Submission

Having been a fine art photographer for over thirty years, Vienne Rea's work has shown in galleries from the Austrian Embassy in Washington D.C. to the Foto Biennale in Berlin, Germany. Previous photographic themes which she has explored include: The Holocaust of WWII, African-American Slavery, Childhood, Divinity, the Collective Feminine; and the artist has several new themes forthcoming. Through the use of digital and analog photography, Rea creates imagery closely reminiscent of the Pictorialist style of late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her “signature” blur—which was once shamefully criticized by an art school professor, has become a distinguished feature of her photography. The intentional use of blur enriches the narrative whether it relates anguish, strength, confinement, struggle, or the opposite emotional spectrum of joy, tenderness, sovereignty, or serenity. Additionally, the relevant distance between herself and her subject unconsciously draws the viewer more deeply into the image. All of this works alongside powerful use of composition, stylized toning, light and shadow to enhance the storytelling in Rea’s body of work. Ultimately, the viewer may feel as if they are inside the memory of another. Any interplay between the viewer and the subject, especially resulting in an emotional connection, is her primary aim and that which makes this artist's work so memorable.