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Opening Reception: From Janie To Janie


500X Gallery

On April 13, 500X Gallery in Dallas will host an Artist Reception to celebrate the opening of From Janie to Janie, a new exhibition from local photographer, Becky Wilkes. This series explores the implications of our throwaway society through the examination of debris collected from the shoreline of Eagle Mountain Lake, near Fort Worth, TX.  The exhibit will be on view through May 5 and contains large format digital collages and installation of found objects gleaned from the nearly 6000 pieces of trash collected by Wilkes. The collages portray a vivid and colorful conversation of the impact of local litter that is discarded daily in our streets and roadsides. Eagle Mountain Lake, while only 14 square miles in size, is fed by a watershed of over 850 square miles. Unlike the trash entering our oceans, this debris is trapped inland in our fresh water supply, restrained by lakes and damns. 

Following in the footsteps of Augustus Rivers, a renown archeologist, who was the first to insisted that all artifacts, not the just beautiful or unique be collected and catalogued, Wilkes photographed every item of debris found during one year along the newly exposed lakefront, in-situ and again in the studio, and used these to create typological collages. Individually, the images reveal the variety, quantity, and rate of disintegration of the materials in the lakefront.  Collectively, the collages overwhelm the viewer, hopefully into awareness and action. 

“When I started this project, I had no idea of the depth and breadth of the materials that lay just below the surface of the water. Exposed by the drought of 2014-2015, I was continually amazed by the debris that I found on the one mile stretch of lakefront that I call “From Janie To Janie”, Wilkes shared.
The exhibit includes Wilkes’ most ambitious and serious image to date, entitled “Watershed.” This piece is displayed on five panels, measuring 5’ by 16’, and features the majority of the in-situ images captured over the course of the one year trek. 

Becky Wilkes will be at the Artist Reception April 13, from 7 - 10 p.m. 500X Gallery is one of Texas' oldest, artist-run, cooperative galleries and is located at 500 Exposition Avenue Dallas, TX 75226.  Website: http://www.500x.org/  Phone: 214-828-1111Hours of operation are Saturday & Sunday, Noon to 5 p.m. Weekdays by appointment.  ——

Becky Wilkes lives with her husband on Eagle Mountain Lake in Azle, TX. Educated as a Chemical Engineer at Texas A&M, she spent much of her life as a stay-at-home mother of four children who has now blessed her with a multitude of perfectly fantastical grandchildren. Thus began her study of chaos and order. Her current vocation is a blend of urban archeologist, anthropologist, sociologist, trash collector, and photographer.
http://www.beckywilkesphotography.com/



Price
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FB ATTENDING HERE
516 Fabrication Street · Dallas, TX 75212


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