TIMELESS GESTURES

A Celebration of the Visual and Performing Arts

SATURDAY, JULY 26, AT 2 AND 4PM IN THE SECOND-FLOOR GALLERY

Tickets may be reserved in advance as seating is limited. Attendees are strongly encouraged to arrive 10-15 minutes before each performance. Light refreshments will be served in the adjoining gallery prior to the start of each session. Click here to reserve tickets for this event.

FEATURED DANCERS:

ARIA REITER & LUCIANO OLIVIERI

The Southeast Museum of Photography is pleased to host dancers Aria Reiter and Luciano Oliviera as they participate in the museum’s first-annual live dance showcase.

This showcase features original choreography by Aria Reiter and Luciano Olivieri, dance students at the New World School of the Arts in Miami. Their site-specific piece, Foundations, explores the powerful connection between visual and performing arts, drawing inspiration from the groundbreaking collaboration between photographer Barbara Morgan and dancer-choreographer Martha Graham.

Foundations is an interpretive study designed to offer insight into the artistic processes of these pioneering legends, and to celebrate the path they forged together. This intimate routine integrates dance performance within the exhibition space, allowing visitors to directly engage as the performers’ explore the tension between stillness and sustained movement. Their bodies become a medium through which artistic object, human subject and the audience can connect. Works from the museum’s permanent collection provide the backdrop for this unique event.

Celebrating Two Pioneering Legends: Martha Graham & Barbara Morgan

In 1935, Barbara Morgan witnessed a performance by modern dancer and choreographer Martha Graham. At that time, both women were in the early stages of their artistic careers. Morgan found Graham’s performance so exhilarating, that upon introducing herself, decided it would be beneficial to suggest collaborating together. What began as a mere idea quickly transformed into a lifelong friendship of 60 years that shaped the world of modern dance. Morgan’s photographs are a deeply evocative testament to the power of gesture and visual narrative; Graham, known for incorporating individual experience and channeling emotion into action, remains one of the most influential figures within the modern dance movement. Together, these women became a creative force that forever changed the way we perceive modern dance.

“Timeless Gestures underscores the efficacy of Morgan and Graham’s partnership, using contemporary dance as a creative framework to broaden our audience’s understanding of the photographic record. Both mediums transcend boundaries, utilizing visual storytelling to encapsulate the complexities of the human condition”

— Christina Katsolis, Curator

© Barbara Morgan, Martha Graham Letter to the World, 1940

Barbara Morgan was commissioned by the Martha Graham Dance Company to photograph various dancers from 1935 through 1940. The first book she produced, Martha Graham: Sixteen Dances in Photographs, featured Letter to the World (Kick).

The kicking sequence Graham performs in the photograph above is from her 1940 ballet based on the love life of American poet Emily Dickinson. The title of the work comes from Dickinson’s poem, “This is my letter to the world,” in which she expresses feelings of loneliness and a disconnect from the rest of the world. Graham’s pose and facial expression––expertly captured by Barbara Morgan––reflects Dickinson’s elevated emotions literally pulled from the page and imbued with life.There is a solemn gravity to the scene that resonates soundly with the viewer, as Graham’s entire body exhibits a melancholy fervor so powerful it seems to resonate beyond the edge of the photograph.

As Graham worked through variations of her techniques––using contractions, shifting positions and sequences of movement––Morgan likewise experimented with light and shadow. She often directed her lights (and her assistants) to be stationed at intervals, controlling the intensity and angle of projection to both accent and abstract Graham’s body in space.

Selections of Morgan’s most innovative works are on display, including her renowned Letter to the World (1940) and Ekstasis (1933), as well as examples of her light painting, still life and photomontage.

Many of the dancers Morgan photographed are now regarded as the pioneers of modern dance, and her photographs the definitive images of their art. These included Valerie Bettis, Merce Cunningham, Jane Dudley, Erick Hawkins, Hanya Holm, Doris Humphrey, José Limón, Sophie Maslow, May O’Donnell, Pearl Primus, Anna Sokolow, Helen Tamiris, and Charles Weidman. Critics Clive Barnes, John Martin, Elizabeth McCausland, and Beaumont Newhall have all noted the importance of Morgan’s work.