Washington and Lee University’s Staniar Gallery is presenting “Dumb Skulls and Souvenirs,” a solo exhibition by Dan Estabrook. The exhibit is on through Dec. 11. Estabrook will also give an artist’s talk at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 3 in Wilson Concert Hall in the Lenfest Center for the Arts.
The exhibition and reception events are free and open to the public.
Estabrook’s work features 19th-century photographic processes alongside drawing, painting and sculpture. The works in the “Dumb Skulls” series are ambrotypes on black glass, while the works in “Souvenirs” are tintypes, some of them incised or altered. Through these practices, Estabrook explores themes of memory, loss and the subjective nature of historical narrative.
“Using 19th-century techniques and celebrating their flaws and failures, I make seemingly anonymous photographs in order to reimagine a more personal history of photography, seen from a 21st-century perspective,” Estabrook said. “With these processes, I can create my own ‘found photos’ — highly personal objects in which to hide my own secrets and stories. I am not interested in simply recreating the past; instead, I wish to make contemporary work inspired by the ever-growing gap between what we know of the past and how we understand the present.” - Running concurrently with Eastabrook’s exhibit is “Glass and Light, Time and Place,” featuring works by the late photographer Mary Ruth Moore. It is being shown in Lykes Atrium, also through Dec. 11.
Moore (1936-2023) is best known for her use of historical photo methods, including pinhole cameras and longexposure processes. Using antique equipment and paper negatives, her work emphasized duration, imperfection and the expressive qualities of natural light.
