Amie Potsic is an accomplished photographer and installation artist awarded for her experimental and poignant work. Exhibiting internationally, her work has been shown and published in Europe, South America, and the United States with a recent solo exhibition at The Delaware Contemporary Museum. Focusing attention on environmental issues and climate change, Ms. Potsic’s work addresses cultural, personal, and natural phenomena through the lens of social responsibility.
Enchanted Forest presents an environment of wonder and beauty where black tree branches reveal their form, architecture, and grace against an indigo sky. Incarnate environmental explorations, the images entice us to connect with our own perception of nature in a manner that is simultaneously intimate and enchanting. Focusing on the stark majesty of the winter forest invites an appreciation for and protection of the environment.
Photographing trees through the change of seasons, I’ve witnessed a dramatic evolution of life and the atmosphere. My imagery speaks to the specificity and depth of the forest environment. The seasonal cycle is a delicate balance of systems in nature highlighting the graceful continuity of life and death. As human existence and the livelihood of many plant and animal species depend on reliably moderate climates, our very survival is at stake without these natural cycles in place. Facing massive deforestation due to industry and global warming itself, the ill-fated future of our forests and seasons is undeniable unless we intervene. To focus attention on climate change, support improved environmental policies, and encourage an appreciation for forests and their fragility, my work emphasizes the cyclical beauty of seasons and the delicacy of nature.
Amie Potsic is an accomplished photographer and installation artist awarded for her experimental and poignant work. Exhibiting internationally, her work has been shown and published in Europe, South America, and the United States with a recent solo exhibition at The Delaware Contemporary Museum. Focusing attention on environmental issues and climate change, Ms. Potsic’s work addresses cultural, personal, and natural phenomena through the lens of social responsibility.
Girl in the Garden references the sensory experience of being within the forest while encouraging us to appreciate and preserve its future. Introducing magical and narrative elements, the images explore the lush forests of northeastern America and the complete devastation of Paradise, California caused by the deadliest wildfire in the state’s history. Personal experience underscoring the urgency of climate change, the images draw attention to deforestation by creating visceral and cerebral connections to trees and the natural world.
Rich in ancient tradition and barreling into modernity, India and Israel are nations of amazing resilience and spiritual depth. Both countries recently celebrated 75 years of independence following years of British colonial rule and created new realities amidst ancient cultures. India being the eastern Holy Land where Hinduism and Buddhism began and Israel being the western Holy land where Judaism, Christianity, and Islam originated, these nations are both modern political entities and the birthplaces of the world’s major religions.
I spent one uninterrupted year on a solo photographic odyssey in India and Israel in 1995 at the age of 23 with just a backpack, my Hasselblad camera, and 100+ rolls of film. Throughout my journey, I was fascinated by the influence of religion on the day-to-day life of every individual. Religion often affected every aspect of a person’s life from what to eat, whom to marry, what to wear, to how to worship. Both countries have numerous religions existing side-by-side, in conflict and in harmony. Additionally, their religious traditions are administered by patriarchal systems, creating challenges for women and girls seeking equal rights and safety. Religion and ritual were everywhere in vivid, visual splendor – on every street corner, train station, temple, and home – and I was enthralled.
In the mid-1990’s, Israel was in the midst of the Peace Process after the signing of the Oslo Accords and a tenuous peace seemed just around the corner. The same year, India had yet to experience its technology boom and Bollywood had not made it to the world stage. So much has changed since then. Even so, in the face of rapidly changing societies and the struggles of modernity, India and Israel remain ancestral homes to their indigenous peoples, sacred texts, historical sites, and religious ritual. My photographs from that time are a testament to those moments in history as well as my experience of inspiration and awe for these countries of difficulty and wonder.
Rich in ancient tradition and barreling into modernity, India and Israel are nations of amazing resilience and spiritual depth. Both countries recently celebrated 75 years of independence following years of British colonial rule and created new realities amidst ancient cultures. India being the eastern Holy Land where Hinduism and Buddhism began and Israel being the western Holy land where Judaism, Christianity, and Islam originated, these nations are both modern political entities and the birthplaces of the world’s major religions.
I spent one uninterrupted year on a solo photographic odyssey in India and Israel in 1995 at the age of 23 with just a backpack, my Hasselblad camera, and 100+ rolls of film. Throughout my journey, I was fascinated by the influence of religion on the day-to-day life of every individual. Religion often affected every aspect of a person’s life from what to eat, whom to marry, what to wear, to how to worship. Both countries have numerous religions existing side-by-side, in conflict and in harmony. Additionally, their religious traditions are administered by patriarchal systems, creating challenges for women and girls seeking equal rights and safety. Religion and ritual were everywhere in vivid, visual splendor – on every street corner, train station, temple, and home – and I was enthralled.
In the mid-1990’s, Israel was in the midst of the Peace Process after the signing of the Oslo Accords and a tenuous peace seemed just around the corner. The same year, India had yet to experience its technology boom and Bollywood had not made it to the world stage. So much has changed since then. Even so, in the face of rapidly changing societies and the struggles of modernity, India and Israel remain ancestral homes to their indigenous peoples, sacred texts, historical sites, and religious ritual. My photographs from that time are a testament to those moments in history as well as my experience of inspiration and awe for these countries of difficulty and wonder.
My work references the sensory experience of being within the forest while encouraging us all to appreciate and preserve its future. Incarnate environmental explorations, my photographs, and installations invite you to connect with your own perception of nature in a manner that is both intimate and enchanting. I focus on the beauty and mystery of the forest to share my sense of wonder, develop our connection to trees, and encourage environmental protection. Personal experience underscoring the urgency of climate change, I draw attention to deforestation by creating visceral and cerebral connections to trees and the natural world.
Midnight Mass is a site-specific installation created from over 250 feet of silk. The semi-translucent silk with photographic imagery from the forest weaves its way through the air to arch, bend, and arabesque in the sky. The panels extend from the entrance reaching up toward the looming windows behind to be backlit like stained glass. The installation fills the space in graceful, abstract lines and draping, drawing the eye up toward the apex of the room. Looking up at the illuminated silk, a conjured sense of our own scale, akin to what we feel in a cathedral or looking up at the forest canopy, enhances the experience of the artwork and museum’s architecture.
Colorful, sensual, musical, and boisterous, Brazilian public celebrations are exuberant national rituals involving processions and parades that wend their way down main streets of towns with multi-colored flags overhead and music in the air. Brazilians become truly united only during Carnival, when the national soccer team plays, during some religious holidays, and at the time of civic festivals. Enabling disparate social groups to come together and forget the difficulty of their lives, public celebrations allow for a divided society to temporarily suspend the strong, yet unspoken, rules governing race, class, culture, and religion. These rules extend to an institutional division of public and private space, rendering the majority of the population without property or prosperity. Those who possess private space often protect it with broken glass slicing upward from walls surrounding their property. Guarding private land and buildings with such fiercely physical means seems to be in direct proportion to the powerful physicality that is palpable in the throws of Brazilian celebrations. While contemporary Brazil has made real progress in embracing the mixing of races, respecting a variety of religious practices, and caring for its needy, these protective shards of glass stand as embodiments of the country’s history of slavery, colonialism, racism, and nationalism.
Underneath the surface of their vibrant community festivals, there exists a jagged reminder that private space and resources remain largely unattainable by most. Seeing the warm inclusiveness of their festivals alongside the cutting glass of exclusion led me to wonder how people with such strong community bonds could simultaneously be so divided. Enamored with their celebrations and troubled by their separation, my work seeks to address the dynamics of contradiction in a culture of overwhelming passion, pleasure, and pain.
