“When you’ve seen beyond yourself
Then you may find peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come when you see we’re all one
And life goes on within you and without you”
~from “Within You, Without You” by George Harrison and The Beatles
By Elin Spring
There are many paths to the perception of oneness with nature – that euphoric feeling of eclipsing the day’s imperatives with a spiritual cleansing breath. Many artists seek to visualize the grandeur of this sensation, although it finds viewers in a diversity of places. It occurs most often for me by the ocean, for others when peering into the starry cosmos or perched atop a mountain peak. For photographer Janelle Lynch, this transcendence occurs in the woods. A selection of prints from her award-winning series and book “Another Way of Looking at Love” is being exhibited by Photographic Resource Center in their long-awaited return to the VanDernoot Gallery on the Lesley University Porter Square Campus in Cambridge, MA on view through June 12th, 2023. Please Note! Tomorrow, Thursday, April 20th, Janelle Lynch will be the featured guest for PRC’s Speaker Series (in person and online) from 6:30 – 7:30pm, followed by a post-event reception in the gallery.
“DC Gift” 2016 from the series and book Another Way of Looking at Love by Janelle Lynch, courtesy of the artist and Flowers Gallery, New York, NY and London, UK.
“Stream Loop” 2016 from the series and book Another Way of Looking at Love by Janelle Lynch, courtesy of the artist and Flowers Gallery, New York, NY and London, UK.
As the title suggests, Another Way of Looking at Love is metaphorical. Janelle Lynch’s striking artistry aspires to a state of grace through her fastidious combination of techniques, from the material to the instinctual. Her 8”x 10” view camera confers exquisite resolution of fine detail which, along with her use of selective focus, produces an expanded dimensionality that invites the viewer to step into the frame. Her prints depict subjects from life-size to oversize and combine with her luscious organic palette to create an immersive experience. The level of sensitivity she expresses leaves no doubt that Lynch applies these physical methods to achieve a distinctly metaphysical effect.
FEATURE IMAGE: “Wonder” 2016 from the series and book Another Way of Looking at Love by Janelle Lynch, courtesy of the artist and Flowers Gallery, New York, NY and London, UK.
As an integral part of the natural world, we are always changing, ever in a state of becoming. In an apt analogy, most of Lynch’s photographs on view depict transitions between the seasons. The pre-emergent leaf buds in “DC Gift” mark the changeover from late winter to early spring. In “Wonder” (feature image and above), glittering leaves made translucent by the sun infer sustainability, and by extension hope, in the seasonal flourish of flora. In other prints, Lynch focuses on the fertility of berries amid a waning growth season or budding flowers enveloping winter deadwood. In sharing her viewpoint of seasonal transitions, Lynch invites us to sense the powerful mystique of transformation and see ourselves in the perpetual circle of life.
“After Joan Mitchell” 2016 from the series and book Another Way of Looking at Love by Janelle Lynch, courtesy of the artist and Flowers Gallery, New York, NY and London, UK.
“Dr. Spector Precision” 2016 from the series and book Another Way of Looking at Love by Janelle Lynch, courtesy of the artist and Flowers Gallery, New York, NY and London, UK.
Traditionally, environmental pictures are framed in a horizontal or “landscape” orientation and people are pictured in a vertical or “portrait” orientation. By framing her photographs vertically, Lynch’s landscapes become veritable portraits. Interpreted this way, it is easy to imagine the human countenance in many of her prints. The dead brambles in “Dr. Spector Precision” suddenly become figures, holding hands and dancing in celebration of the life surrounding them. “Spring Tendrils” portrays a literal and figurative circle, as an opportunistic vine uses a dead branch as its springboard to light. In creating photographic analogies between the natural environment and ourselves, Lynch underlines the similarities in all living things. Her reverent approach to envisioning nature is a call to join in her exaltation and share her awe. It is, as she says, another way of looking at love.
“Spring Tendrils” 2016 from the series and book Another Way of Looking at Love by Janelle Lynch, courtesy of the artist and Flowers Gallery, New York, NY and London, UK.
For more information about this exhibit and associated programming and/or to register for the PRC Speaker Series lecture by Janelle Lynch on Thursday, April 20th, go to: https://www.prcboston.org/janelle-lynch-another-way-of-looking-at-love/
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