A Voyage Home

By Elijah Howe

(Best viewed on a Desktop Computer)

July 8th through September 27th

As a graduate of HSU, Elijah Howe “combines the fragmentation of images seen in David Hockney’s photographic work and imbues it with the photo-diary narrative structure of JH Engstrom’s projects”. In 2019 Howe received the Tom Knight Award for Photography and this exhibition is appropriately installed in the Tom Knight Gallery at the MGMA.

If you are interested in purchasing one of Elijah Howe’s pieces please email alex@humboldtarts.org

Visit Elijah Howe’s Website Here…

elijahhowe.com

Artist Statement

My work explores place by combining individual details to construct a whole scene. The re-occurring themes that are present in this work are isolation and fragmentation. I am interested in the way that a photograph captures an instant in time and reveals small details of the surrounding world. This project takes many different images of one scene. Each frame exists as its own unique picture and only when combined, will they tell the whole story. Because the fragments are not taken in the exact same moment, each frame exhibits a change in time, light, and slight variation in vantage point that creates a finished image. This composition is displayed as a complete scene and conveys a single instant evolving into an experience. Beyond the photographic method I use, my subjects create a loose narrative based on my personal life and experiences. The photographs are taken on a 35mm point and shoot camera using gritty black and white film. The ability of the point and shoot camera to be on my person at all times allows me to document moments, objects, and scenes that I comes upon in my life without needing to seek out these instances or return with a camera after having observed something of interest. After a year of collecting, I selected images and sequenced them together to make these seemingly fragmented and distant images part of a greater whole. Much like how the collector/publisher Uta Grosenick speaks of JH Engstrom’s images, “these disparate photographs become individual stars that when connected through the book form create a constellation.” My work combines the fragmentation of image seen in David Hockney’s photographic work and imbues it with the photo-diary narrative structure of JH Engstrom’s projects. I make these pictures to explore the isolation and destruction of the modern landscape and recreate the flitting gaze of the photographer. My work combines the crumbling of our modern environment with the isolation of the human experience.

--Elijah Howe

**“The Train Has Left the Tracks”, Wheatpaste on Wood**

**“I Wish I Could Sleep”, Chromogenic Print**

**“The People’s Car”, Chromogenic Print**

**“Spark in the Night”, Chromogenic Print**

**“Follow Me Through the Fields”, Chromogenic Print**

**“Castle in the Clouds”, Chromogenic Print**

**“Follow the Trees”, Chromogenic Print**

**“Arms in the Air”, Wheatpaste on Wood**

**“Down the Rabbit Hole”, Wheatpaste on Wood**

**“Decay in the Meadow”, Wheatpaste on Wood**

**“Every Day is Independence Day”, Wheatpaste on Wood**

Gallery Views