Ginger Burrell
Morgan Hill, California
Morgan Hill, California
Bio: Ginger Burrell is an artist and teacher. Since earning her BFA in Photography from San Jose State University’s school of Art and Design, Burrell has been teaching book arts classes and workshops for ten years. The artist’s primary medium is artists’ books, and her work includes photography, monotype, and composite imagery exploring a range of topics from the personal to the political to the universal. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, and her books are held in private and public collections. Burrell lives in Morgan Hill CA with her husband Greg and "too many" cats.
Statement: I use artists’ books to engage with the world. My goal is to catch viewers’ attention and encourage them to consider, and perhaps reframe, their thoughts on sometimes difficult subjects. I use collections of images, stories, and experiences to illustrate, challenge, and expand a point of view.
When creating Reliquary, it was not hard to imagine, in a not so distant future, a time when all but a few physical books have been destroyed. Perhaps to make room for more people, perhaps because everything has been digitized, or perhaps because books are no longer valued.
Reliquary represents the rarity of the last remaining paper copies. As with the fragments of the holy, the volume is too precious for anyone to hold in its entirety. Instead, small preserved pieces are parsed out to those most suitable to protect them, or those wealthy enough to acquire public treasure for private use.
Public Privacy examines the tension between our need for privacy and the transparency of modern life. Just as our windows allow us to see out during the day, at night they become viewing screens to the passerby. Our devices allow us great personal freedom, but at what personal cost? Whether through open curtains or social media posting, our permission to watch is implicit. In an age of Facebook, Instagram, and Google Earth, how is it that we have any expectation of privacy at all?
Statement: I use artists’ books to engage with the world. My goal is to catch viewers’ attention and encourage them to consider, and perhaps reframe, their thoughts on sometimes difficult subjects. I use collections of images, stories, and experiences to illustrate, challenge, and expand a point of view.
When creating Reliquary, it was not hard to imagine, in a not so distant future, a time when all but a few physical books have been destroyed. Perhaps to make room for more people, perhaps because everything has been digitized, or perhaps because books are no longer valued.
Reliquary represents the rarity of the last remaining paper copies. As with the fragments of the holy, the volume is too precious for anyone to hold in its entirety. Instead, small preserved pieces are parsed out to those most suitable to protect them, or those wealthy enough to acquire public treasure for private use.
Public Privacy examines the tension between our need for privacy and the transparency of modern life. Just as our windows allow us to see out during the day, at night they become viewing screens to the passerby. Our devices allow us great personal freedom, but at what personal cost? Whether through open curtains or social media posting, our permission to watch is implicit. In an age of Facebook, Instagram, and Google Earth, how is it that we have any expectation of privacy at all?