THE SHAPE OF THE FATHER: Laurie Freitag > Best Series: Beth Galton
Best Series: Beth Galton
BETH GALTON-BEST SERIES
Beth Galton/Life with Father
Beth Galton/Life with Father
BETH GALTON
So much of who we are is passed from generation to generation—our genes, our behaviors- molded by our parents and grandparents. My mother’s relationship with her mother was fraught with difficulties and these same dynamics were passed onto me. I’ve spent many years contending with these issues by first becoming overly involved in my mother’s life and then ultimately removing myself.
In 2017, my mother and father - who had not lived together for 50 years by that time - died within three days of each other. After my sister and I inherited my mother’s home, we were startled to find the extent to which she had been hoarding. We discovered her journals, copious letters written to family members and never sent, everyday objects and photographs depicting many family scenes that I have no memory of. A profound sadness combined with these surprising discoveries led to my creating this body of work exploring feelings, memories and even buried memories – all brought to the surface through these revelations.
In this series, Memory of Absence, I combined botanicals and natural materials together with the everyday objects and family photographs in order to convey a sense of memory and loss. The organic and volatile botanicals serve as a reminder of the ever-changing nature of memory and emotions—an unstable and profoundly unreliable process, as fragile as scraps of embroidery as complicated and garbled as tangles of magnetic tape. Text plays a key role as well, her words intertwined with mine.
My creative process begins with composing and photographing a still life of the botanicals together with the objects that I have collected and saved from my mother’s home. I then print out the image, create yet another still life by layering more objects with the print and then re-photograph this composition. Thereby giving a further sense of the complex and layered emotions found within family dynamics.
BIO
Beth Galton is a photo-based artist, with an educational background in the natural sciences and three decades of experience as a professional photographer in the editorial and commercial arena. These elements of her history are the lens through which she explores the world.
Conceptually, Beth is drawn to the details of life that are often overlooked. She frequently allows time to affect botanical matter as a method of recording our connection to the cycles of nature. Photographing food as an exploration of what we eat and how we see nourishment is a theme through her body of work. As a lifelong learner, Beth uses current technology to help articulate her message. She loves to harness natural light to capture the compositions by using a large format camera and digital back.
Beth’s fine art and professional work have won numerous accolades and been exhibited extensively throughout her career in the US and Europe. She was previously represented by Marlborough Gallery in NYC. Beth won the prestigious Sony World Photography Award 2024 in Still Life for her London Plane Tree series.
Most recently her work has been exhibited at The Delaware Contemporary Museum, Wilmington DE, Griffin Museum, Winchester MA, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa FL, Montpellier Contemporian, Montpellier France, Soho Photo Gallery, NYC NY, Wave Hill, Riverdale NY, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins CO, the Center for Photographic Art, Carmel CA, Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta GA, Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston MA and was part of ‘The Fence’, a traveling outdoor exhibition shown in seven cities across the country.
Beth lives and works in New York City, where she is moved and inspired by the city every day.
WORK FOR SALE
Life with father
Archival Pigment Print20 x 16 inches
Unframed - $1250
Edition of 10
Signed label
EntanglementsArchival Pigment Print20 x 16 inches
Unframed - $1250
Edition of 10
Signed label
AdventurerArchival Pigment Print20 x 16 inches
Unframed - $1250
Edition of 10
Signed label
Contact:
Beth Galton- beth@bethgalton.com
www.bethgaltonfineart.com
www.instagram.com/ bethgaltonstudio
So much of who we are is passed from generation to generation—our genes, our behaviors- molded by our parents and grandparents. My mother’s relationship with her mother was fraught with difficulties and these same dynamics were passed onto me. I’ve spent many years contending with these issues by first becoming overly involved in my mother’s life and then ultimately removing myself.
In 2017, my mother and father - who had not lived together for 50 years by that time - died within three days of each other. After my sister and I inherited my mother’s home, we were startled to find the extent to which she had been hoarding. We discovered her journals, copious letters written to family members and never sent, everyday objects and photographs depicting many family scenes that I have no memory of. A profound sadness combined with these surprising discoveries led to my creating this body of work exploring feelings, memories and even buried memories – all brought to the surface through these revelations.
