Among 320 entrants, curators Matt Avignone and David Weinberg have selected fourteen young and emerging photographers for inclusion in their juried show, held as part of the Filter Photo Festival. All the work on display, concentrating on various forms of portraiture, city and landscapes, is well-crafted and, more importantly, distinctive, betraying an edge that disturbs normal genre expectations in striking ways, even when subtle. The standouts here are from two performance portraitists: Natalie Krick, shooting in color, and Emma Powell, printing cyanotypes. Krick’s vivid close-up image of her mother kneeling on a bed and staring into the camera, with the gruesome expression of a wounded lioness, only accentuated by the fanged mink boa around her neck, sears the eyes and awakens fascination with abomination. The title is telling: “Mom as Me.” More restrained, yet power-packed, is Powell’s study of a young woman, shot from behind, with her arms behind her back, driving a key into one of them. The quest for identity through photography is alive and well, and it is cutting deeper than ever. (Michael Weinstein)
Through October 27 at David Weinberg Photography, 300 West Superior
