/// ARTIST STATEMENT
These photographs were taken in 2020 as the Covid-19 epidemic raged and the streets exploded in protest following the murder of George Floyd. Unable to photograph the events themselves, I instead photographed television and computer screens, as the protests played out on newscasts, live streams, and video uploads. The images represent my photographic response to these events.
By necessity, this was a highly mediated photographic process: high resolution photographs of fleeting, low resolution images displayed on a digital device. The results are often only partially resolved, otherworldly and nightmarish. At times, they are strangely beautiful.
The photographs make no claim to narrative or journalistic truth. Instead, they embrace ambiguity to engage the viewer’s imagination and provoke an emotional response. The images capture the intensity and emotion of my experience. It is my hope that they engage the imagination and provoke an emotional response for the viewer as well.
/// ABOUT THE ARTIST
Matthew Kamholtz was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1953 and graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1974 with a degree in Music and Philosophy. After working in New York City as a picture framer and pianist he relocated to Boston, Massachusetts, where he attended Boston University School of Law, graduating in 1982. Now retired, he worked for 35 years in the Boston area as a criminal defense lawyer, primarily representing indigent clients. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Kamholtz began to seriously study photography in 2007 when he attended his first workshop, with David Harvey. Since then, has participated in workshops with photographers working in the broad documentary tradition, including Nikos Economopoulos, Jeff Jacobson, Stella Johnson, Constantine Manos, and Alex and Rebecca Webb.
Kamholtz’s work has been exhibited at the Griffin Museum of Photography, Danforth Museum, Minneapolis Photo Center, PhotoPlace Gallery, Praxis Gallery, Rockport Art Museum, the Photographic Resource Center of Boston, the 20/20 Photo Festival of Philadelphia, the Print Center of Philadelphia, and Norfolk State University, among other venues.
In 2019, he was awarded a finalist grant by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
In 2021, his book, On Screen, was exhibited at the Davis Orton Gallery and the Griffin Museum of Photography.
