Christopher Porché West - A Studio On Desire's photostream  

On Photography….

My philosophical interests in photography are to find threads that bind peoples of difference backgrounds who collectively are sustained by faith in life itself. For in each personal visage there is a connection with its origins, its sense of faith, its practices in crafts and arts, in human relations, in healing and meditation, which reflect that faith. In some ways photographic depictions are like the true existentialists, they "live in the moment." Thus, they are released from the burden of the past and without the fear of the future. Faces are approachable, for they hold something that invites reflection; and looking into their "hearts" there is lightness and a grace we might all emulate. The ultimate puzzle is that photographic visages hold the history of a people and the feelings in their hearts; we discover how they all fit together while we honor how each piece is not like any other.

Artist Statement

Porché West’s artful expresssions exists at the nexus of photography and sculpture, the point where photography and sculpture converge. Dramatic and thought-provoking photographs are “housed” within salvaged architectural elements adorned with thought-provoking, symbolic objects. The net effect is additive - the sum is greater than the parts - photographs encorported within sculpture deepen the meaning and message of the art.

It is Porché West’s contention that flat photographs fail to achieve the richness and dimensionality of photographic sculpture. Though a framed photograph can tell a good story, a photograph “housed” in sculpture gives a more nuances and deep narrative. Salvaged architectural debris door casings, flooring, window frames, knobs and pulls give the photograph a sense of place, an authenticity that comes from being at home in the soul of the artist’s works.

Porché West’s assemblage is cultural “curatorialism” masked as art. The simple behaviors and beliefs of ordinary people are universal and easily understood. Religious faith, death and burial rituals, celebration and suffering are comprehended, if not shared, by all humanity. To see one’s own emotions in the face of a Haitian child or the hands of an elderly woman in New Orleans, is to be reminded that that which binds us together is greater than that which divides us. We are in essence, one.

Eyes of Eagles: New Orleans' Black Mardi Gras Indians www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/822158

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