CAMBRIDGE, MA.- The Rubin-Frankel Gallery at Boston University Hillel House is featuring the work of photographer Emily Corbató in the solo exhibition entitled “Absolution of the Wind”. In keeping with the mission of Rubin-Frankel Gallery, Corbató will exhibit work inspired by her spirituality, filtered through her love of nature and reflecting upon Jewish tradition. “I loaf within the absolution of the wind…” a line from a poem by Philip Booth*, unifies the concept of this exhibit. It exalts in total surrender of oneself to nature’s surroundings, yet absolution bears the weight of faith as recited in deepest prayer during Kol Nidre, the chant sung at the beginning of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and most solemn of Jewish Holidays, “all vows… may they be deemed absolved, forgiven, annulled, and void…”. This show was intentionally scheduled to coincide with the High Holidays.
The four portfolios comprising this exhibit were taken on Plum Island, MA, where Corbató maintains her studio and where she was first drawn into the world of photography fifteen years ago. They span from her early ocean series, include “in the beginning…” a series of clouds “taken on a day the sky surrounded and enveloped me with its passion, fervor and glory”, and her most recent work, shown in this exhibit for the first time. This includes the set of images of trees which inspired the title of the exhibit, and “reflections”, in which “branches appear to float on the water’s surface in an ever changing state of motion, reaching up skyward and in mirroring appear to delve, like roots, below the surface deep into the earth”, recalling a passage from Psalm LXXXVI:12 (Hebrew translation):
“Truth will grow out of the earth, and righteousness will look down from heaven.”
-Letter From a Distant Land, from Letter from a Distant Land, poems by Philip Booth, 1957, The Viking Press.
Artist Statement
About 15 years ago, quite unexpectedly, the shadow, light, shape and lure of black and white photography captured my mind and heart. The beauty surrounding my home on Plum Island moved me, and I was inescapably drawn into its powerful world with images interrupting and infiltrating my thoughts. This was the beginning of a wondrous visual and spiritual journey - one that would explore through my camera's eye the gesture, the moment, the thought and the memory. My photography chronicles what touches my heart. It is my silent voice.
Emily Corbató has been a Resident Artist/Scholar at Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis since 2001. Her work has been shown at The Art Institute of Boston (2009), Jewish University of America (2009), Hebrew College (2008), and Women's Museum, Dallas (2008). She has had solo exhibits at Hunt-Cavanagh Gallery, Providence College (2008) and Newton Free Library (2007) and a joint father/daughter show at Great Neck Art Center (NY) (2006). She was Featured Artist for New Gallery Concert Series (2007) and was in “New England/New Talent” at Fitchburg Art Museum (2006). Her work was published in Art New England (2006). Other solo exhibits include Boston Public Library, Photographic Resource Center, Cambridge Art Association, Dean’s Gallery (MIT), Curry, Emmanuel and Merrimack Colleges. “Under Construction: The Stata Center, MIT” (2004) and “All Good Things: Jews of Ukraine”(2002) have been exhibited numerous times. She had a residency and exhibit, “Tonalities” at her alma mater, New England Conservatory (NEC, 2005).
Corbató's work is in the collections of: MIT Museum, Computer History Museum (CA), Fitchburg Art Museum, Merrimack College, Yivo Archives (NY), NEC, Brandeis University and private collections throughout the US. She holds a BMusic (Syracuse) and MMusic(New England Conservatory) and performed extensively as a pianist before photography captured her heart and took her artistic spirit in a new direction.
“Absolution of the Wind…” will be on display at the Rubin-Frankel Gallery, located on the second floor of The Florence & Chafetz Hillel House at Boston University, through December 21, 2009.
