Amy Stein.

There was a recent lecture given by a "late-bloomed" photographer, Amy Stein. Her photographs might not be so glamorous and technically advanced, but the stories behind each one brought out the elements that make her photographs worthwhile to look at. In both her "Domesticated Series" and her "Stranded Series", the two have many similar ideas and concepts, one being an idea of back-and-forth ambiguity. What I enjoy about the two series, is that there's a sort tension, a tug, a struggle in defining the boundary between two opposing groupings. The tension is what makes the series intriguing. As a viewer, I feel myself being pulled from one side to the other, validating the truth that is brought out about society in her photographs.


In the 'Domesticated Series', there exists a sort of irony, subtle but definitely something that can be gather together after viewing the series. "I examine the primal issues of comfort and fear, dependence and determination, submission and dominance that play out in the physical and psychological encounters between man and the natural world. These encounters take place within the artificial ecotones we have constructed that act as both passage and barrier between the domestic space and the wild." These barriers are visible in each photograph, but the beauty about it is that it is subtle, taking the form of a plastic bag or the distance between the two subject. Or it can be as clear as a fence or cage. The versatility in her imagery make the work seem less structured, even though her approach to the project is specific and formulated.

In the 'Stranded Series', I find her audacity to stop along the road to any "stranded" person in distress due to transportation issues, offering them help, but the thing that stands out even more is the courage and nerve it takes to ask for their permission to be photographed. There are signs of mistrust, a strained and limited relationship that occurs. The approach to this series is something to contemplate about. Every encounter is tense and unique, circumstances differ from one to the next and the inherent danger of the roadside environment gives it an unusual characteristics that breathes beneath the surface.