UA associate professor Christopher Jordan will hold a talk about his newly published book, Nowhere in Place (GFT Publishing, 2021) at Ernest and Hadley Booksellers in Tuscaloosa on August 26, 2021, at 5 pm. Registration is required.
Jordan’s book explores the meeting place between meditation and photography with pictures Jordan has taken in his travels to Alabama, Colorado and India. Jordan’s practice is to meditate before going out to take pictures, which allows him to “see the world in fresh ways, appreciating overlooked details that might escape a mind preoccupied with business-as-usual.”
A common denominator in all of Jordan’s work is a sense of place and how photography can be used for reflection, memory and contemplation. Jordan, who is an associate professor of photography at UA, says that he also maintains an intensive “householder” spiritual practice, integrating yoga, meditation and mindfulness into his life and work. His photographs have appeared in Diffusion: Unconventional Photography, Lenscratch, the national traveling photography exhibition, “Spinning Yarns” and numerous exhibitions in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
“The photograph for me becomes a timeless visual meditation, a record of what was seen and heard and felt; it is also an opportunity to see an image right now. Awareness through photography is always in the present tense, independent of time. Awareness thus delights in the flow of the senses, and awareness can become the flow itself and the delight. Awareness is everywhere, enabling the multi-sensory aspects of vision, looking inward and outward. Things and places are felt, seen, heard, and recognized all at once. It is when this convergence happens that I snap the shutter and make a picture.” – Christopher Jordan, Nowhere in Place, page 133
Ernest and Hadley Booksellers is located on 1928 7th Street in Tuscaloosa. For more information, call (205) 632-5331. Due to current COVID-19/DELTA conditions, E&H Booksellers requires everyone attending the event to be vaccinated and wear a mask. They ask that attendees show their vaccination record along with a valid ID upon entry. For this reason, children under 12 are not able to attend. To register and find out more information, go to this page.
To find out more about the book, go to this page or to Christopher Jordan’s website. Jordan will also present an exhibition of his work from Nowhere in Place at Harrison Galleries, November 5-22, with a First Friday opening reception, Nov. 5, 6-9 pm. More information about that is forthcoming.
For more information about The University of Alabama’s programs in art history and studio art, visit our Degree Programs page.