Denise Bass: Finding Mary
Artist Statement: Finding Mary
Finding Mary: A photographic exploration of lawn shrines and the residential frontyard as a pulpit for expressing faith, culture and artistic whimsy. We’ve all seen how people use their front yards to make some kind of statement: Flower gardens, holiday decorations, political signs, gnomes. The Finding Mary project explores religious lawn shrines specifically, and the reasons behind using the front lawn to make a statement. Images are paired with quotes from the shrine keepers.
– Denise Bass
Context:
Finding Mary evolved from a project first started in our first Visual Storytelling Workshop with David H. Wells. It is still in the process of being refined with the support of an ongoing review group, that meets monthly, here at the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts. While an exhibition set of prints is in progress, a book is a likely final result, meanwhile the project continues to grow on Instagram
Reflection by Denise
Before taking the Visual Storytelling workshop with the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, I had never done a personal photo project. I had a few photos and an idea that I thought might be worth pursuing. Taking the workshop helped me learn how to analyze my idea and think about it in ways I hadn’t thought about it before, including researching historical context and searching for similar work being done. Writing a proposal really helped me think through why I was doing the project, how to make it relatable to viewers and fine-tune what I was trying to say. Once I had that figured out, I got excited about having a well formed, solid idea and wanted to work on it all the time. Having a deadline was a motivator for keeping the work moving forward. I now have a good foundation for forming and developing story ideas that I can use forever. But the best part, and the reason I signed on for the extension workshop, is the dialogue, constructive criticism, and support of the group. I learned a lot from the feedback they gave to me, and I learned a lot about how to provide useful feedback for others. That is something I didn’t expect to learn from the workshop, but I realized how important it is and I want to continue to work on that too. – Denise Bass
About Denise:
My introduction to photography began in my father’s home darkroom, where I watched images of my sister and I emerge in the developer bath under the red glow of the safety light. I was fascinated by my family’s old photo albums and the stories my grandparents shared about relatives I could only know through photographs. That idea of preserving family history through photos directly led me to wedding photography, which has supplemented my career in photo labs, newspapers, and creative agencies. In recent years, I began developing a personal photography project called Finding Mary: A Photographic Exploration of Lawn Shrines and the Residential Front Yard as a Pulpit for Expressing Faith, Culture, and Artistic Whimsy. This project was born while taking walks through my neighborhood, where I noticed a large concentration of “Marys on the half shell.” In talking with the shrine keepers about why they create these displays, they shared stories full of pride, bravery, charm, and inspiration. The quotes accompanying the photos come directly from the shrine keepers.
Website: www.denisebassphotography.com
Instagram: finding_mary_project
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