Photo credit: Smart Lab/McColl Center for Visual Art
Photography documents essential moments in the personal lives of its subjects. In our society, we create markers in time by recording our image within a photograph. The act of posing for a portrait allows us to commemorate the significance of an era while capturing the personality of the subject. These moments are obtained through formal studio sessions as well as spontaneous photo booth sittings.
Samantha Hill explores the essence of portraiture by developing a Photographer’s Studio within Blanc Gallery. Hill utilized the space at Blanc to hold Tintype photography sessions of Bronzeville residents, community organizers and cultural producers to commemorate this moment for history. She displays the Bronzeville Portraits with Tintypes and Photo Booth portraits from the Kinship Project Archive to connect the various styles of self-documentation within historic moments.
Samantha Hill (b.1974, Philadelphia, PA) has exhibited her work frequently over the past five years in venues including the Museum of Science and Industry, Rockefeller Chapel and Vox Populi (Philadelphia). She has received several honors, including the International Sculpture Center Award in 2006 & 2008, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Trustee Merit Scholarship in Sculpture, and the Philadelphia Sculptors Award. She participated in the Artist-in-Residence Programs at The Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture (2011) at the University of Chicago and the McColl Center for Visual Art (Charlotte). Hill received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2010) and her BFA from Moore College of Art & Design (2008).
Learn more about the project here.