Third Person Exhibition Opening Reception

What makes a portrait? The answer depends on whom you ask. "Third Person," showing at the Cleveland Print Room from March 20 through April 25, will explore the portrait in its many different forms. The exhibit, featuring the work of 25 photographic artists and curated by Laura Ruth Bidwell, Ken Emerick, Joe Minek, Chuck Mintz, and Print Room Founder and Director Shari Wilkins, displays each curator's different perspective on the concept of portrature. Traditionally, portraits have been defined as an artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. In this show, however, the goal is to look beyond this definition. The portraits in this show need only meet one requirement: they must be photographs or have photographs incorporated in the work. Apart from that, each curator has decided upon a specific theme for the works they have chosen for the exhibit. “This show is intended to feature each curator's idea or representation of what a portrait can be,” said Wilkins of the exhibition, which also features a wide range of photographic media, from digital to hand-processed analog photography, and post-processing augmentation with paint and other materials. The images Wilkins has chosen for her part of the show will explore the “deconstruction” of the portrait. “We each have a great deal of latitude," she added, concerning the curators' choices. The exhibition will run from March 20 - April 26, 2015.