About
Betty Press (from reviews, press clippings, comments, etc.)
Introduction: Africa in images and proverbs by Alison
Nordström,Curator of Photography at the George Eastman House/
InternationalMuseum of Photography
For many Americans, Africa
exists in contradictory imaginings. In Africa we
keep both the spare purity of Hemingway’s Kilamanjaro and the sordid
horror of Conrad’s dark river. This huge and mysterious continent offers
the glamour and romance of Isak Dinesen and the tragedy of our ancestors
shipped away, weeping and in chains. Our visual knowledge of this unknown place
is as clear, conflicting and untrue as our literary heritage. Africa is
starving AIDS orphans and noble Masai warriors, mass Tutsi graves and giraffes
in full gallop on the sun-kissed veldt. It is a place limned for most of us by
photojournalism and National Geographic. How in the face of these
dominating myths that make our Africas, does someone from America go there and
learn anything, let alone take a picture that is true?
Betty Press first went to Africa in
1987. An accomplished photographer, associated with a major international
newspaper The Christian Science Monitor for eight years she made the
pictures her job required, but found others, too, and it is these images that
she has chosen to collect in this exhibition. Here we find a very personal Africa
that does not contest the widely shared stereotypes so much as it simply
disregards them. Betty Press is a respectful and engaged observer who is drawn
to simple subjects. In a remarkable melding of content and the medium of its
expression, Press’s images of Africa are timeless, immediate and personally authentic.
Photographers who produce within the
demanding limitations of classic silver gelatin printing have a small
vocabulary to work with compared to the options that the varieties of color
work allow. For Press, it is a sure, albeit counterintuitive; move to render
the colorful cultures she observes in a cool monochrome abstraction that is the
antithesis of the travelogue or the tourist brochure. Black and white relies on
impeccable print quality, contrast and composition to capture a viewer’s
attention. Especially in black and white photographs, the critical element is
often the quintessentially photographic one of the frame. In any photograph,
these edges are what freezes a moment and separates one glance from the
continuum of all the possible others. For Press, the frame simultaneously
establishes meaning and defines an aesthetic. In one image, a mass of backs,
shoulders, jewelry and costume pushes against the frame, manifesting abundance,
vitality and joy. In another, the emphatic graphic of a native kanga
wrap is reinforced by its repetition on two sets of shoulders and their
movement across the frame. In another, a woman seated on the ground, nursing a
baby and engrossed in a book, is centered precisely within the photographic
rectangle, an icon for the facing proverb lauding education for women.
Press has chosen African proverbs to accompany, expand and ground her pictures.
They contribute an African voice to this American’s vision. They
demonstrate and exemplify the synthesis of cultures that these gentle pictures
represent, and of a photographer who found her own Africa by
letting Africa find her.
Betty Press: Africa in Images and Proverbs
Irene Carlson Gallery of
Photography, University of La Verne, April-May 2005 Photography Review by Steve Kinzie, University of La Verne Assistant Director of the Learning
Enhancement Center and Adjunct Professor of Peace Studies
Black and white photographs taken in Africa by
Betty Press accompanied by African proverbs and brief descriptive texts provide
viewers with a compelling and moving experience at the Irene Carlson Gallery.
The 24 large format photographs resonate with humanity, from the photographs of
women students at the John F. Kennedy Lycée in Dakar , Senegal , through scenes of village and city life, to an all but
iconic image of two boys dancing in silhouette beneath the smallest sliver of
moon. Ms. Press’ remarkable eye for both composition and the interplay of
light and shadow adds profound artistry to the images of African women, men,
girls, and boys she has chosen for her subjects.
This exhibit is drawn from photographs Ms.
Press took in East and West
Africa during the eight years
(1987-1995) she lived in Kenya as a free lance photojournalist. So, in addition to her
artistic skills, she brings a deep knowledge of and love for African culture
expressed through the proverbs she has chosen for the photographs. These
proverbs, she notes in her Artist’s Statement, “are the key to the
understanding of African ways of life in the past and in modern times.”
In ways that eloquently compliment the photographs, the proverbs give voice to
the values of community, wisdom, and hope.
