Cecilia A. Montalvo and Charles A. McCullers thesis exhibition: 'Where the Light Enters'

SCAD presents "Where the Light Enters," a thesis exhibition by Cecilia A. Montalvo (M.F.A. photography) and Charles A. McCullers (M.F.A. photography; M.A., photography, 2016). This collaboration is concerned with the condition of permanent change, as indicated by the dynamic nature of South Florida’s barrier islands. Depicting the energy, antecedents and outcomes of the land-sea interaction, the work explores the narrative complexities of shape inversion and the paradoxical interdependence of demarcation and intermediation.

Montalvo and McCullers explore the meaning of divided origins. One comes from a multicultural family, while the other has two families, adoptive and biological. Their collaboration is based on shared thematic interest in how mythologies of belonging operate. The artists use an early photographic process, wet plate collodion, to capture their subjects in the living, environmental intensity of the barrier islands, using a portable darkroom. This process is the manifestation of their interest in permanence through change, as collodion requires the artist to relinquish control at the precise instant of artistic creation. For the artists, process risk is inherent to truly seeing the enormous and magical system of life around them. Within that system, the artists contend, differentiation and assimilation are answers to the wrong question. Identity-making is itself an exercise of the system. "Where the Light Enters" metaphorically explores origins and the unexpected possibilities of going forward to get back.

Montalvo was born and raised in Miami, Florida. She has worked for The Phillips Collection, Smithsonian Magazine and Harvard University at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington D.C.

McCullers is a photographer from Atlanta, Georgia. During his 40-year career, he has established relationships with many institutions including the Tate Gallery, London; the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; and the Sir Elton John Photography Collection.

Opening Reception: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 5–7 p.m.

Join the artists and moderator Elizabeth Turk, SCAD professor of photography, for a gallery talk about their work at 6 p.m. A Q-and-A session will follow the talk.

Gallery hours: Monday through Friday: 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

This exhibition is free, open to the public and part of SCAD deFINE ART 2019, held Feb. 26–28 at university locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia.