Garry B Fritz Imagemaker Award

SPE is pleased to recognize Neil Chowdhury as the first recipient of The Garry B Fritz Imagemaker Award. Neil Chowdhury is an Assistant Professor at Zayed University in Dubai.The Garry B Fritz Imagemaker Award was established in 2004 in honor and in memory of of Garry B Fritz, an SPE member with a long-time interest in photography. Funded by a gift through the Oregon Community Foundation, the award consists of a $1,000 honorarium. SPE’s first imagemaker award is granted to the artist presenting for the first time as an imagemaker at the SPE national conference who receives the highest ranking through the peer review process. The recipient shows exceptional promise and outstanding achievement as determined by the national conference peer review.

We would like to thank the Oregon Community Foundation for graciously funding this award.

Neil Chowdhury: Waking from Dreams of India (Imagemaker presentation)
Saturday, March 19, 1:00-1:45 pm in Pavilion East
 
This work tells of my lifelong dream of exploring India, my father’s native country. Growing up in the United States fostered the cultivation in my imagination of Orientalist fantasy about the land of my ancestry. Having now made the trip, I have been working to shape the images I gathered into a body of work that connects and contrasts my youthful fantasies of India with my adult experience. I am of mixed blood, seeing half of my own culture through the lenses that shape the gaze of the other half. Attempting to reconcile these differing perspectives inspires this creative project.

Images by Neil Chowdhury (courtesy of the artist)