|
Ken Mierzwa
With a fashion model mother and a photographer/graphic
artist father, Ken Mierzwa grew up with a camera in one hand and a
darkroom full of chemicals in the basement. He began photographing at
age nine, and published his first picture at 15. After several years of
experience as a photojournalist, first for the mainstream press and
later for one of the early post-punk 'zines, he moved on to a career as
an environmental consultant. Photography remains a passion, but now it
is a creative outlet, a way of finding balance. Ken's street
photography, landscapes, nudes, counterculture documentaries, and
environmental portraits have been included in more than 30 gallery
exhibits and published in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy,
and Thailand. Most recently his work has been included in f-eleven,
volumes 1 and 2. Ken currently resides on the rugged northern California
coast and travels frequently.
The current series explores the nude in the landscape,
but in a way that questions the common assumptions. Seen through the
eyes of a trained ecologist, there is no pretense that this landscape is
a pristine place; rather, it's a post-industrial world of crumbling
concrete and fire-scarred trees, a Ballardian dystopia in the early
stages of being reclaimed by a patient and enduring nature. The models,
many of them artists themselves, help to call attention to these places.
Rather than following the "rules" and averting their eyes, they
sometimes look out at a society unable to maintain what it has already
built. Along with their clothing, the models strip away the illusions.
They call attention to what too many have looked away from.
|
