GRHS photo exhibit opening at station

‘Mind Over Matter,’ by Evan Graf, is on display at the Glen Ridge Train Station.

Although the opening night reception is not until Saturday, March 1, works by Glen Ridge High School photography students can be seen at the NJ Transit train station now.

These are students of arts educator Alyssa Herrera and their focus is portraiture.

Herrera said the exhibit features selected portrait photography by Photo 1 and AP Photo students, i.e., beginners and advanced students.

“Photo 1 students utilized professional lighting techniques to create portraits of their choice with symbolism to tell a visual story,” Herrera said. “For example, students who created self-portraits chose specific symbols to tell a visual story about who they are.

“AP students are in the middle of their sustained investigation portfolios for submitting to the AP Exam in May,” she continued, “and are creating works based on personal themes. They created portraits inspired by their own concepts and prompts including themes of identity, connection, nature, technology, and more.”

It was a difficult show to review at first. There was a penchant for the covert — hidden faces, double-exposures, but it was interesting to think what sort of photographers would develop from these works.

“Lost in the Phone,” a photo collage by Campbell Spillett, juxtaposed fragments of Yukon Territory maps with watery pools, palm trees and a young woman holding a camera. The “printing” process melded together all images mysteriously, yes, but what piqued the curiosity was the work’s intelligence. You sensed there was a single-minded photographer behind the images.

The eyes had it in these portraits with a number emphasizing the subject’s eyes. There were several reminiscent of ‘60s French New Wave cinema where characters were revealed as simply movie sensations when newspapers, posters — printed material, intruded.

In the exhibit, eyes peep over a newspaper or through it. When the viewer reads the newspaper hiding the face, they attach its meaning or meaninglessness of the printed word to the concealed face. “Knowledge,” by Priya Pyati and “Suspicion,” by Greydon Faulker brought this to mind.

Gabi Millitello’s “Counting Cards” was a tease with a girl’s portrait, a cameo within a bezel of playing cards. There were no jacks, kings or queens among the cards. So what was the sum of the numbers? Did it matter? A mysterious portrait of a lady leading the viewer into the weeds.

“What Lies Behind Our Eyes,” a photo collage by Willow Weinstein, was an especially brutal picture with blinded eyes. “Mind Over Matter,” by Evan Graf, was creepy enough: a double-faced boy behind “Silence of the Lambs” grillwork.

But the longer you stay and view the photos, the greater the chance your immediate impressions will ebb and you begin to discern emotional depth and richness.
“Fear,” by Annabelle Deas, can be appreciated for the subtle shift in the eyes of the subject. The photo is one of the few where a reaction is depicted naturally.

“Perfect Imperfections,” by Preston Wiley, is a hoot: a girl with sticky notes attached to her face. What is written on them is illegible, but no matter because everyone knows this feeling. Every high schooler, at one time or another, has experienced this self-consciousness.

In the same vein is Olivia Wohglemuth’s “Reflections of an Emotion” with small snapshots of a girl, in different attitudes, surrounding the straight-faced girl herself.
“Unease Inside Association,” by Aly Hoover, is a stellar composition. There is a girl, in the foreground, holding her forehead and glancing down. In the background are unidentified passer-bys. But at mid-ground, right behind the girl, is a passer-by with their arm swinging as if the pendulum of a ticking clock.

There is much more to the show. But if there was one drawback and maybe so with photography shows, there was little humor. This puts photography and painting into the same camp. There are few laughs in paintings, too.

Herrera said the train station show is a first look into the progress of the photography students so far this year and a sneak peek into the work that will be in the advanced students art show, in April at the Women’s Club of Glen Ridge.