Gabriella Warner

Artist Statement and Explanation of Work

Since I was a child I have been particularly drawn to photography. Although my journey did not start that way. I found myself continuously pulled too small details in anything I saw. When walking I would take a mental picture of a specific detail in a leaf, person, or anything else. It was not until middle school when I could begin taking those photos physically. I admired my older sister who studied photography in high school in my mother’s footsteps, and I immediately knew I wanted to head down the same path. By sophomore year at Abington Friends School, I was able to enroll in a photography class. Since then, I have been able to incorporate my love of social justice, activism, and poetry through storytelling in my photos. I purposefully integrate certain symbols and hidden messages into my work to make people question its true meaning.

“Childhood” is my final piece I have chosen for my Photography 3 class. The goal was to look through old photographs, with the possibility of taking a few new photos, to observe what your “go-to’s” are in your work. Instead of shying away from the familiarity of techniques and details in our photos, we were encouraged to make a showcase of this work. The work that I have created tells a coming of age story. The pictures were deliberately picked to not be extremely straightforward. The audience is supposed to look at my exhibit to try to create their own meaning. However, I have labeled vague meanings to each row/circle for the audience to read into it on their own:

First: Emptiness/Start of New Beginning. Second: Child Innocence until the end. Third: Self-Growth and Elegance. Fourth: Trapped. Fifth: Reality.

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