I think I can recall seeing a post on Glasstire for this event, but I did not attend the opening night. Apparently there was supposed to be alot of cultural activities, but some didn’t happen due to some flight issues? Whatever happened on opening night, all that is left are some photos in one of the galleries at Flatbed. The show was listed as if sponsored by CRL, but with the senior show now up and running, I am thinking that the Zuraach Collective had to do some serious selling to get this show up. Since I did not experience any of the “throat singing” and found no paintings or films, I will review the photos that I found.
The photos were nice. They had good composition, very colorful, and had plenty of foreign cultureness. There were the obligatory portraits of poor overworked locals, beautiful views of the horizon, and a shot of a new bicycle leaning against a traditional Mongolian dwelling. From what was available, this show seemed to be a group of impressionable college kids coming back from visiting a foreign land and wanting to show off what they saw.
Look, I’m not well traveled at all. I can count on two fingers the number of countries I have visited. One of which I don’t remember because I was like four months old. But, there are poor hardworking people all over the world. Some wear colorful garments, some have numerous gods, some just have a long history in our libraries. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to go globetrotting and have the locals kiss my ass and swindle me because I might have more money than they simply for being American. But I find it somewhat demeaning in going to a foreign land and bringing back vacation photos and passing it off as cultural education or something respectable like that.
I think some more organizing could have helped this show. The live painting demonstration should have been more audience friendly. Sure that could pass as a performance, but there must have been a product to show off at its conclusion, right? How about some essays or other documentation to inform the audience of what exactly the Zuraach Collective was doing in Mongolia? All I saw were somebodies vacation photos. Like I said, the pictures are nice to look at, but the whole bringing a piece of Mongolia to Austin rubbed me the wrong way. This show is BAD.
I’ll tell you ’bout what I sees.
I do not agree with you at all. If you had been there you would have heard all the great speakers and met the photographer. Ashley St. Clair has beautiful work and there are few people with an eye like hers. You shouldn’t comment on things you don’t know about. If you weren’t there then you have no basis for what you said.
Hi Ms. Haar,
Its okay. I am not asking that you agree with me. Just to consider how the audience might experience the show.
It sounds like the opening event went well. Like I said, I didn’t attend.
What I did experience were the leftovers. The works in the gallery were Ms. St. Clair’s photos. They were good photos. But I would argue that there are plenty of photographers with the talent that she demonstrates. They may not focus on the same subjects or work in the same industry, but they’re out there. You’d be amazed at how many artists are trying to get a piece of the pie.
I try my best not to comment on things I don’t know about. That’s why I do comment on what I sees. The opening event may have been the best damn thing in the world, I don’t know. But as an art exhibition, which I understood it to be, it was BAD. That ‘s why I suggested better organization next time. If what I experienced was closer to the opening night, maybe some info on what happened, then I might have had a different feel for it. As it was, I remember the photos looked abandoned in that gallery. If the speakers and performances were the focus, then maybe a weekend show would have been enough, instead of the month long exhibit that it was.