Press Releases

February 4, 1999
Exhibit at Southampton College Highlights Italian Photographer Rosetta Messori

Reception Set for Thursday, March 4 in the College's Avram Family Galleries

Contact:
Jane Finalborgo
Joe Dionisio
(516) 287 8313
Fax: (516) 283 4081

Southampton, NY -- An exhibit of photographs by Italian photographer Rosetta Messori will be on display in the Avram Gallery at Southampton College of Long Island University from Tuesday, March 2, to Friday, March 26.

A reception will take place in the Avram Family Galleries on Thursday, March 4, from 4-6 p.m.

Messori's exhibit, "The Oxymoron of Vision," displays her penchant for capturing movement. By using extended exposure times, she transforms the Pyramids, the minarets and the busy streets of Egypt into imprecise backgrounds for grainy figures. Sometimes she even takes photos while riding her motorbike through traffic.

"While these photographs are blurred or unfocused, they also give the strange impression of being documents of unworldly travel," writes ARTnews. "Messori's photographs come off as the visual records of the perturbation felt by a traveler who is overwhelmed by the unknown... She uses her Nikon as if it were a cinematographic camera."

Messori describes her photographic style as an abstract play of light and shadow. "My images are not the realistic representation of places or people, but of space as defined by a rhythmic dynamism created to generate an emotional response," says Messori.

Born in Modena, Italy in 1960, Messori lives in Rome where she works as a professional photographer. She has been featured in solo exhibits in Rome at the Cultural Office of Egyptian Embassy, the Rispolo Library, and the Cultural Center Underwood in Rome; in New York at the Doma Gallery and the 4th Street Gallery; in Paris at Studio Ethel; and in Italy at the Ken Damy Museum.

Messori attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, as well as workshops at the International Centre for Photography in New York.

The Avram Family Gallery is open to the public Monday to Friday from 12-5 p.m., and by appointment. For information call gallery director Beth Giles at (516) 287-8234.

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