Humble Arts Foundation is pleased to announce Alexandra Forsyth as the Spring/Summer 2013 recipient of the New Photography Grant for her series Ashes, Three Instances, and Self Portrait in Gold. Statement: For one year, Forsyth documented her bodily residues collected from rituals of self-maintenance. Ashes is a looped video that portrays the cremation of these remnants into the form of a consecrated fire altar. Three Instances is a series of hand-blown hourglasses that respectively fail to contain their time-measuring substances. Self Portrait in Gold is a gilded candle molded from her bust. Lit at the beginning of its exhibition, this effigy is not activated as an art object until its transformation takes place by becoming a part of the pedestal on which it is displayed.
Especially concerned with transience and transformation, Forsyth is interested in further investigating symbols of temporary existence and the eternal nature of what they represent. This new project will include still-life photographs of sand, gold, candles, insects, flowers, and other symbols for time, beauty, and mortality. These objects will then be video recorded as they are cremated and their symbolic meanings become embedded in the imagery created. The images will highlight the eternalness of essence, despite the imminence of death and impermanence of material.
Alexandra Forsyth (b. 1990) was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She earned her BFA in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design. Now based in New York, her works in photography, video, and sculpture investigate and develop themes of the body, spirit, ritual, and mortality. Forsyth’s work has been exhibited at the RISD Museum of Art and the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts in Rhode Island; AMO Studios in New York; and as a part of Santurce es Ley in Puerto Rico.