
Jan Kapoor has been involved in fine art photography for many years, her primary interests being landscape, natural abstraction and still life. She prints extensively in alternative processes including cyanotype and platinum/palladium. Computer technology is another important creative tool in her work. Kapoor uses medium and large format cameras, and has been drawn to specialize in pinhole imagery for the past several years. She finds that pinhole is most expressive of the imperceptible passage of time, making visible that which is invisible to the ordinary eye, and of the mystery of non-human life which surrounds us.
Kapoor's artistic expression has been greatly enhanced by her fine arts background, which includes studies in painting at the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston; a two-year program in fine art photography at the Southeastern Center for Photographic Arts; and her recent completion of a BFA summa cum laude in photography at Georgia State University. In addition, she cites influences on her work such as Imogen Cunningham, Clarence John Laughlin and John McWilliams, among many others.
Kapoor's first solo show, Ephemerata: Fragmented Images of the
Natural
World,
was on view at Moving Spirits Gallery in August/September 2002, to
critical
acclaim. In January 2003, she was invited to participate in an
important
exhibition entitled Pure Light: Southern Pinhole Photography, shown at
the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, NC. Her
work is in private collections throughout the world, and is also in
several
corporate collections including Kaiser Permanente and Siemens.
Currently, Kapoor is working on two series of still life
images: one, “Ex Libris,” is a group of autobiographical images,
featuring books and other objects related to themes and ideas central
to the artist’s inner life, made with a handmade 5x7 pinhole camera;
the other, “Dreamtime,” is a series of still life images, made with a
3-pinhole camera, which imaginatively blend disparate and/or associated
elements to suggest a dreamlike story or idea. Selections from these
bodies of work were featured in a solo show, "Camera Obscura" in the
Gallery of the Showcase School of Photography from October through
mid-December 2007.
Selected Juried, Invitational and Group Exhibitions
2010 First Annual Georgia Photography Show; The
Gallery at Paper Mill Village, Marietta, GA
Photographer's Choice
2010; Atlanta Photography
Group, Atlanta, GA
Roswell Heritage 2010; Roswell
Cultural Arts Center, Roswell, GA
Goa International Pinhole Photography; Goa Center for
Alternative Photography, Goa, India
Japan Pinhole Photographic Society Member Exhibition,
Tokyo, Japan
In Your Dreams 2010; Atlanta
Photography Group, Atlanta, GA; Mark Karelson, Juror
2009 Photographer's Choice 2009; Atlanta
Photography
Group, Atlanta, GA
Women In Focus Library Show; Atlanta Public Library
In Your Dreams
2009; Atlanta Photography Group,
Atlanta, GA; Naomi Silva, Juror
Women In Focus
XVI; Women In Focus Annual Juried Show, Kai Lin Art, Atlanta, GA
Japan Pinhole Photographic Society Members Annual
Exhibition, Tokyo, Japan
2008 Back to Nature; Hambidge
Center, Rabun Gap, GA; Marianne Lambert, Curator
Blooming; Terminus Gallery, Atlanta, GA; Marianne
Lambert, Curator
Decade of Light; Women In Focus, Atlanta Fulton
County Public Library
In Your Dreams 2008; Atlanta Photography Group,
Atlanta, GA; Naomi Silva, Juror
Photographer’s Choice 2008; Atlanta Photography
Group, Atlanta, GA
2007 Women In Focus Artist's Choice; Digital
Arts Studio, Atlanta, GA
WIF XIV; Ferst Center for the
Arts, Atlanta, GA
Sun Pictures to Mega Pixels: Archaic
Process & Digital Process Photography; Williamsburg Art
& Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY
In Your Dreams 2007; Atlanta
Photography Group, Atlanta, GA
Visual Edge 3: Handcrafted; Viewpoint
Photographic Art Center, Sacramento, CA
2006
The Camera Club International Alternative and Early Processes
Exhibition; Gallery 1885, The Camera Club, London, U.K.
