By Elizabeth Rushing
On Friday, April 18, the TruSpace Gallery at 2423 DeSoto Ave. will host an opening reception for “Tobia Makover: New Works” from 5-8 p.m. The exhibition will feature work by photographer and SCAD adjunct professor Tobia Makover.
The black-and-white photographs comprising the series are images of people both active and still. Though the photographs contain personality and humanity in each composition, faces are absent, hidden either in shadow, in a blur of motion, or cut from the frame. The single photograph containing a subject’s face, “Ande 2,” is a direct image of a mirror reflecting a ghostly face — the woman’s body is not present. The new works include a vague self-portrait of Makover titled “Tobia Chair.” In the photo, a shadowy image of Makover sits stiffly in a chair, sunlight cloaking her facial expression. Her image is at once present and fading.
Overall, the series captures the presence and personality of its subjects — either literal or fictitious. The scenes convey a strong representation of individuality, and the mood and emotion of the photographs change depending on the subject.
The images, brilliantly lit, convey themes of time and presence — or the lack thereof. “This body of work is a merging of the autobiographical and the universal,” Makover states. “The photographs are intensely personal, yet many speak to common feelings and emotions. I contemplate the physicality of our existence. I question the importance of our being and the impact of our time here. Finally, I examine the tension between holding on and the desire to let go.”
The loss of Makover’s father inspired the series — his death, and her struggle to move forward motivated the collection of new works. Stories of family and familial history are major subjects of Makover’s overall work. When Makover is not at home with her husband and baby son, she is traveling the world, photographing powerful images of her family’s past. The images composing her previous Polish series are the results of an eight-month solo exhibition to Poland to research and learn of her family’s experience with the Holocaust. Makover’s work is moving in its love for family and enchanting for the audience.
A resident of Savannah since 1996, Makover is also an internationally awarded and exhibited photographer. The National Portrait Gallery in London and Les Ateliers de L’image in St. Remy, France displayed her work in past exhibitions. In addition to teaching at SCAD, Makover is the photo editor at the southern-regional magazine, Deep. She also freelances as a commercial and portrait photographer.
