Statement: My most profound childhood memory involves reading a family bible. The illustrations, mostly Baroque-era paintings, did not function as a mere visual embodiment of the text. Rather, the pictures communicated in a far more powerful language, evoking both comfort and trepidation. The words of the book provided little interest, but the imagery moved me to contemplate the unseen. It is the pictures I remember – not the words. The imbalance remains when I consider the possibility of a personal faith. While I am ambivalent towards the old established narratives, the semblance of the mythical in the mundane enthralls. I identify this conflict in the everyday: objects and situations that are alternately ineffable, laughable, and at times terrifying.

Maury Gortemiller is a visual artist born in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He holds an MFA in Photography from the University of Georgia and an MA in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi. Gortemiller has taught at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, Washington and Lee University, Kennesaw State University, and currently teaches in the University of Georgia's Study Abroad program in Cortona, Italy. His series "All-Time Lotion" has been exhibited in solo shows at The Reading Room (Dallas), Texas Tech University and Washington and Lee University. Gortemiller is also a competitive apneist, and plans to make an attempt on the breath-holding world record by the end of fiscal year 2014.