CPW Photography Now 2021

Artist Statement The unexpected death of my fiancé in September 2017 profoundly shook my foundation. Life seemed unfair, unkind, unclear. Countless hours swimming in thought, drowning in memory. Words failed where they once supported. Friendships changed. The phone to quickly silent. Whether in conversation, moments of solitude, or my artwork, her death and this loss was never an easy subject. My photo practice hung on the thread of close friends tasked with bearing strong witness to my loss. Their support kept me alive, engaged, and encouraged in my creative work. At the start of this voyage, a wise mentor suggested I keep photographing, if only one image a day without requirement that they be great or profound. SOLITARY CONFINEMENT is one of several long-term portfolios created as a result, reflecting and responding to the condolence, grief, confusion, malaise, contemplation, reconciliation, and moments of zen around the death of my beloved. My home, with old wood, stubborn windows, poor insulation, squeaking doors, moaning floor boards, leaky faucets, has witnessed much in its 100 years. In the bedroom, beautiful but drafty leaded glass windows overlook the backyard and the deep forest beyond. It is from this window that this series has its genesis and revelation, using the frame of the window as the photograph's frame and the glass of the window and weather as transparent or barrier, at all times of the day, in all seasons. Many images followed. Since her death, this window has become our rendezvous portal, a place of communication with V's spirit. Life is becoming softer and beautiful again. PHOTOGRAPHER'S BIO STEVEN PARISI-GENTILE is a fine art photographer and filmmaker living in the Hudson Valley. Steve is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Post graduate work followed in film and video production, documentary production, commercial and corporate communications, advertising, qualitative consumer and ethnographic research. Widowed in 2017, his work reveals an internal reflection and self-dialogue that invites the world at large to join the conversation as he seeks to better understand life and the world around him. He has recently shown work in photography exhibits at Center for Photography at Woodstock, Davis Orton Gallery, Dorsky Museum HV Artists 2017, Emerge Gallery, Griffin Museum of Photography, Howland Cultural Center, Intima Gallery, Saugerties Library Crohn Gallery (solo show), South by SouthEast Gallery, and Wired Gallery. His portfolios are in both still and moving image format.