The Anita S. Wooten Gallery at Valencia College will display a collection of photographs from Sept. 8 through Oct. 14.
The artists showcased in the exhibit include Natalie Diienno, who teaches photography at Valencia College; Nika De Carlo, a New York-based photographer; and the show is guest curated by Jacob Rodriguez.
“Affliction” was brought to Valencia by Rodriguez, who is co-curator at Faith Arts Village Orlando (FAVO). FAVO was an abandoned motel and has been converted into studios, galleries, and “making” spaces. Rodriguez runs a gallery out of one of the rooms at FAVO, and he collaborated with Diienno and De Carlo, and proposed the show to Valencia.
All the artists in the exhibit share the common interest of focusing on the human body. The photographs in the exhibit showcase the medicalization of the body, surgical intervention on the body, as well as addiction and all that goes along with it – loss, pain, but also love.
Both Diienno and De Carlo create work that is equally intimate, and yet viewers see people. These are not portraits in the way that one expects, said Carlye Frank, curator of the Wooten Gallery.
“They’re telling stories; they’re ambiguous, they’re confrontational, they’re very challenging – each in their own separate ways. And I love the lighting in Nika De Carlo’s work – it’s like 1970s Renaissance style, it’s wonderful,” said Frank.
To celebrate the artists’ work, Valencia will hold an opening reception on Sept. 8 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The artists will talk about their work at 7 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public.
The gallery is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The gallery is located at Valencia College’s East Campus, Building 3, 701 N. Econlockhatchee Trail, Orlando. For more information, go to https://valenciacollege.edu/campaign/arts/ or call 407-582-2268.