Opening Reception: Friday, August 3 from 6 – 8pm
Exhibition Runs: August 3 – 23, 2018
Barbara and Alzheimer’s. The viewer knows the outcome of this story. In this exhibition of photographic art and documentary, Bernalillo resident Vincent Frazzetta presents a woman’s extraordinary struggle to live a decent life while facing down a murderous disease. With eighteen black and white film photographs and accompanying text, Frazzetta invites the viewer to bond with Barbara and learn something new about grace under duress. For those who work as caregivers for people with the disease, the stunning images and accompanying texts reveal small truths and clues to help carry on their mission.
About Vincent
Vincent Frazzetta, a photographer now working exclusively with black and white film, was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and began his serious photography late in life.
In 1998, while living in Corrales, New Mexico, his wife, Barbara, was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. At that point, Frazzetta turned to photography to help deal with the expected decade of solo caregiving to which he’d committed. With Barbara now gone, his photo work continues. Frazzetta’s photography includes interiors, landscapes, people and work; most typically seen in bold, high contrast black and white images. They are made with a strong sense of the art assimilated through earlier decades of wandering through museums and galleries.
Frazzetta has exhibited in juried shows and solo exhibitions in Maine (where he retired to care for his stricken wife). He received the Ike Royer Memorial Award For Black and White Film Photography, and was published in B&W Magazine. Returning to New Mexico three years ago, his work has been shown in Bernalillo and Jemez Springs galleries.
“I have a good eye, a passion to document what I see, and an equally strong need to honestly record the subject with beauty, irony, or humor, and perhaps a bit of storytelling. My eye goes to the essence of the subject, and with the Barbara/Alzheimer’s series, I have done just that while documenting her life-affirming struggle to manage a murderous disease.
Artistically, I seek a certain signature look of my own, so my tools are vintage; my work is recorded on black and white film, and I utilize traditional darkroom processing. In this I follow my predecessors and models: Dorthea Lange, Walker Evans, W. Eugene Smith, and Tina Modotti.” – Vincent Frazzetta