Aotearoa!
Rugged Individual,
Glisten Like a Pearl,
Bottom of the World…
Six Month in a Leaky Boat
By Spilt Endz
This song is what started it all. My intense interest in New Zealand (Aotearoa). I spent decades promising myself that “one day” I would go there. A place overflowing with natural beauty, adventure, and friendly people. But things get in the way, primarily the “tyranny of distance” to quote the song further and the expense. Then my brother Bob died of cancer and the paradigm shifted. I booked the two flights that would deliver me to a “once in a lifetime” trip. No agenda. Just me and my cameras. I lost a Tuesday flying in the sky and landed in Auckland, the capital. It was a lovely day. Eight thousand miles from Atlanta, I felt a kind of ease and connectedness that hadn’t washed over me in years. Even driving on the other side of the road felt correct.
I coddiwompled through the country, exploring both north & south islands. Mutually seeking to understand this intense desire to be in this place while enjoying every tourist attraction on the guidebooks’ bucket lists. It was amazing to feel so deeply rooted to geography that wasn’t made up of red Georgia clay.
The images created were deeply personal. Photography has always been a way into understanding what I’m seeing/experiencing. Often, too, it’s a balm against the world around me. The best facets of myself shine when traveling with my camera. The photos shown here are part of an archive of this time. A sampling of the moving visual feast I experienced at the bottom of the world.
Hughes is an arts professional with extensive skills in the field of Photography and Fine Arts Education. Her work has toured nationally and has been granted awards such as the August Turner Memorial Prize at The Decatur Arts Festival. She has been involved with Arts Education for 25+ years. I have directed many courses and workshops in various areas of the arts and am presently an Instructor of Photography at The Mable House Arts Center.
She has been steeped in the art world most of her life. Hughes earned her MFA from Georgia State. University. She has worked with The High Museum, The Atlanta College of Art, The Mable House Arts Center, as well as The Intercontinental University. Her work has been exhibited nationally, and has garnered awards such as the August Turner Memorial Prize at the Decatur Arts Festival.
Hughes states of her process: “We build little worlds of our own. There, we seek refuge. We explore our inner vistas. I am fascinated by theses microcosms. However, the very act of observing and capturing these scenes I impact the very nature of them. As Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principal claims, ‘Our observations have an effect on the behavior of quanta.’ Unavoidably, we alter the very environs we seek to capture and preserve merely by observing them. Baring this in mind, I have endeavored throughout my career, to instill in my students as well as my clients the knowledge that Art has the power to enrich one’s understanding of self and world. Creative expression, much like the act of observing, has the power to alter one’s self inexorably. The accompanying resume serves to provide greater detail of my works’ recognition, experience and expertise.”
I am an artist & arts educator with extensive skills in the field of Photography and Fine Arts Education. My work has toured nationally and has been granted awards such as the August Turner Memorial Prize at The Decatur Arts Festival. Also, I’ve been involved with Arts Education for 25+ years. I have led many courses and workshops in various areas of the arts and most recently an Instructor of Photography at The Mable House Arts Center. My goal is to increase my involvement with artistic endeavors. I have been steeped in the arts all of my life & I continue to produce new images and yearn to create more of a balance between creating and exhibiting.
I have an MFA from Georgia State University I briefly studied Art Therapy. I have conducted workshops at The High Museum and assisted the Director of the Photography Department at The Atlanta College of Art (SCAD:Atlanta).
Throughout my career, I have tried to instill in my students as well as my clients the knowledge that Art has the power to enrich one’s understanding of self and world. The accompanying resume serves to provide details of my experience and expertise. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sally Cowart Hughes: 516 Carlouetta Road SW, Mableton, Ga. 30126
