Speaker Night – Connie Imboden – Redefining the Human Body: A 35 Year Project

Connie Imboden

Artist’s Statement of Work: I have been working on two approaches to the nude reflected: reflected in water often with the camera underwater, and reflected in scratched, broken and partially de-silvered mirrors.  Over thirty-five years of photographing this same subject may sound limiting, but I have found it to be immensely rewarding and rich. While my interest in photographing the nude reflected in mirrors and water has not changed, my life experiences continue to shape the forms and reflections I see through the lens so the images continue to evolve. I am not fundamentally opposed to altering the image through darkroom or computer manipulation, but it is the act of exploring with my eyes that brings the intuitive process to its full potential for me. Intuition is an integral part of the creative process for me. When I make an image that becomes a “keeper,” it is because I have made a leap from what I know to an unfamiliar place full of intrigue that my conscious mind could not have taken me. The intuitive process takes me to the edge of what I know and, more interestingly, to the edge of what I don’t know.

About Connie: Connie Imboden is represented in many permanent collections including The Museum of Modern Art in New York,  The Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Bibliothèque Nationales in Paris, France, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany as well as many other public and private collections throughout Europe and the Americas.

Throughout the years, Imboden has shown her photographs in an extensive range of group and solo shows at galleries and museums throughout the United States, South America, Europe and China.

Connie Imboden’s first book entitled “Out of Darkness” with essays by Charles–Henri Favrod and A.D. Coleman, won the Silver Medal in Switzerland’s “Schonste Bucher Aus Aller Welt (Most Beautiful Book in the World)” Award in 1993.

Following the success of “Out of Darkness,” Imboden released two monographs in 1999.  Her most recent monograph, “Reflections; 25 Years of Photography,” was published in 2009 by Insight Editions with essays by Arthur Ollman, Julian Cox and John Wood.

Throughout the years, Imboden has continued to teach and inspire colleagues and students alike in her quest to push the photographic medium to its highest level.  She taught at the Maryland Institute College of Art for many years, where her experience as a photographer began.  Connie has also served as an instructor at The Maine Photographic Workshops, NORD Photography in Norway, The International Center for Photography in New York City, the Center for Photography in Woodstock, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in France, Union of Arab Photographers Workshop, Sharjah, U.A.E. and The Sante Fe Photographic Workshops.

Visit www.connieimboden.com to learn more about Connie, her images and upcoming workshops.