Polaroid artist opens exhibit at Image Factory
Over the years, the artists who have displayed their work at the Image Factory have ranged from the haunting portraits of Jeannie Shaw to the heart-wrenching snapshots of the victims of Hurricane Iris taken by Norris Hall and Richard Holder. The photographs currently being exhibited at the gallery may be different in style, but as the artist will tell you, their meaning is just as important.
Omar Said Chaaruf, Artist
“I think people will leave this exhibition thinking that objects do have an important value and that they have a great effect on us. For the most part, we believe that we give an object certain a value, but in this exhibition I want to do the contrary.”
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Since he was sixteen years old, Omar Said Chaaruf has been creating his own images through the help of the Polaroid camera.
Omar Said Chaaruf
“We are accustomed to seeing everyday objects that are functional to us and we value them accordingly. But what I intend to do with this project is to let the objects speak for themselves. In other words, to take these objects out of their natural context and put them somewhere else, a place we’re not used to seeing them.”
Twenty-two year old Chaaruf says within each photograph you can find several images he’s managed to produce by simply using the technique of cut and paste.
Omar Said Chaaruf
“This is not necessarily a new art form, but a new possibility in which to photograph things. Photography is an important medium, very popular and we are use to seeing certain images that have become part of our memory. I want to capture images that people have not seen before, artificial images that I have created, but that were also taken out of everyday life.”
The exhibition will run for one month at the Image Factory Art Foundation. Reporting for News 5, Jacqueline Woods.
The show officially opens tonight, but if you are interested in seeing the photographs in living colour, you can do so free of charge at the Image Factory on North Front Street.
