VAAA Alberta Open Photo Show 2009

Went to see the VAAA Alberta Open Photo Show today at the Kaasa Gallery. In the interests of full disclosure 5 of my sex worker 2007 images were rejected by the jury curating this show.

After viewing the images today I felt sort of like I had just eaten a strawberry sundae at McDonald's. It was sweet and tasty at times but in the end it makes you feel empty and a bit nauseous. The photos in the show were a mixture of boring abstracts and cliches (haystacks, flower shots, pretty garden photos etc). Out of the 63 photographs on display I felt less than 10 deserved a place on the walls, 4 or 5 images were of quality. The rest of the work was all style with no substance, highly disappointing.

I counted 5 photos with people in them and of those five in four the people were used as stylish shapes, they were non people in the photographers eyes (a tree or mannequin would have done served the same purpose), the show lacked any kind of feeling or emotion, it lacked humanity.

Art should challenge us, make us ask questions, make the hair stand up on the back of our necks. MAKE US THINK!!! This show was sweet and simple and quickly forgotten. After viewing the photographs I felt the need to use mouthwash, the show left a bitter after taste.

Please judges/curators of next years show, show us some substance, give us some meat to chew on, enough of the cotton candy crap photography. Safe, boring, sweet forget full art is not what you should be promoting, CHALLENGE YOUR AUDIENCE!!