Artist Statement: Taj Forer

Taj Forer: Boys with Chihuahua, Cedar Gove, North Carolina, 2007; color print. Courtesy of the artist. © 2007 Taj Forer.

The subjective nature of artworks, and the role of the imagination in interpreting them, is heightened in images that do not overtly reveal. My work directly engages these dynamics and I can only hope that the work seen here is the beginning of many conversations and internal investigations that challenge us in new and exciting ways.

My approach to image-making maintains a relevance rooted in suggestion, personal exploration, and deep concern for the loss of community and accountability for the earth's wellbeing, once central to those who occupied the natural landscape. The photographs in this series represent both the dependence that we have on the land as well as the profound respect for, and coexistence with, the natural environment that can and does exist amidst the development and degradation so common to our surroundings. For me, this type of harmonious existence represents a contemporary utopian thrust suggesting that holistic and mutually beneficial relationship with one another and our environment is, in fact, attainable.

The photographs in this series are drawn from and around the Anathoth Community Garden located in Cedar Grove, NC. After an unexplained murder sent this community into a state of fear and disconnect, the garden was created as a means of attempted repair and is rooted in a genuine return to traditional values of unity and harmony with one another and the earth. Through my photographs and the photographs produced by garden members (seen in the portfolio book on the pedestal nearby), this series explores both tangible representations of the aforementioned sense of "return" as well as less definable and significantly broader notions of what community and agriculture mean at this moment in history. Additional photographs from this series are currently on view in the Health Department of the Orange County Social Services Building in downtown Hillsborough, NC. The simultaneous display of images in these two spaces at one time is central to my questioning the static and traditional nature of art exhibitions and seeks to explore the larger context within which most art is produced and consumed today. Please take a road map (located on the pedestal) and continue your experience of this work at the other locations listed. Thank you.

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