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Morrie Camhi

1928 - 1999

BiographyFirst and foremost, I am a storyteller.

So many times a story can be told visually but it can be told even better with visuals and written language so I’m not the least bit averse to using writing. But, like every storyteller—now remember I’m saying storyteller and not artist—you want people to get the point. That means that I want the most evocative photograph I can get and if that means deep, rich tones, that’s what I’m going to do. I will get this kind of thing in order to evoke a reaction which then either flies in the face of language or is underlined by it. You’ve got these two mediums working together. I would be the last to abandon the print as an expressive force.

If I’m going to recreate a three-dimensional quality the chief ally I have is going to be light. Light will produce the sculptural form that recreates the sensation that I saw and responded to three-dimensionally. I’m out for you to forget that this is a hunk of paper in front of you at the gallery. I want the viewer to get inside those tones and begin responding in terms of the person that’s there, of the situation that’s there. And light is one of my great, great allies in that sense.

How in the world will I be able to tell a story if I don’t have anybody hanging around to listen to the story? That is where light comes in. That is where the print comes in. That’s where paying attention to aesthetics comes in for me. We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.

—Morrie Camhi (1928-1999)

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