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Friday, September 16, 2005
Photos bridge a culture gap uniquely
Born in the Philippines and raised in California, Stephanie Syjuco is currently considering the barriers of perception between her country of origin and herself, her belonging to it and not belonging at all.
Victorian poet Matthew Arnold once wrote about "wandering between two worlds, one dead, the other powerless to be born."
Syjuco is making art out of a displacement similar to Arnold's without his pessimism. She scanned the Internet for photos of black-market scenes in the Philippines and, because she has no way of understanding the people in them or their business, she blacked out portions of each photo. The result is visual aphasia, an ignorance of context embedded into the context itself.
Instead of a portraying a lost world or her own wandering between worlds, Syjuco articulates a distance that she cannot overcome and does so with wit and humor. Her work is a rare combination of brains and beauty.
The show is at James Harris Gallery, 309 Third Ave. S., through Oct. 1. Hours: Wednesdays-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information: www.JamesHarrisGallery.com.
-- Regina Hackett
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