As Sandra Dyas walked into the Digital Processes lab on the
icy Wednesday morning of January the 15th, she not only brought in an
air of comfort, warmth and humility with her, but also a unique life story.
Dyas’ life has been anything but conventional. A portrait photographer who
started out photographing weddings in the small town of Bellevue, Iowa, Sandy
got married at the age of 20, returned to school at the age of 30 and now
teaches photography to young rising artists at Cornell College.
“Photos lie”, she
says.
There is always more
to a photograph than meets the eye.
There is always a
story.
 |
| Ballerina Girl with Apple, near Iowa City, Iowa |
Brought up on a farm in Jackson County, Iowa, Sandy believes
that an artist is primarily influenced by the place that they belong from, the
place they consider their home. As I look back at some of my previous works, I
realize how each of them have, in some way or another, been molded by aspects
of my life in India. Thus, it is indeed true - nothing influences an artist
more than the place they come from, and it makes perfect sense. Our minds are
constantly being affected by what is happening in our immediate surroundings.
Furthermore
Sandy adds, that, in order to realize how much one’s landscape informs and
shapes who they become, an artist must leave a place and come back. Indeed,
true appreciation can only arise from absence. Each time I have the opportunity
to go home, I see the same things, but just more intently every time. I realize
things I have lived my whole life in absolute ignorance of. And I pay attention. I appreciate.
This brings me back
to one of my favorite quotes.
Charles M. Schulz
once said, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”.
I know Sandy would
agree.
I loved that you brought your own personal experiences from India and connected them to Sandy's life.
ReplyDelete"Photos lie," is definitely one of the coolest things that an artist has ever said. Also, I think you touched on something important about Sandy's work by relating it to your own experiences. It's that ability to change our perceptions of our homes that make us artists, I think.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you on the fact that our environment shapes who we are. Sandy really stressed the idea about going back to your roots and even though the concepts of her work might seem conventional, the way she frames her work in her shots makes a conventional experience into something unique to her and her experiences living in the midwest.
ReplyDelete