Indeed, these positive values predominate
even when the photographs themselves depict extreme poverty. An image of a
mother and child in a Turkana home in Kenya illustrates this well. The home is all but bare except
for an open fire stove and bed of straw covered by a blanket. The mother, who
makes her living by selling kerosene, prepares a small bottle for sale. The
photograph captures in the mother’s face both beauty and hope,
underscored by the proverb, “The pillar of the world is hope.” Ms.
Press neither sentimentalizes nor in any way patronizes her subjects; rather,
she gives the sense of one who profoundly loves them. Because of this, she
enables the viewer to share in a kind of knowledge of her subjects—a
knowledge born of understanding and appreciation.
The Carlson Gallery has arranged the
photographs sensitively in its narrow confines. The last image one encounters
bears the proverb, “No matter how long the night, the day is sure to
come.” It was taken in Asmara , Eritrea , Ms. Press writes, during
“The celebration of independence referendum ending long civil war with
Ethiopia … A new moon was rising in the sky and it looked like the boys
were dancing on the edge of the earth,” which, remarkably, is exactly
what this photograph of extraordinary power and beauty has captured.
One leaves this exhibit informed,
enlightened, and even ennobled by Ms. Press’ splendid work, informed as
it is by her sense of humanity and deep respect for the African people.
StetsonUniversity
Art Faculty Exhibition, Deland, Florida 2001. Excerpts from the Introduction
written by Roberta Smith Favis, Associate Professor, Art History.
“As a photojournalist, Betty Press Has
traveled extensively in remote locales documenting scenes and circumstances
from the mundane to the traumatic. Sure command of her craft, strong
composition, and adept choices and treatment of themes distinguish her art.
Press is well known for her photographic studies in Africa .
During the summer of 2000 she went to Cuba and Nicaragua following the trail of African cultural influences
across the Caribbean and Central
America .
Press records diverse peoples and locales
with empathy and with quiet elegance, neither romanticizing nor exoticizing.
She allows her subjects to feel comfortable with her, to arrange themselves as
they wish to be seen, and she has the patience to wait for the time when a
momentary coalescence of forces creates the formal order she is seeking. For a
photograph of a group of girls singing in a church in Granada ,
Nicaragua , she has waited until the precise moment when the
transient light renders the flowered dresses of the girls ever-so-transparent,
and the pleated skirt of the nun-conductress has become a fluted Greek column.
She manages to capture a group of children playing in the river at Trinidad
, Cuba , at an instant when the near and far forms have
resolved into a composition as sure and eloquent as a Degas. At another moment,
in a doorway in Havana , the undulating forms in the bottle-thick eyeglasses of
an elderly woman rhyme almost magically with the pattern on her dress, the
nearby door-knocker and even with cards of her neck. Other images range from
the ethereal (a boy running with fireworks in Granada ,
Nicaragua ), to the mystical (a woman carrying a mask at Carnival
in port of Spain , Trinidad ), and to the quietly comic juxtaposition of man and
bull (in El Viejo , Nicaragua ) or boy and dog (in Havana , Cuba ).”
Comments by private
collector Steve McLachlin, an artist with 40 years as art director on a
newspaper, Ormond Beach, Florida, 2003.
“I’ve spent a lifetime
photographing and studying good photographers’s work on many
levels. Only rarely is real perception and the ability to capture that
vision encountered. You are a highlight among those few.”
Reflections of
Africa: Photographs from Africa and the Diaspora, Baldwin
Photographic Gallery, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro,
Tennessee, March-April 2003.
Excerpts from the Introduction by Curator, Tom Jimison.
“Betty Press lived and worked in Africa
beginning in 1987. In a part of the world often seen as hopelessly war torn,
famine-ridden, and economically deprived, this largely self-taught photographer
recorded bravery, dignity and cultural wealth. Press has also traveled to Cuba , Trinidad , and Belize making images that reflect the significant African
cultural influences alive in the West. This exhibition comprises photos from
both African and the Caribbean .
Press is drawn to the intimacy of families,
primarily as seen in the activities of women and children. For her, these
images “show the richness of the African culture in terms of art, music
and religion.”
Reflections of Africa,LycomingCollege, Williamsport, PA Feb 2004
Excerpts from Review by photography student Carrie Firman
“The thing that truly caught my attention
with this documentary project was the artist’s objective; to displace the
stereotypes that have been applied to Africa . Press does
this by the careful choosing of subject matter and the application of certain
techniques to her work.
