"FACES OF SOUTH AFRICA" - Robert Bolla

Artist Statement:

Photography is my way of telling a story while teaching the relationship of the art found within science.

Since and early age I have used photography to record the “history” of an event, tell a story and store a memory. My interest continued through my academic career as a biologist where I used photography in teaching and research; it has followed me into retirement where I now use the photograph to challenge the viewer to see the relationship between arts and science in the natural world.

As a street photographer, I have traveled widely to capture images that define the place and people within the culture of the place. Because of my science background people and how they live in their own world and culture has always interested me. Thus, I have used both candid and posed photograph to capture the everyday life or story of people and place.

I am self-taught with some mentoring in film photography and darkroom manipulations including archival techniques in black and white photography. I am now a digital photographer working in the digital darkroom to “develop” the image to be seen by the imagination of the viewer. Software lets me make post processing manipulations with much more ease than in the days of film and the darkroom and gives me the ability to emulate archival methods as used in this exhibit.

In the early years of photography, Edward Curtis sought to show the Native American peoples as they were being driven from their native lands onto reservations. In doing so he developed the orotype or gold type photo print by painting the back of his glass plate “negative” with 24 caret gold. This technique brought the main image to the forefront putting the primary focus on it.

For this exhibition I have adapted the oroprint to digital photography to show images of people in South Africa. The images range from a lad eating strawberries in a street market in Cape Town, a tour guide at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, street performers in Soweto, a family at an immigration office in Botswana, children in a small village in Zambia, students in a school in Johannesburg, and more. All in all, the exhibition shows the mix of people making up the culture of the region. I want this exhibition to help viewers understand that while there are differences in cultures, we are all the same people wanting to be a safe and productive part of our culture and the world.

I have exhibited in physical and on-line galleries via international competitions and have had solo exhibits at St. Louis Artist Guild, Bradley University, EuroBiotech Conference, Poznan, Poland, Renaissance Hotel, St. Louis Lambert Airport, St. Charles Arts Council Lillian Yahn Gallery as well as curated exhibits including 2022 Fall Exhibition at the International Photographic Hall of Fame and Museum, Commerce Bank and Des Peres Hospital. I am a featured artist at Camelback Gallery and Artist of the Month in Gallery Ring on-line galleries and Camelback Gallery. I have a solo exhibition at LightSpaceTime online gallery and an award in Top Art Masters 2023 Year End Exhibition.