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Gadsden Museum Features UA Photography Professor

photograph of a swamp
Christopher Jordan, from “Still Waters,” exhibition at the Gadsden Museum of Art, 2019

A solo exhibition featuring the art work of Associate Professor Christopher Jordan opens August 2 at the Gadsden Museum of Art in Gadsden, Alabama. A reception will be held Friday, September 6, from 5-7 p.m. and will run through September 27, 2019.

The photographs in the show, titled Still Waters, are “an extended meditation on stillness, natural beauty and the importance of healthy wetlands,” Jordan said. He made the images at Perry Lakes Preserve, near Marion, Alabama. “This cluster of oxbow lakes is an Alabama treasure, featuring cypress swamps, lush vegetation, and impressive biodiversity, he said, describing the area. “I especially resonate with the early mornings and late afternoons, when the sun, shining from lower angles, illuminates the trees against the water and dense forest beyond. It is almost as if the trees begin to emit their own light. In these conditions, the visual interplay between the trees, plants, surface reflections and the blur due to long exposures, can create wonderful kaleidoscopic effects that can be both experienced and photographed.”

Jordan made the images in a classical landscape style, using a large-format (4”x 5”) view camera to create the photographs on black and white film, between 2009 and 2013. He said that it has taken several years to determine the best printing process. “Ultimately, Jordan said, “the film was scanned, enhanced, and printed digitally 2017-2019.”

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Christopher Jordan
photograph of trees in a swamp
Christopher Jordan, from “Still Waters,” exhibition at the Gadsden Museum of Art, 2019

While Jordan says his photography has engaged many styles, ranging from classical large-format, black-and-white images to experimental material-based approaches, to digital, a common denominator is a sense of place and how photography can be used for reflection, memory and contemplation. He also maintains an intensive “householder” spiritual practice, integrating yoga, meditation and mindfulness into his life and work. Jordan’s photographs have appeared in Diffusion: Unconventional Photography, Lenscratch, the national travelling photography exhibition, “Spinning Yarns” and numerous exhibitions in the United States, Canada and Mexico. A book of Jordan’s photography, Nowhere in Place, is scheduled for publication in 2020.

The Gadsden Museum of Art is located at 515 Broad Street, Gadsden, Ala. For more information about the exhibition or any of their programs, contact the museum at (256) 546-7365 or email gmagadsden@gmail.com.

For more information about The University of Alabama’s programs in studio art and art history, visit our Degree Programs page.