> STATEMENT
Using a visual medium to record something as intangible as faith, as subjective as spirituality, may seem like a paradox; however, it is a challenge that has allowed me to investigate boundaries of genre. By focusing primarily on the sites themselves - their delicate structures, ephemeral materials, and organic connection to the desert landscape - I hope to reveal elements of transcendence and devotion. I am most interested in images which push beyond their role as document; my decision not to include people in the religious landscape departs from a photojournalistic reading, thereby creating a direct and intimate experience between viewer and object. Because of their physical nature, the images dialogue with a history of land art and earthworks. This body of work made at holy sites in North West China in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, has a direct connection to history and place. The Uyghurs are a Turkic Muslim "ethnic minority." Visitation to the tombs of the saints is historically a central aspect of Uyghur spiritual practice and deeply influenced by Sufi Mysticism.
Solo Exhbitions
| 2009 |
Daneyal Mahmood Gallery, projected date April 16-May 30, 2009 |
| 2006 |
Nelson Hancock Gallery, Traces of Devotion, Brooklyn, NY |
| 2005 |
Lee Niger Studio, Burial Sites in Former East Turkestan, New York, NY |
| 2005 |
Georgetown University, Sufi Mystical Experiences in Contemporary Xinjiang,Washington, DC |
Group Exhbitions |
| 2009 |
Gallery 456, How Chinese, New York, NY. Opening Date May 1st |
| 2009 |
Rencontre D'Arles, Arles, France, July 7-September 3rd, Guest Curator Nan Goldin |
| 2009 |
Bronx Museum, projected date June 2, 2009 |
| 2009 |
Affirmation Arts, PS:Parsing Spirituality, New York, NY |
| 2008 |
Bellwether Gallery, If Love could have Saved You….You Would have Lived Forever, New York, NY |
| 2008 |
Higher Pictures Gallery, Cosmological Embeddedness or The Flying Spaghetti Monster, New York, NY |
| 2008 |
Lump Gallery, Heroes, Raleigh, North Carolina |
| 2007 |
Dinaburg Arts, Fall Vernissage, New York, NY |
| 2007 |
KINZ, TILLOU + FEIGEN, “By Invitation Only”, New York, NY |
| 2006 |
Murray Guy Gallery, Lie of the Land, New York, NY |
| 2005 |
Nelson Hancock Gallery, Landscapes, New York, NY |
| 2003 |
Daniel Silverstein Gallery, Spiritual Hunger, New York, NY |
| 2003 |
Art et Amicitiae, Violent Violence, curator elin o’Hara slavick,Amsterdam, NL |
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| Publication |
| 2008 |
Steppe Magazine Summer 2008, On Ancient Central Asian Tracks, p.50-80 Images and captions by Lisa Ross, Text by Alexander Papas |
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| Awards and Fellowships |
| 2008-09 |
Bronx Museum Artist In the Marketplace Fellow |
| 2001-03 |
Hayward Prize, American Austrian Foundation. Salzburg Arts Academie, Austria. Juror: Lynne Cooke. (Two time recipient) |
| 1991-2001 |
Merit Scholarship, Columbia University, New York, NY |
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| Bibliography |
07-25, 2008 |
Pearse, Emma, “Artist Lisa Ross Takes a Gravely Moving Photograph” New York Magazine |
04-21, 2006 |
Cotter, Holland, “Art in Review,” The New York Times |
05-06, 2006 |
Madenci, Su, “Revelations from a Restricted Territory”, Genis Aci, Istanbul, Turkey |
| May,18-24, 2006 |
Kellard, Joseph, ”Photographer Brings Journeys Home”, The Long Island Herald |
07-12, 2006 |
Ayers, Robert, “Fair Review: The Affordable Art Fair,” www.artinfo.com |
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| Lectures/Presentations |
| 2007 |
Artists Talk on Art, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY |
| 2007 |
Uyghurs on the Silk Road, UC Berkeley, San Francisco, CA |
| 2007 |
Silk Road House, San Francisco, Ca |
| 2006 |
Presentation/Talk (with Rushan Gul, Uyghur Scholar), Murray Guy Gallery, New York, NY |
| 2006 |
The Thirteenth Annual Central Eurasian Studies Conference Indiana University,Picturing the Ineffable, Bloomington |
| 2006 |
IVth Turkish Studies Conference, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France |
| 2005 |
“Les Pèlerinages des Uyghurs,” 2nd Annual International Conference on Sufism, Music, and Culture, Tlecmen, Algeria |
| 2004 |
“Contemporary Images of Sufi Mazars in East Turkestan,” University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, UK |
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| Education |
| 2001 |
MFA Visual Arts; Columbia University, New York, USA |
| 1993 |
MA Education; Adelphi University, New York, USA |
| 1987 |
Bachelor of Arts; Sarah Lawrence College, New York, USA |
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