Wallace Merritt

Histories Photo Series:

Family photographs have always stimulated my curiosity. As I stare intently at faces that are vaguely familiar, I hear voices amid laughter, recall remembrances of celebrations, traditions and family history, rumors of scandals - tales of lives that are intertwined with mine.

What occurs when photographs are viewed in unusual places - not framed and on the wall, or carefully placed in the family album - but in an unexpected image that takes one by surprise? An imaginative process begins and a story unfolds.

Portraits Photo Series:

A portrait is not just the record of outward appearances, but is the confirmation of acceptance between the model and me, the photographer, in the collaborative expression of mood and emotion.

Still LifesPhoto Series:

The still lifes represented here help to sustain my memory of friends and relatives through visuals reminiscent of an earlier time, of a distinct personality, of an ordinary but cherished life. Having a photographic dialogue with objects they have left behind enriches my remembrance of those I do not wish to forget.

BIO

After completing a degree in Urban Studies, Wallace Merritt moved to New Orleans and studied at A School for Fine Photography. Merritt's photographic concentration changed from architecture to the human form. His most interesting work in this area is a portfolio that compares the human form to landscapes of New Mexico and Southern Colorado. He spent six months in France and Ireland working with a large format camera. The palladium prints made from this European experience were landscapes with a narrative quality.

From 1995-2000 Merritt was an instructor at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. Today he lives just outside the French Quarter and prefers to photograph in the late afternoon light of his garden.

Selected Solo Exhibitions:

11/04     Family Roy Gallery, New Orleans
03/96     In Repose Wyndy Morehead Fine Arts, New Orleans
02/93     Flesh and Stone; Wyndy Morehead Fine Arts, New Orleans
02/92     By Way of the Flesh Wyndy Morehead Fine Arts, New Orleans
09/90     Speak in Silence Wyndy Morehead Fine Arts, New Orleans

Selected Group Exhibitions:

04/05     Classicism Subverted Studios Plat du Jour, Paris
05/99     Louisiana Juried Exhibition Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans,
              juror: Debra Kass
05/98     Enchanted Visions The Center for Photography at Woodstock,
             Woodstock, NY
05/98     Naked Truth New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans
01/95     The Body Photographic Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans

Critical Reviews:

           Times-Picayune Lagniappe "Compare, Contrast, and Enjoy These Photo
           Shows" Chris Waddington, p 14 (October 24, 1997)

           Offbeat "Geometry and Romance" Doug McCash pp 22-23 (April, 1996)

           New Orleans Art Review "Sadoun and Merritt" Erika Schroter pp 28-29
           (March/April, 1993)