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“Maternal Instincts,” Photography Exhibit by Christa Bowden, to Open at W&L’s Williams Gallery on Sept. 11

“Maternal Instincts,” a selection of work from the Scanner Obscura and Roots & Nests projects by Christa Bowden, will open on Sept. 11 in the Williams Gallery of Huntley Hall at Washington and Lee University and will remain on view until Dec. 11. Bowden will have an opening reception on Sept. 10 from 5:30-7:00 p.m. in Huntley Hall. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

“Maternal Instincts” is a selected collection of works Bowden created using a flatbed scanner to photograph her body and natural objects. Beginning the project after her mother suffered a stroke in 1999, she said, “As a photographer, this one event entirely changed my way of seeing and set my course as an artist. I transitioned from observer and finder of photographs, to an active participant and subject in my work.”

Bowden was born in Atlanta in 1975. She earned her M.F.A. in photography from the University of Georgia and a B.A. in photography and film from Tulane University. She is an associate professor of art at Washington and Lee University, where she started the photography program in 2006.

This exhibit marks her first show at the Williams Gallery and the first artist exhibited in the new Larry and Fran Peppers Room, formerly the Reading Room.

The Williams Gallery in Huntley Hall is open 9 a.m.- 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.