"A Certain Kind of Quietness"
Thu., Dec 10
If silence can be captured in an image, Yolanda del Amo (left) knows how to do it. Now in her third year at Southern, the assistant professor of art and coordinator of the photography program has been winning accolades for her own photographs, in which she strives to depict "a certain kind of quietness."
One of del Amo's photographs -- "Sarah, David" -- has been awarded a commendation in the Outwin Boochever Portrait competition hosted by the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Another photograph -- "Aron, Helen, Laura" -- has been selected in the 2009 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize competition, the exhibit for which opened at the National Portrait Gallery in London on Nov. 3. Both photographs, shown below, portray interior scenes with two people sharing space in silence.
In addition to receiving these honors, del Amo has been invited to be a fellow at the Spanish Academy in Rome during the spring 2010 semester. During her time at the Academy, she will be dedicated to pursuing her own creative activity in her field.
"It's been a good year," she says, understatedly.
Originally from Spain, del Amo came to photography as a second career. After earning a B.S. and M.S. in mathematics from the University of Cologne, Germany, she worked as an actuary in a reinsurance company in Germany and Argentina. "I was a manager in a corporation, but I quit my job and went to grad school," she says. "I changed everything I was doing."
She went on to earn an M.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and launched a career as a photographer. She has taught as an adjunct faculty member at Purchase College, the International Center for Photography, (ICP) and at RISD. At Southern, in addition to teaching, she coordinates the photography program, which involves managing adjuncts and working on curriculum, along with other duties.
She recently submitted a substantial revision of the photography program to the curriculum committee. One of the revisions is the introduction of digital photography earlier in the program and the expansion of course offerings in digital photography.
Del Amo uses a film camera in her own projects. "Film cameras allow me to have much more control and blow things up really big. It makes sense for my own work," she says. She explains that large format cameras are traditionally used for architecture. "You can shift and tilt the perspective and modify the way you look at a space," she explains. "You can see a structure or space in a way you can't in reality."
Looking at space is an important part of del Amo's art. She is working on a long-term project called "Archipelago," which she describes as portraying "interactions between characters, the dynamic between them and the space they are in." In each of her photographs, she has a story in mind but tries to create narratives that are open-ended, so that the viewer can use his or her imagination.
She started working on "Archipelago" in 2004 and says, "it's a slow process. I only shoot five to eight images a year." She hopes to finish the project soon and publish it as a book. Her photo shoots take place in such countries as Spain, Germany and Argentina, as well as the United States, and she works to incorporate small cultural clues into the photographs.
Del Amo's photographs represent, she says, "a moment on a continuum." As she sets up each shot, "Everything is very meticulously choreographed. I move things around, use props or take things away. Sometimes I am inspired by the space, sometimes by the people."
Along with shooting her work in other countries, del Amo incorporates field trips into her teaching, to help expand students' experiences beyond the classroom. She recently took a group of students to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the International Center for Photography in New York City. While she was teaching at RISD, she twice took students to Argentina for a course she co-taught with a partner. The course was five weeks long, with part of it taught at RISD and part in Argentina. While in Argentina, del Amo and her students looked at documentary photography and photographed people. She will run the course at Southern in summer 2011.
In May 2009, she had a show at the Transformer Gallery in Washington, D.C., and at the Spanish Institute in New York City. She is grateful to the university for being so supportive of her work. Her photographs have previously appeared in both group and solo exhibitions in venues including Hudson Franklin Gallery in New York and the Barbara Walters Gallery at Sarah Lawrence College.
Below are del Amo's most recent award-winning photographs mentioned in the story:
(Top) "Sarah, David" -- awarded a commendation in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition in Washington, D.C.
(Bottom) "Aron, Helen, Laura" -- selected in the 2009 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize competition in London
