Looking Forward, Feeling Backwards

Curated by Capricious & Tammy Rae Carland

Becca Albee / Arielle Falk / Jason Hanasik / K8 Hardy/ Desiree Holman/ Whitney Hubbs / Ace Lehner/ Stephanie Leibowitz / Elizabeth Moy

P.P.O.W Gallery, in conjunction with Dotty Attie’s exhibition, is pleased to present Looking Forward, Feeling Backwards in Gallery 2 curated by Capricious and artist Tammy Rae Carland.  This exhibition is inspired by the forthcoming “Feminist Issue” of Capricious Magazine based on an open call for work about feminist feelings.

By insisting that a dialogue on feelings inflames the specter of feminism, and by asking what the world of feelings looks like, the curators have selected photographic and video works that hold potential for transformative ideas and experience. Empathetic vision, relentless loss, identity melancholia, compulsive hope, political depression, retooling trauma, shameless shame and feelings that have no names are all contending with one another in this group show of eight emerging artists. The curatorial selection gives the personal, political, social and emotional equal weight and emphasizes a generational lens on hope, humor and limitless self-invention.

Capricious Publishing was founded by Swedish photographer Sophie Mörner in 2004. It is a biannual publication dedicated to showcasing emerging fine art photography. Its contributors and collaborators span the globe. Capricious has an affinity for subjects such as animals, androgyny, opposition, reclaimed life, lust, natural as well as urban life, intimacy, revolution and nostalgia. Capricious Publishing has since produced GLU (Girls Like Us), LTTR V, Famous and Screen Capricious - a DVD compilation of short films.

Capricious Books is the group’s latest endeavor. Their first book “The Known World,” is a photographic collaboration by Anne Hall and Sophie Mörner, released in November 2008, and the second is a monograph, also of photographic work, by Dutch artist Melanie Bonajo, “I Have a Room With Everything.” Next year Capricious will work together with K8 Hardy to publish her first artist monograph. Capricious Space is located in Brooklyn, NY. Founded in June 2008 as an offshoot of Capricious Magazine, it serves as a physical venue for work of the “capricious” aesthetic.

Tammy Rae Carland was born in Portland Maine in 1965. She received her MFA from UC Irvine, her BA from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington and attended the Whitney Independent Study Program. She is an Associate Professor at the California College of the Arts where she also chairs the Photography Program. She is represented by Silverman Gallery in San Francisco and primarily works with photography, experimental video and small run publications. Capricious chose to collaborate with her because her work, throughout her career, is seen as pioneering in the realm of contemporary queer and feminist culture.