Melinda Hurst Frye
We are super excited to share Melinda's work with you. Below you can find her bio, website and artist statement for her latest work. Check out this link for an interview to discover her process. www.hafny.org It is an interview from Jon Feinstein for Humble Arts Foundation. I wish I could be there to see this stuff while it's being created!
Melinda Hurst Frye is an exhibiting photographic artist working in themes of implied environments and shared experiences within the still life aesthetic. Her current work illustrates the mystery and activity of subterranean ecosystems. Melinda holds an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design and is a dedicated member of the Society for Photographic Education. Melinda Hurst Frye teaches photography at the Art Institute of Seattle, holds occasional workshops and is an artist member of CORE gallery in Seattle, Washington. Please contact with any questions regarding exhibition, publication or general inquiries. melinda@mhurstfrye.com
UNDERNEATH
Views of implied urban subterranean ecosystems and life beneath our toes.
“There are other worlds around us. Too often, we pass through them unknowing, seeing but blind, hearing but deaf, touching but not feeling, contained by the limits of our senses, the banality of our imaginations, our Ptolemaic certitudes.” -Hugh Raffles, Insect-opedia. With dirt under my nails, my heart jumps when my hand brushes against a worm in the soil. I am reminded of the world that thrives underground, unsettled by the mystery that is at my fingertips. I watch the beetle make its path through the strawberry plants. Who else is below me making their work in and on the earth? The success and diversity of life near and below the surface contributes directly to life and survival above the surface, though some species and behaviors of these residents are often unknown. ‘Underneath’ is a series of implied urban subterranean ecosystems, an illustrated look at what lives, dies and feasts at ground level and below.
The images live in the space between the real and the mysterious, presenting the environment through a smaller lens of an urban, underground habitat. The work punctuates the need to honor the health of our urban spaces, as subterranean ecosystems reflect the condition of our greater, shared environment. Analogous to a natural history tableau, flora and fauna take center stage to illustrate that we are always tied to migration, evolution and metamorphosis. The surface is not a border, but an entrance to homes, nurseries, highways and graveyards.
All Images ©Melinda Hurst Frye