Focus on Knowledge

GAMBIER, Ohio (August 13, 2009) Marcella Hackbardt brings a series of constructed photographs examining the nature of knowledge to the Olin Art Gallery.

"Story of Knowledges" opens on August 13 and continues in the gallery through September 26. The artist will discuss her work on September 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Olin Auditorium, and the discussion will be followed by a reception in the gallery. Hackbardt is an associate professor of art at Kenyon and has staged exhibitions and curated others around the country.

"This series of constructed photographs is a meditation on knowledge, the power of its study and pursuit, and the strength and determination involved in the ways of learning," Hackbardt said of her work. "My storytelling is staged, often with figures and objects set into spaces they never occupied. The places, people and objects in the photographs are chosen for their symbolic potential as well as for their aesthetic resonance."

The artist's wide, horizontal framing of the images evokes film, she said, as a means to suggest a continuing narrative. People cast in the photos represent concepts, and the light that surrounds them or that they carry can be seen as a symbol of knowledge.

The exhibition is free and the public is encouraged to visit. The Olin Art Gallery is in the lower level of the Olin Library, 103 College Dr., and is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Contact gallery Director Dan Younger for more information at youngerd@kenyon.edu and 740-427-5346.