Little Things Mean a Lot; Marianne
Lambert, Curator, Swan Coach House Gallery,
Atlanta,
GA
Jane Jackson Selects; Atlanta
Photography Group, Atlanta, GA
In Your Dreams; Atlanta
Photography Group, Atlanta, GA
Open Juried Exhibition; Roswell Photographic
Society, Roswell, GA
Southern Faces, Southern Places, Concord,
Pike County, GA
Toy Joy: Toy Camera Photography
Exhibition; Houston, TX
Krappy Camera 2006: Pinhole and Toy
Camera Photography Exhibition, Soho Gallery, New York, NY
Georgia
to Georgia: a landmark exchange of work between women
photographers of
the Contemporary Art Club (CAC) in Tbilisi, Republic of
Georgia and
Women in Focus of Atlanta, Georgia; The Brezler Gallery, Roswell GA,
Composition Gallery and Spruill Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2005 Circles of Confusion: A Pinhole Journey:
Houston, TX
Poetry
and Photography, Lamar Arts, Barnesville, GA
Quickening: Mason Murer Gallery,
Atlanta, GA
Photographer's Choice 2005; Atlanta
Photography Group, Atlanta, GA
Slow Exposures: The Rural South;
Concord, Pike County, GA
2004 8th Annual
Open Juried Exhibition; Roswell Photographic Society, Roswell, GA
The World of Photography; South
Cobb Arts Alliance, Mableton, GA
Slow Exposures: The Rural South;
Concord, Pike County, GA; Corinne Adams, Lucinda Bunnen and Susan
Todd-Raque, Jurors
XI: A Women In Focus Group Show;
Mason-Murer Gallery, Atlanta, GA; Lucinda Bunnen, Juror
A Sense of Place in the South;
Temple Gallery, Decatur, GA
Alternative Photography 2004;
Donald Keyes, Juror; Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta, GA
Slow Vision: Pinhole Photography;
Nord-Norsk Kuntsnersentrum, Svolvaer in Lofoten, Norway
Storm in a Teacup; Women In Focus
& Sistagraphy 6th annual group show, Atlanta Public Library,
Atlanta, GA
Photographer's Choice 2004; Atlanta
Photography Group, Atlanta, GA
What I Know For Sure; Nancy
Marshall, Juror; The Art Gallery, Dobbs University Center, Emory
University, Atlanta, GA
North Fulton Regional Juried Art Exhibition;
Ralph Gilbert, Juror, Abernathy Arts Center, Atlanta, GA
2003 Ten: A
Retrospective Exhibition of Women In Focus; The Seen Gallery,
Atlanta, GA
Visions 2003; Moving Spirits
Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Slow Exposures: A Photography Exhibition
of the Southern Landscape; Zebulon, GA
Alternative
Photography, Kevin Miles,
Juror, Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta, GA
Essence
of Nature, Marianne Lambert, Curator, Swan Coach House Gallery,
Atlanta,
GA
Pure Light: Southern Pinhole Photography, Southeastern Center for
Contemporary
Art, Winston-Salem, NC
Photographer's Choice 2003, Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta, GA
Verse & Vision, Atlanta Public Library, Atlanta, GA
Picturing Peace, The Art Gallery, Dobbs University Center, Emory
University,
Atlanta, GA
2002 Photographer's Choice 2002,
Atlanta
Photography Group, Atlanta, GA
Connected Vision, Atlanta Fulton Public Library, Buckhead Branch,
Atlanta,
GA
Jerry Cullum Juries, Jerry Cullum, Juror, Moving Spirits Gallery,
Atlanta,
GA
Summer, Juried by Susan Todd-Raque, Atlanta Photography Group,
Atlanta,
GA
Passages, Allen Ashton Gallery, Roswell, GA
3 Hours/24 Women, Women In Focus Studio Tour, Fulton Cotton Mill
Lofts,
Atlanta, GA
Boo! Nightmare on McGruder Street, Art Spot, Atlanta, GA
2001 16 Women/2 Hours, Women in
Focus
Open Studio Tour, APG Gallery, Atlanta, GA
In The Dark, Darious & Story Art Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Inspiration, Genema Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Women in Focus, The Vinings Club, Vinings, GA
Emerging Visions 2001, Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta, GA
Ephemerata: Fragmented Images of the Natural World, BFA Senior
Show,
Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
1998 Under the Dark Cloth, Metro Art
Galleries,
Cleveland, OH
Under the Dark Cloth, Lakeland Community Center for the Fine and
Performing
Arts, Kirtland, OH
1990 Photographic Works by Atlanta
Artists,
The Arts Connection, Atlanta, GA
Through Nature's Lens, Atlanta Botanical Garden, Atlanta, GA
1989 Atlanta Photo Show, Atlanta, GA
Through
Nature's Lens, Atlanta Botanical Garden, Atlanta, GA
1986 Women in Photography, University of Alabama, Huntsville, AL
1985-1987 Lightworks Gallery of Photography: Founding member/exhibitor of co-operative photography gallery
Selected Awards and Honors
Collector's Portfolio
2003-2004,
Atlanta Photography Group Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Photographer's Forum
Magazine
"Best of Photography 1989"; First place
Atlanta Photo Show, Atlanta,
GA; Second place
Women in Photography:
University
of Alabama, Huntsville, AL; First place
Publications
Alternative Photography: Art & Artists,
Edition 1; AlternativePhotography.com, 2006
"Krappy Kamera
8": Camera Arts, May/June
2006 print and online
The Intertidal World: Photographs of
Coastal Georgia; 2005
"Wet Contact
Process for Paper Negatives", http://www.alternativephotography.com/articles/art040.html
Islands
Magazine; July/August 2004
Pinhole Journal, Vol. 15, #1, April 1999
Photographer's Forum: Best of Photography Annual, 1989
Media Coverage
"Krappy Kamera 8": Camera Arts,
May/June 2006 print and online
Review of solo show Ephemerata: Fragmented Images of the Natural
World by Jerry Cullum, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
September 13, 2002
Review of Essence of Nature by Catherine Fox, The
Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, May 11, 2003.