In this series, Memory of Absence, I combined botanicals and natural materials together with the everyday objects and family photographs in order to convey a sense of memory and loss. The organic and volatile botanicals serve as a reminder of the ever-changing nature of memory and emotions—an unstable and profoundly unreliable process, as fragile as scraps of embroidery as complicated and garbled as tangles of magnetic tape. Text plays a key role as well, her words intertwined with mine.
My creative process begins with composing and photographing a still life of the botanicals together with the objects that I have collected and saved from my mother’s home. I then print out the image, create yet another still life by layering more objects with the print and then re-photograph this composition. Thereby giving a further sense of the complex and layered emotions found within family dynamics.
BIO
Beth Galton is a photo-based artist, with an educational background in the natural sciences and three decades of experience as a professional photographer in the editorial and commercial arena. These elements of her history are the lens through which she explores the world.
Conceptually, Beth is drawn to the details of life that are often overlooked. She frequently allows time to affect botanical matter as a method of recording our connection to the cycles of nature. Photographing food as an exploration of what we eat and how we see nourishment is a theme through her body of work. As a lifelong learner, Beth uses current technology to help articulate her message. She loves to harness natural light to capture the compositions by using a large format camera and digital back.
Beth’s fine art and professional work have won numerous accolades and been exhibited extensively throughout her career in the US and Europe. She was previously represented by Marlborough Gallery in NYC. Beth won the prestigious Sony World Photography Award 2024 in Still Life for her London Plane Tree series.
Most recently her work has been exhibited at The Delaware Contemporary Museum, Wilmington DE, Griffin Museum, Winchester MA, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa FL, Montpellier Contemporian, Montpellier France, Soho Photo Gallery, NYC NY, Wave Hill, Riverdale NY, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins CO, the Center for Photographic Art, Carmel CA, Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta GA, Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston MA and was part of ‘The Fence’, a traveling outdoor exhibition shown in seven cities across the country.
Beth lives and works in New York City, where she is moved and inspired by the city every day.
WORK FOR SALE
Life with father
Archival Pigment Print20 x 16 inches
Unframed - $1250
Edition of 10
Signed label
EntanglementsArchival Pigment Print20 x 16 inches
Unframed - $1250
Edition of 10
Signed label
AdventurerArchival Pigment Print20 x 16 inches
Unframed - $1250
Edition of 10
Signed label
Contact:
Beth Galton- beth@bethgalton.com
www.bethgaltonfineart.com
www.instagram.com/ bethgaltonstudio
Beth Galton/Adventurer
Beth Galton/Entanglements
-----------------------------------------
HOME: The Shape of the Father
https://laphotocurator.com/the-shape-of-the-father-laurie-freitag
FIRST PLACE:
https://laphotocurator.com/the-shape-of-the-father-laurie-freitag/shape-of-the-father-first-place-never-edit-untitled-1----/1
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
https://laphotocurator.com/the-shape-of-the-father-laurie-freitag/honorable-mentions-lynn-buchanan-memories-of-childhood-vacations-kip-harris-father-and-son-jodphur-jane-gottlieb-curtain-call-prescott-moore-lassman-contrail/1
BEST SERIES:
https://laphotocurator.com/the-shape-of-the-father-laurie-freitag/best-series-beth-galton/1
GROUP EXHIBITION:
https://laphotocurator.com/the-shape-of-the-father-laurie-freitag/shape-of-the-father-exhibition-1/1
HOME: The Shape of the Father
https://laphotocurator.com/the-shape-of-the-father-laurie-freitag
FIRST PLACE:
https://laphotocurator.com/the-shape-of-the-father-laurie-freitag/shape-of-the-father-first-place-never-edit-untitled-1----/1
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
https://laphotocurator.com/the-shape-of-the-father-laurie-freitag/honorable-mentions-lynn-buchanan-memories-of-childhood-vacations-kip-harris-father-and-son-jodphur-jane-gottlieb-curtain-call-prescott-moore-lassman-contrail/1
BEST SERIES:
https://laphotocurator.com/the-shape-of-the-father-laurie-freitag/best-series-beth-galton/1
GROUP EXHIBITION:
https://laphotocurator.com/the-shape-of-the-father-laurie-freitag/shape-of-the-father-exhibition-1/1
