TERN gallery will present “The Other Side Of The Pentaprism: Six Photographers In Conversation” – a photographic exhibition presenting the work of female contemporary artists from the Caribbean.
The work of Tamika Galanis, Melissa Alcena, Jodi Minnis, Leanne Russell, Lynn Parotti and Tiffany Smith will be shown during the August 26 to October 30 exhibition.
A key tool in photography, the pentaprism is a five-faced reflective surface that refracts light at a 90-degree angle. This type of prism is used in a traditional single-lens reflex camera, reinverting the image in the viewfinder that is sent to the eye by the camera’s lens. Hence, the image that is received by the brain has been transformed in order to deliver the viewer a version of “reality”. A pentaprism corrects the inverted image caused by the cameras’ lens – without the pentaprism, the viewfinder would display an upside-down world.
While mirrors purport to display veracity, they are also capable of manipulation, through angles or flaws, yet still are credited with mediating the “unvarnished truth”. In photographs, subjects can be arranged “naturally” while specific lighting, makeup, or constructed and considered poses may mimic authenticity, creating a narrative sold as truth when it actually distorts.
In Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass”, Alice traverses the reflective plane to discover a topsy-turvy world where everything is reversed, including logic itself. But what if the “other side” were, in fact, the natural order? What if our side – the constructed world around us – is the “alternate reality” that has been fabricated to appear “normal”? What if the odd, inverted or strange is in fact the world we seek?
“The Other Side Of The Pentaprism” (re-)mirrors a vision of the Caribbean as it is, but seldom is seen. The artists in this show are the pentaprism, filtering their gaze through their creative vision. Revealing a different universe while questioning the “real” one people inhabit. The exhibit upsets the narratives and histories many people have been taught, showing that the norms and status quo are truly mad.
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