The artist choose scenes from everyday life,
from preparing food to religious services to rituals….She also documents
the leisure time of their subjects, which is much like our own. Children play,
men lift weights, young people lounge at a hair salon, fashion shows are held
and groups gather for tea.
She has a true respect for her subjects, and
this is demonstrated by the way that she often treats her work as portraiture.
While surroundings are sometimes included to describe the action taking place,
Press always investigates the individual or group, not their environment.
Every print is rich in tone and density; it
is obvious that the artist would not settle for anything less than the
perfection that she felt her subjects deserved.”
American Vision, Group Show, ElmiraCollege, Elmira, New York January, 2004.
Excerpts from Arts Editor, Liz Warkentin of the college newspaper The
Octagon.
“Another artist that I particularly
enjoyed was Betty Press. Her photography of people living in Africa
….,quite frankly, is exquisite. Young Senegalese women taken in Dakar , Senegal in 1988 is a silver print that shows so much culture and
feeling. …This photograph tells a story much like Young girl on her
way to Koranic School does. …the child’s expression causes your
belly to tingle and your mind to wonder what she must be thinking about.”
Covered and
Uncovered: Photographs and African masks, Art League, Daytona Beach , Florida August-September
2003. Curated by Katherine MacDiarmid
Excerpts from a review by Laura Stewart, Fine Arts Editor, The
Daytona Beach News-Journal.
“The strikingly installed exhibition,
organized by independent curator Katherine MacDiarmid, takes full advantage of
the bold design qualities that link Press” textiles and photos with the
masks Copelon began collecting more than 10 years ago.”
“From a Mali shore to the Kenyan
national park where Masai dancers move through traditional rhythms for
visitors, from brightly tinted fabrics to sleekly carved or thickly painted
masks, Covered and Uncovered offers a wide-ranging look at Africa and
enticing glimpses of the continent’s people.”
Excerpts from curator
Katherine MacDiarmid’s statement.
“The photography of Betty Press gives
the viewer a glimpse into the world of modern Africa
with its connection to the past and ever moving force toward to the future. The
photographs in this exhibit are a beautiful tribute to the human spirit. Her
attention to detail and clarity of composition allow the viewer a perspective on
the scene not offered by some documentary photographers. Her delicate touch
welcomes the opportunity for subject and viewer to meet. It is this approach to
photography that allows the viewer an honest and pure glimpse into the life of
the subject as opposed to some documentary photographs that seem an unwelcome
intrusion.”
The New Africa: Dispatches from a Changing Continent. Book by Robert M Press/ Photographs by Betty Press,
University of Florida Press, 1999.
Excerpts from book review for the St
Petersburg Times, by Margo Hammond, 2000
“Look at Africa ,
and the faces that stare back may surprise you. They are not ones merely of
famine, war and poverty. They are also of democracy, progress and personal
success. These are the stories that often go untold in a world whose vision of Africa is
based on negative stereotypes.”
One World:
Photographs from Mali , Crealdé School of Art , Winter Park , Florida October 1997.
Excerpts from a Philip E. Bishop, professor of humanities at Valencia Community College , Orlando Sentinel .
“What marks out Press’
photographs is not style but her ability to get close to this life and record
it with self-effacing candor. It must be not an accident that her most willing
subjects are women, some of them braiding hair or pounding millet. Clearly they
are sharing their work and their laughter with her (and with her viewers).
It’s refreshing {she doesn’t} suffer any angst or
self-consciousness about her subjects. {She} has spent a long time in these
places, long enough to feel at home.
That makes these photographs less universal,
and more particular, and that’s good. It may be one world but the people
living in its many corners are still different enough to catch the
camera’s eye.”
African Moments The CharlesSumnerSchoolMuseum and Archives, Washington, DC, March-May 1993.
Excerpts from the Introduction written by guest curator Harold Confer
“If we in America are ever going to appreciate the answers that Africa
offers us to many of the problems we have found insurmountable, it will be
because of people like Betty who have perception and skills of communicating.
They can serve as a bridge; a bridge between cultures and peoples, between
times past and times present.
I hope you find more than just skill and
beauty in Press’ work…I hope you see that of God within us all and
the promise of continuing revelation in the promise found in this very diverse
but handsome human family. As Africa struggles to discover new forms of politics, economics
and culture that may serve her well in the future, perhaps we will come to see
some of answers through her eyes.”