Hart, Sharon

Yesterday We Were Girls is a body of work which includes photographs selected from family albums and current images I create based in and around my childhood and adolescent memories. The photographs are accompanied by porcelain recreations of precious girlhood treasures, handwritten poetic prose, and an installation which also includes found furniture and a large open book form. Focused on my lived experience of the tension between intimacy and distance, acceptance and rejection, as well as the hidden and that which is laid bare, this body of work is an exploration of identity, female life cycles, family history, and mother – daughter relationships.

Many Days Many Nights is a body of work that examines the notion of place, highlighting the complex relationship between a psychological state of mind and the experience of geographical location. The work incorporates a hybrid documentary photography practice combined with experimental video to construct narrative and is underpinned by a phenomenological inquiry into the relationship between memory, time, and the experience of place, and collectively, how these concepts pervade the subjective photographic frame.

Frog Alley Community Garden is located in the historic
neighborhood of Frog Alley in Delray Beach.
The garden’s philosophy believes in “sowing community
through organic practices”. They advocate the
importance of sustainable life practice by providing
the community an open space in which to cultivate
and grow their own food. Through documenting the
ins and outs of the Frog Alley Community Garden, I
wish to raise awareness on sustainable and practical
life practice through Organic cultivation. This means
documenting methods that require a relatively small
amount of energy to yield a high amount of outcome.
An example of this would be permaculture, agricultural
design in alignment with the patterns of nature,
plays a large role for many of these dedicated gardeners.
With the intent of implementing gardening
methods that seek to coexist with the natural ecosystem,
the ability to grow and share food, as well as contributing
little to no environmental impact, establishes
Frog Alley as a sustainable garden. The diversity of
gardeners at Frog Alley, a handful of who are new to
gardening in general, are egger to learn and experiment
with various methods of organic cultivation. The
sharing of information from gardener to gardener pertaining
to the growth of their plots, when to seed and
harvest, the identification of native plants, and assorted
solutions to pest problems is what makes Frog
Alley a community garden. Candid shots focusing in
on the gardeners, the conscious design of space, the
plants, and the tremendous amount of work involved
have been the highlights of this project. The significance
of each composition is to mirror the earthy element,
depicting a combination of labor and love. The
choice of paper and size, such as a cold press natural
matte 13 x 19, coincide with the natural aspect echoing
throughout.

My documentary focuses on the aspects of therapeutic
riding: which engages the rider both physically and
mentally. Physically the rider is able to build core body
strength and the movement of the horse mimics the
human gate. Mentally the riders attention has to be
engaged multi-dimensionally focusing both on the instructions
they are given and on the connection with
the horse. The shift in the riders’ personality is interesting
to watch and in many cases they open up and
enjoy the experience. The therapies shifts the greater
conversation away from disabilities and being unable
to participate in activities to being an individual who
has impairment who can still be an active participant.
Those with a physical impairment experience independent
movement, those who are non-verbal and
autistic individuals tune their communication skills.

Although LBGTQ people currently experience unprecedented
visibility in American media and popular
culture, those representations depict flattened images
that reduce complex individuals into simplified and
limited categories of identity. I created this documentary
to blur and shatter the boundaries currently restraining
the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, and
queer communities through the production of theoretically
informed photographic images. These pictures
form a response to pop culture tropes and misinterpretations
of the LGBTQ community. In totality, I
intend to pluralize and complicate notions of identity
and bodies.

Belongings hybridizes photography, sculpture, and printmaking through new laser
technology. The exhibited work communicates a lingering sense of homesickness and
maps a path through the objects discovered in my father’s wallet shortly after his passing.