Side by side: SMSU Art Exhibit

By Cindy Votruba

Photo by Cindy Votruba A portrait of people of Indian taken by Manuel Rivera-Ortiz.

Each of the photographic images tell a story, not to forget the people of India.

The abstract paintings that correspond to each of the photographs challenged the artist to convey those stories, those messages.

“A Corroboration in Photography and Paint,” featuring the works of painter Bonnie Van Moorlehem of Minneota and Puerto Rican photographer Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, will be on display through April 27 in the Southwest Minnesota State University Art Museum.

The exhibit displays 36 photographs Rivera-Ortiz took of India and its people from 2003 to 2005. He is a documentarian and international photographer.

“What draws me to the people I photograph is their faces,” Rivera-Ortiz said on his Web site. “The stories in their eyes, each different, each poignant, each privy to a certain reality and history I may never fully know, but can only hope to capture with a picture.”

“I met Manuel when I was working at the gallery,” Van Moorlehem said.

Van Moorlehem said she and Rivera-Ortiz would e-mail back and forth.

“He would tell me about his travels, when he went to third-world countries,” Van Moorlehem said. “His stories just touched me.”

Van Moorlehem said that Rivera-Ortiz said he would go back to his hotel room after taking photographs that day and couldn’t sleep because the awful things he’s seen.

“And how much those people are hurting,” Van Moorlehem said.

In his Web site, Rivera-Ortiz’s work centers on images of people in third world countries and the landscapes in which they live.

“My hope is to capture true life through my lens; to record, even if for just one moment, the essence and spirit of people who are struggling around the world. I do this for them, and I do this for me,” Rivera-Ortiz said on his Web site. “I often refer to my work as a ‘celebration of life’ because I don’t know that anyone — no matter how poor they may be — wants his or her life to be considered a failure. Perhaps this is my way of giving back for what I have gotten through my lens.”

“I asked him if he’d even mind if I used some of his photography for some paintings I wanted to do,” Van Moorlehem said. “He said he was flattered and said to go ahead.”

Van Moorlehem said Rivera-Ortiz’s photographs are to bring awareness to the people of India. They’re also to challenge each person to reflect on their own lives and asking them how they respond and help others.

“Either the photograph I would emotionally respond to, or I loved the colors,” Van Moorlehem said.

Van Moorlehem digitally manipulated 15 of Rivera-Ortiz’s photographs to create compositions for her paintings. She used a quotation from individuals, such as Mother Teresa, for each painting.

“It’s a project I’ve worked on for two years,” Van Moorlehem said. “Toward the end, I was working 10 to 12 hours a day, trying to get this finished

One of the paintings, “One to One” has many circles attached to each other. Van Moorlehem said the circles represent a human attached to another.

“(The message is) ‘do not wait for leaders, do it one to one,’” Van Moorlehem said. “We all should be doing something.”

“Why Am I Here” follows the emotion of a little girl in one of Rivera-Ortiz’s photographs.

“I was thinking about the dance of life...we contemplate why we are are, what is our purpose,” Van Moorlehem said.

Van Moorlehem said she used dark colors to represent poverty and bright colors to represent the life, or flame, of the person.

Rivera-Ortiz’s photograph of “Human Rites” led Van Moorlehem to paint “Die To It and Let Go.” She said it’s about letting go of materialism, and you’ll be a lot happier.

“I love the color combination, it makes you think of India,” Van Moorlehem said.

Van Moorlehem’s painting “Net of Souls” to go along with, has the look of lines in a net. Van Moorlehem said the brighter colors represent souls. She said she uses the same colors in-between the net to represent that in many ways, we are alike, that we have the same physical needs, similar dreams and desires.

Van Moorlehem added different colors to the sections of the net to represent that “even though we are alike, we are all unique individuals too.”

Van Moorlehem used a quote from Mother Teresa to go with “Net of Souls” — “Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.”

“Using photographs and quotations to tell other people’s story challenges me as an artist to convey their message in an abstract painting,” Van Moorlehem said.

cvotruba@marshallindependent.com

e-mail: bonnievm@mvtvwireless.com