DRESS REHEARSAL
August 17th-September 28th 2024
Opening Reception: August 17th 6-9 pm
Cleo the Project Space is pleased to present Dress Rehearsal a collection of photographs by Anna Ottum centered around the nostalgia of youth and the aspirations of young dancers.
Through this new body of work Ottum explores our sense of self against the backdrop of performative imagery. With moments that target both the dancers’ stage presence and time at home, the dueling melodrama of both self assured movement and insecurity is contextualized throughout every aspect of life. These moments include dressing up, with hair and makeup that mark some desire for maturity, as well as signal play with identity on the cusp of adolescence and adulthood. The girls’ movements and postures on the stage and off demonstrate a discovery of both confidence and fragility.
The focus on sisters in this project reveals moments of tenderness alongside competition. There is just as much access to their affections as there is to the importance of individuality, which is elevated by their shared ambition for dance. Youth, a recurring subject of Ottum’s work, embodies a steadfast hold on dreams and blind desire, an impermanence that she celebrates through nostalgia. It is an anticipatory nostalgia experienced in fragrant grasses and sun soaked portraits. These carefree moments of flexible discovery are paired with dancing and the discipline that’s required for such acts. It is under the gaze of both sets of imagery that the viewer is invited to reflect on their own dualities, both past and present.
Photographer Anna Ottum graduated from The University of Washington before moving to New York in 2009, where she received early recognition for her earnest and compelling depictions of her youth in the Northwest. Her editorial and commercial work depicts the dynamic lives of truck drivers, nail artists, arctic explorers, pop stars and bull riders with distinct intimacy. Her projects span the art, fashion and commercial world with clients including The New York Times, Columbia Records, Urban Outfitters, Nike and Interview Magazine. Ottum is currently based between New York City and Savannah, GA.
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annaottum.com / @annaottum
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