Honorable Mention
Mama Al's Painting
DESCRIPTION
This image is part of my Solidifying Roots seriesSolidifying Roots
After the passing of both of my parents, there were boxes and boxes of things that ranged from a sundry of family pictures (spanning back to the 1800’s) as well as a wide variety of items that ranged from artwork, jewelry, furniture to my grandmother’s cooking fork.
These items had sat in my garage gathering dust and filled my guestroom closet which negated the possibility of anyone using it to hang their clothes. A bit overwhelmed with all I had accumulated I kept thinking, “What do I do with it all?” Feeling the responsibility to preserve my family’s ancestry, I came up with the concept of photographing the old photos and items to hopefully give them permanence. My four children were all named after a family member so I often use the person to whom there was a familial connection in the photo. As I photographed it was also a means to tell them part of their ancestral story.
I feel a deep satisfaction in this artwork as my heritage bridges to my present, merging our family roots and visually telling our story.
AUTHOR
Dale Niles is a Georgia based artist born in Norfolk, Virginia. She is known for her diverse photographic interpretations from her black/white and color photographs to her montage storytelling collage photographs. She received her BA in sociology from Lenoir Rhyne College in Hickory, NC. Upon graduation she interned as a probation officer but realized this was not her calling. While doing several other vocations she continued her personnel interests which included painting, sculpting and photography, realizing that photography was her art
of choice.
She has exhibited across the United States, Canada and Venice, Italy. Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill, NC; Brickworks Gallery in Atlanta, GA; and Cochran Gallery in LaGrange, GA. Her works are part of the permanent collections at MOCA GA. She has had work exhibited at Rfotofolio's Depth of Field Exhibition-Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA, Civic Center-South Bend, Indiana and Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL.
Niles has been featured in publications including Light and Shadow Magazine, SXSE Magazine, Shots, Lenscratch, The Hand Magazine and Oxford America.
2019-2020, a selection of work exhibited at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida; selected for Critical Mass Top 200, 2018 ACP Ones To Watch, the Fence, Atlanta International Airport and the Virginia Twainam Smith Purchase award.