Workshops, Lectures and Presentations
Affiliations
2001 to present: Women In Focus, Atlanta, GA
Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta, GA
2006 to present: Roswell Photographic Society,
Roswell, GA
Work Appearing in Collections
Pinhole Resource Archives
Lucinda Bunnen Collection
Kaiser Permanente
Northside Hospital
Siemens Energy & Automation,
Inc.
Education
2001 Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography,
summa cum laude, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
1986 Diploma of Excellence, Southeastern Center
for the Photographic Arts, Atlanta, GA
1962 School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;
Major: Painting
Participation in Workshops
Pinhole workshop, Emory University, Atlanta, GA; 2003; Eric Renner
and Nancy Spencer
Photographic Arts Workshops
South Georgia Coast and Islands, 1996; Bruce Barnbaum
Arizona/Utah View Camera, 1992; Bruce Barnbaum, Jay Dusard, Huntington
Witherill, Don Kirby
The Complete Photographic Process: Landscape and Darkroom, 1991; Bruce
Barnbaum, Don Kirby
Owens Valley Photography Workshops, 1987 - 1990
Bishop; Bruce Barnbaum, John Sexton, Ray McSavaney
Canadian Rockies; Bruce Barnbaum, Craig Richards
Cascade Mountains; Bruce Barnbaum
Sapelo Island; Bruce Barnbaum
Appalachian Photographic Workshops
John Sexton; 1986
Cole Weston; 1986
Another important aspect of my photography, expressed in series such
as Circles of Return and the
Coastal Georgia images, is the
exploration
of the southern landscape, which is far from being pristine virginal
wilderness.
Hunting ground and home to generations of Native Americans, Africans
and
Europeans, it is a palimpsest containing many layers of meaning, of
time
and traditions. Trails developed along animal tracks. Roads evolved
from
old trails. In the woods, crumbling walls merge with the earth, hidden
in lush vegetation. The land has been surveyed, mapped, parceled out
and
named, over and over again. Much has been forgotten, much is fading
from
view and from memory, much has been transformed; yet to the sensitive
observer,
the southern land is a speaking presence and living witness of the
past.
The Ex Libris series is a
group of autobiographical images, featuring books and other objects
related to themes and ideas central to the artist’s inner life, made
with a handmade 5x7 pinhole camera. The images are made utilizing
platinum, palladium, cyanotype and Van Dyke Brown printing processes,
alone and in combination, and are superimposed on scanned prints from
old book covers and pages relevant to the individual image.
Dreamtime is a series of still life images, made with a 3-pinhole camera, which imaginatively blend disparate and/or associated elements to suggest a dreamlike story or idea. The exhibition prints are warmtone archival inkjet, mounted on stretched canvas.
The Ritual series was
inspired by the haunting beauty and spirituality of the poetry of
Jelaluddin Rumi, who was a scholar, teacher and mystical poet of 13th
century Turkey. Upon reading some of his poems which express the
mystery of this form of meditation, it occurred to me to do a series of
self-portraits inspired by my response to Rumi's extraordinary verbal
images. The photographs were made with a 4x5 pinhole camera; lighting
was one photoflood; exposures were upwards of 2 to 3 minutes. The prints are VanDyke
Brown on Cranes Platinotype paper. For the handmade artist book, the
texts
were printed on acetate and superimposed on brushed flame-shaped areas
of cyanotype. I assembled the images and text into an
accordion-fold
book with hard cloth-wrapped covers. The exhibition images are
warmtone archival inkjet prints.
I make extensive use of alternative printing processes such as
platinum, palladium,
vandyke brown and cyanotype; in addition, computer technology has
become another, and very expressive, creative tool in my work.
Pinhole
cameras enhance the timeless, dreamlike quality of many of my images,
and
multiple exposures in-camera express my sense of the complexity of what
I photograph, my sense of the mystical in the ordinary, the silent
mystery
which permeates the visible world.