ok, so now, almost 2 months later, i finally posted pictures from my MFA thesis show. i also figured getting my artist statement up would be a good idea as well. so here it is:

Reflections
By Christine Rothgeb

My photographs at this stage are primarily of women. I choose to photograph women because there is a closeness I feel with them, knowing that we share at least that common gender trait. These are women with whom I am friends, and have come to realize that we share similar traits and experiences. However, within the beginnings of these feelings of closeness I realize there is a distance that is still between us. We are together, but still isolated from one another. There is a pain, I find, that we cannot truly know one another and I begin to wonder if we can ever fully know ourselves. This pain is evident in many of my photographs, whether it comes from an expression on one of my subject’s faces or whether it is the processes that are used.
To demonstrate the distance between us, there is always something separating the viewer from the subject. All of my pieces start out as a straight forward photograph, and already a separation occurs. The subject of the image is now silenced, unmoving, and trapped within the frame of the photograph. The viewer is real and the photograph is only a representation of a person. I further emphasize the separation by manipulating the image; it is different from photograph to photograph, but there is a layering that occurs. Some of them have various images of the person collapsed together, others have additional textured surfaces that divide.
The presence of the person in the frame, and the veiling that occurs, begins to set up an interesting interaction. There is a sense of wanting to be seen, but also wanting to be hidden at the same time. The lighting plays a profound part in this, as every image is lit using a spotlight method. Theatrically speaking, the person with the spotlight on them is the person to which you are supposed to pay attention. However, there is a feeling of receding into the darkness, as if it is only a fleeting moment. The spotlight also emphasizes the loneliness to which I am alluding. The person in the frame is isolated just as the person on the stage in the spotlight is. They are in the presence of others but they are still alone.