andrew baris
andrew baris
andrew baris
andrew baris
andrew baris
andrew baris
andrew baris
Andrew Baris is a Connecticut-based artist and educator working in the Hartford area. He received his BFA from the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford, where he developed a practice centered on analog photographic processes and themes of aging and chronic illness. Today, Andrew’s art relies on a variety of photographic and digital media processes as well as a strong proclivity toward photo books. He continues to explore ideas surrounding aging, as well as memory, and how perception and nostalgia work at odds. With a background in printmaking, books and zines are a regular creative outlet for Andrew, exploring how images create a dialogue through arrangement in a series. Recently, Andrew was published in Z3NE by the photo collective Zone Magazine based in Istanbul, selected to be in Vermont Center for Photography’s Why We Look juried exhibition and prepared his student’s artwork for their annual community art show.
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recent work:
This collection of images is not a formal series but an exploration of thoughts, memories, and everyday surroundings. Currently, I am concerned with the tension between perception, memory, and nostalgia—how the idea of something can feel grander than reality, yet the memory itself seems authentic. I am therefore exploring and making images of familiar places while meditating on memories from decades ago. Though the landscapes have changed, they remain recognizable—just as I have changed yet stayed the same. Technology has advanced, thus images I might have created years ago would further look different today. Still, I choose to revisit these places and sometimes playfully alter the images, seeking a faint echo of memory or nostalgia. Even as I review old images a new layer of change can inform the work much like the recall of a memory. I know these scenes are not exactly as they were, but time and repeated recollection have reshaped my perception. What remains is a dreamlike version of the past that I try to recreate through my work.
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untitled dad:
This body of work is an on going exploration of my relationship with my father. My father is Bi-polar and has been in and out of my life since I was a teenager. Thinking about idolization of the Dad and what a father is in the 21st century I try to make sense of how a lack of time spent together, as well as his struggle with mental health have affected our connection. I am photographically exploring the physical, emotional, and time based space that is prevalent in the relationship with my father.
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It's All Down Cellar
In this project I photographically explore issues of loss, change, youth, and old age. My working process is slow, as I use a 4x5 inch view camera which allows a breadth of conversation, thoughts, and feelings to evolve naturally between my subject and myself. Particularly I am looking at how illness can devolve the family dynamic. My grandmother was the matriarch of our family. As a child I witnessed her hosting family gatherings, taking care of all her children's children (including myself at one time), and being a loving wife. In 2014 she was diagnosed with dementia, and with that came a loss of personal identity. The stillness of space around my grandfather became a way to investigate the void left by his wife’s absence. The documentation of my family became even more complex after I was diagnosed with diabetes. My apprehension of change and aging intensified and the subject of loss became important for me to explore deeper. Photographing the landscape became a form of catharsis for me, and within the context of the series the images formed a visual representation of change. I began to make more self-portraits both inside and out, and the changing seasons seemed to correlate with my developing sensibility. Using photography I have established a basis for making art through personal incident. The relationships depicted in the imagery offer a glimpse into the complex nature of family and it's shifting dynamics. While this family is mine, the transference of thought and emotion is universal.
andrew baris
