Exhibition Dates: NOVEMBER 22 - DECEMBER 31

GALLERY RECEPTION: December 7 from 6-8p

Artist’s Statement:

“Reclaiming” is a photographic exploration using various powdered foods such as confectioners sugar, cayenne, black tea, matcha, cocoa, flour and salt. Using the design element of line and the Japanese minimalist aesthetic concept of ma as a conceptual and stylistic framework, this design-centric monologue conceals within it ruminations on loss, identity, destiny and the effect of time on memory.

The powders––selected for color or taste––symbolize a feeling or events that reside only in memory. On some occasions they take on the role of a proxy or function as a stand-in for people. The intent of this series is to express autobiographical and deeply personal content under the camouflage of an aesthetic sensibility that is rigid yet approachable, austere, melancholic and meditative. Starkly absent from the work is the emotional underpinning that led to its creation. What remains is a simulacrum, a representation of a time and place.

Biography:

For Dhanraj Emanuel food is essential, universal, and provides the ideal setting to connect and interact, to understand and celebrate each other. These shared experiences are important to us all—something to look forward to, a drink, some dinner, that special recipe—they transform the mundane to the celebratory. Dhanraj’s photographs are attempts to elegantly yet unpretentiously make these moments possible.

While his commercial work focuses on food and food environments, his artwork employs food conceptually, often within the framework of design principles. He received an MFA from the University of Memphis and this experience is a strong influence in his art and commercial work. 

Based in Greensboro, NC, Dhanraj leads the commercial photography concentration at Randolph Community College in Asheboro, NC, and works on photography assignments for local and national clients.

Learn more at www.dhanrajemanuel.com.