A Photographer’s Journey into Parkinson’s with Kristin V. Rehder, Presenter:
Friday, August 2, 2024, 6-7 pm @ Lopez Island Library.
Photographer Kristin Rehder, a summer resident on Lopez, will discuss the evolution of her photographic projects—from still black-and-white photography to her current-day practice of intentional camera movement, which is an outcome of her Parkinson’s Disease. Kristin will show examples of her work, including numerous shots from her Lopez projects, made over more than twenty years.
Kristin holds a master’s degree focused on the cultural history of photography and a post -graduate certificate from the documentary studies program at Duke University.
All are welcome.
In association with the Saturday, August 3 First Saturday Art Walk there will be a pop up exhibit of Tremor, 18 large-scale photographs made by Kristin Rehder on Lopez Island in the summer of 2024 and on view in the Library’s sun room, beginning at 5 p.m.
Kristin V. Rehder: Artist’s Statement
Three years after my Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2019, a friend offered to teach me the energy movements of Qigong in a nearby park. As I raised my hands, feeling for the wind and following the light, I noticed how my tremor mirrored the fluttering birds, undulating butterflies, and shimmering grasses surrounding us. My shaking was as natural as the motions and changeability of earth and sky. Could I embrace how this felt, using a camera?
Soon I was photographing in the habitat just behind where I live in Pennsylvania. Allowing my animated hand to direct the camera and shooting with a slow shutter, I simply gave my shaking its due. The original Tremor had a palpable effect on viewers.
My dream has been to create a second Tremor on Lopez in the summer of 2024. The work helps me convert what some perceive as a disability into the opposite—into possibility and positive energy. I can’t imagine a better place to pursue this mounting sense of wonder than Lopez, an island and a community I cherish.
–with thanks to the Lopez Artist Guild and the Lopez Island Library