built a culture off of resources from the earth we live on that once were bountiful and seemingly endless, all now depleted. All of us live still in this mindset of exploitation and ignore all the ways this mindset is counterintuitive; as a species we have come to choose comfort and ease over knowing what is around us and growing. We can not keep this up. The stakes are far too great, and generations previous have with good hearted naïveté set us up for destruction. Action must be taken to protect what we still have left to save.
“This show is my personal reflection of what we must preserve, what we must fight for. My desire is to drive activism in caring for nature, love, subtle beauties of existence, youth. I am displaying the pain being caused by our species and our countries’ decisions, felt by the youth and the mother earth; and I am mixing it with the unequivocal beauty that rises above all of it.”
The photos include landscapes and still life, as well as portraits that have the feel of landscapes. The artist has enhanced his show with writings that inspired his thinking.
The Upstairs Art Gallery is open to the public seven days each week. The art exhibitions and other programs are supported by Friends of Los Alamos County Libraries.
‘I Sit Alone With My Friends.’ Photo by Jonah Boudreau
‘Sometimes I Don’t Mind Being Alone.’ Photo by Jonah Boudreau