Ithaka Photography by Alexandra

Ithaka Photography by Alexandra Hedison Exhibit @ New York’s Gallery 28

The exhibit space was surprisingly compact but you wouldn’t realize it until you went inside. Just as soon as you walk in you are greeted by the huge Ithaka typeface on the off-white wall. No sooner you make the turn and enter the corridor you are captivated by the very first photograph tucked away. One that quietly invites you into the main literal subject matter the forest; this photo of the gross elements at play... water, land, clouds barely revealing lush green flora and fauna and not the rotting wood, perhaps even fire, destruction and deadwood that lie underneath. The journey begins with this familiar image at the outset. It sort of makes you move on somewhat hurriedly seeking more through a narrow corridor onto the main space; the said photo now squarely behind your back deserves another look; who knows perhaps towards the very end.

The main space has a cozy basement like feel and emanated warmth from a combination of red brick walls, intense lighting and the oversized dark green prints of Olympic National Forest that you are thrust into. You are left staring at a series of moss green photographs on the rough, slightly bedraggled and unfinished red brick walls that surround you. What catches your eye are the two photos of this jam-packed thickset side by side, plants, mosses, ferns, lichens and massive tree trunks all growing off and supporting each other in sheer epiphytic unruliness; their message below boldly proclaiming that this work is not about the literal subject of trees

As you move along photos of the forest you come upon another set of images punctuated by an excerpt of the poem Ithaka. This centers the exhibit and serves as yet another reminder of the journeys we take through life. This is best described in Alexandra’s own words as "A tangled mess" and "A beautiful chaos".

Continuing this saga across another photo of the dense forest there is once again a tongue in cheek reminder that this is NOT about the literal forest but rather process of discovery.

Finally, you come full circle to the Triptych; portraits that stand tall from the floor up depicting the personalities of the trees at various stages of the forest’s life. In an interview with curator Amelie Surget, Alexandra describes the becoming of this triptych as "that for me encapsulates the journey I took. In the first portrait, one hemlock is boldly at the center. In the second, the tree at the center is obscured by new growth. And in the third, it fades from view. This is the balance in the endless momentum, and in it I saw the limits of my own time span."

Then there are the black and white negative prints of these images juxtaposed along a single brick wall emphasizing the mystical and yet preciseness of some of what you have just seen. As you leave the main exhibit the way you entered you are face to face with this spectacular image of the elements, reminded of this marvellous journey taken and the continuous circle of life.

Report & Photographs by subject distance.