By Carolyn Marks Blackwood
I am a writer and a fine art photographer. My heart has been broken by the state of the world, and I started to post my photography on Instagram under the title- “The World is Still Beautiful.” I was doing this mostly for me, to buck myself up, but I noticed that others actually responded strongly to my photos and the phrase. There have been terrible days, when it has been hard to say it- but those days seem to be the ones that people need the reminder most. Mother Nature is a balm. I am not trying to ignore or run away from the reality of what is going on- politically, ecologically, etc- merely realize the need to reboot- to feed ones soul- to gather strength and energy, to go back out and fight against the evil. Without this respite, we would surely burn out. Many of my shows have touched on the theme of the environment. My last show at the Von Lintel gallery was called Water Water Everywhere- from the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner- and spoke to the fact that Water was on most peoples minds as there was either too much or too little. To illustrate this point, at the end of February, I am having a show in Valencia Spain- Inside will be my Story Series- but outside the whole museum will be wrapped with my work. That outside show was originally going to be Water Water Everywhere- but after the devastating flood there, it felt insensitive- So I changed the wrap (20ft x238 ft and 20 ft x 80 ft) to “Look Up! Look Up!! . The wrap consists of my bird series and Skies, two of which I am sharing here.- Look up is also meant as a form of encouragement, as the people in Valencia Spain try to rebuild after the flook-death and destruction. My work is both representational and Abstract- all at the same time- I did a show called On the Edge- meaning On the edge of abstraction.
I have been an avid photographer since I was 7 years old and got my first camera. I timidly put my work in a small local art show in our small local library- to raise funds. It was the first time that I had shown my work- and it was seen my the Art Curator and writer Barbara Rose, who invited me to show my work in a show she was curating in NYC called The Magic Hour– with two painters and two photographers. I was 54 years old . I was surprised and thrilled. After that show, I was represented by the Alan Klotz Gallery- and now by the Von Lintel Gallery in LA and by the SpaniermanModern Gallery in NYC. I am about to make a book with Kehrer publishing house.. My website is very out of date but here it is https://www.cmblackwood.com/ and here is my Instagram page-https://www.instagram.com/carolynmblackwoodphotographer/
