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Susan Rochester

The Arts Center Exhibit(s):

• '9th Around Oregon Annual Exhibition,' October, 2011

Statement:

I’ve had a camera around my neck since I was 12 years old. My first darkroom was in the laundry room, with trays across the washer and dryer, and the enlarger propped on the toilet tank. I now work in a purpose-built darkroom, and in alternative, film, and digital processes. I believe the character of each project determines which film and printing formats are best for the images.

This particular series is based upon childhood memories of long automobile trips. Every year my family would travel from our home in Los Angeles to visit my grandparents in Southern Idaho. We would leave in the early morning hours, and drive straight through in one very long day. As the light changed across the basin and range of Nevada, I would imagine the hills to be slumbering beasts, and that our passing would awaken them to gallop alongside us until we outpaced them. In more recent years while saddling my own real-life horse, I was struck by the similarity in form between my horse’s back and the hills across our valley, and from that passing observation this series evolved. Where once I sought horse forms in landscapes, I now seek land forms in horsescapes.

Visit Susan Rochester's website.