Angie Huffman | Hindsight | THELMA Exhibition

Huffman is drawn to images and moments initially overlooked or dismissed by others. She finds many compelling, especially when cropped in ways that further enhance their composition and narrative. Processing and rendering moments through her eye and hand at scales that feel appropriate for them adds an intimacy and a relationship between her, them, and the viewer that further traditional photographic printing would not.

Huffman creates work with the hope that a sense of nostalgia is evoked in the viewer, that they feel like maybe they experienced the moment themselves before, or at least a similar one. Compositions chosen leave the interpretation and definition of their narrative up to each viewer.

Recent source material has come from old family photographs that were determined to be unworthy of display often due to not conforming to societal norms, such as having figures that are not smiling or adequately composing themselves for the camera. Long forgotten in storage, they now act as found objects saved from disposal that Huffman has little personal attachment to, but great aesthetic appreciation of.

Figures in the work are selected to counteract in a small way the power in the repetition of the advertising we all consume throughout our lives. What is asserted to be ideal is thrust upon us, when reality will rarely match it, and should not have to. Such pressure has asserted many largely-subconscious expectations upon women and children, of how they should look, act, and behave. To counteract this, the body of work is focused primarily on women and children living their lives without immediate concern, or arguably with dismissal, of the viewer as a stand-in for society and its pressures and expectations. Huffman hopes that viewers can connect with the work and see beauty in it, without the figure having been manufactured for them.

 

Huffman's exhibition "Hindsight" will be on display in THELMA's gallery from December 20th, 2024 through January 31st, 2025. Opening reception December 20th at 5:30pm.