Southwest School of Art • Ursuline Hall Gallery.
Carra Garza: Ordered Kingdoms.

Carra Garza, exhibiting photographer.

The name of my exhibit  is derived from the scientific taxonomy and organization of all living things. Basically, what you are looking at are still life photographs of insects and other biological specimens in constructed environments. This body of work consists of 20 toned silver-gelatin prints. They were photographed with a 4×5 field camera using sheet film. I printed everything in the darkroom. I shot everything in my studio, which is essentially my bedroom, using natural light.

This subject matter came to me quite naturally as I have always worked with still life.  This was partly due to the circumstances of my life. As a mother with a small child, it was difficult for me to go out and find the subject. Instead I had to create the subject at home.  Though my child is now a pre-teen, old habits die hard.

I have learned to embrace the beauty of the commonplace and have been a collector of sorts. I wanted to see if I could create dioramas using a variety of insects and other specimens. I wanted to create my own world of captive souvenirs. You could say I was drawn to the idea of discovery not unlike the early naturalists. I have always been fascinated with the small subjects, the quiet and often overlooked.

I combine architectural and mechanical drawings because they have a functional elegance that is both timeless and enigmatic at the same time.  In my work  I used glass lenses, mirrors, prisms and magnifiers to accentuate depth and create ambiguities. Lenses also convey the notion of seeing and being seen.

What I find unique to photography is that it gives us a sense of something being real. In photography there always has to be a subject. I am giving you a real specimen, a real insect, but I am presenting it to you in a completely false environment. I enjoy the juxtaposition of that and of the communication between those two worlds:  the real and the fake. These are controlled worlds, but they exist as such because the specimens, the bird, the insect, the amphibian, they are no longer alive. It is apparent that as much as we would like to think otherwise, we cannot control living things.

Some of my artistic influences have been the photographers Olivia Parker and Abelardo Morell and of course the artist, Joseph Cornell. I love photography. I still find the darkroom magical. I look forward to making more. Thank you for looking.

Views of Carra Garza’s Ordered Kingdoms exhibit.

Select images from the Ordered Kingdoms exhibit by Carra Garza.

Carra discussing her exhibit.

Carra Garza: Elated.