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  ©Linda Connor

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An exhibition by American photographer Linda Connor, is being held through the end of January, 2004.

Connor’s photographs were first introduced to Japan in 1985. Her earlier work was soft-focusd images that depicted things personal with an 8×10 camera with an old lens attached. Her scope expanded after she published these images in SOLOS (1979). Her photographic pursuit then led to things “real”: nature, ancient architecture, ruins, and the spheres outside the influence of Western culture. She made frequent visits to India, where she first photographed at end of the 1970s. She also visited Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Nepal, Tibet, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt to photograph landscapes and people, once again in 8×10 camera.

One of the characteristics of Connor’s work is her own way of printmaking, which she has cherished since the early days of her career. With an 8×10 inch negative exposed on a printing paper called P.O.P. (Printing-Out Paper), a contact print can be made with no need of chemical development. If sunlight is used for the exposure, 10 minutes to several days are required to make a print, as the paper’s photosensitivity is quite low and reacts only to ultraviolet rays. Its unique and rich tonal range enhances her delicate 8×10 images to render great depth to her work. Connor’s way of printing on P.O.P. with natural light is indeed quite suggestive of a magical rite.

In one of her few comments about her own work, she says, referring to photography, “Trying to explain what draws me to certain subjects and what the photographs convey are elements, that for me, are better left wordless. And to describe in words that which has its strength in imagery, experience and emotion is counter intuitive. Though, I find reality endlessly fascinating and I know better than to think of it as simply ‘real’.”

The exhibition is an overview of her work for the past 25 years, including her latest photographs from Ladakh, northern India, in 2003. More than 50 black and white photographs contact printed on P.O.P. are exhibited.

Linda Connor

Born in NY, 1944. Graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1967 and the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology in 1969. Connor is a professor in the Photography Department at the San Francisco Art Institute where she has taught since 1969.
One of the characteristics of Connor’s work is her own way of printmaking with an 8×10 inch negative exposed on a printing paper called P.O.P. (Printing-Out Paper). She depicted the personal things in her early work then led to things “real”: nature, ancient architecture, ruins, and the spheres outside the influence of Western culture. She made frequent visits to India, where she first photographed at end of the 1970s. She also visited Cambodia, Thailand, Nepal, Tibet, Turkey, Israel, and Egypt to photograph landscapes and people, once again in 8×10 camera.
Connor is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship. Her work is included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Museum of Modern Art, New York, SF Museum of Modern Art and Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Exhibitions at PGI