WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM
NOVEMBER 3-9, 2021 UCW 13
muscular front legs of the dog
are combined to create repeat-
ing pairs of legs and feet, all
related in some unknown way
while individually anchored to
their placement on the
cement.
In "ree Amigos", like the
rest of the photographs in the
exhibit, visitors will enjoy the
ways in which Harding's keen
or heightened sense of see-
ing brings vision and states of
mind to life through the pho-
tographed image.
She has successfully shared
with us a way to see the world
that we may have forgotten is
possible.
In "Sadie with Sunglasses",
Harding has photographed
a close-up of a young Sadie
wearing a seemingly large
pair of sunglasses. e face
is relaxed and almost expres-
sionless, the child's eyes are
hidden. Details of the hair,
sunglasses and gathered
printed shirt contrast with
an out-of-focused and mini-
mal background. e smooth
surface of the skin echoes
the minimalism of the back-
ground tone but is brighter
- the smooth fullness of youth
presents itself as a natural and
emerging, volumetric form.
Harding has only included
black and white photos in the
exhibit for several traditional
reasons. Color can distract us
from what the photograph is
about. When you remove color
the emphasis of an image
shifts to other compositional
elements like contrast, texture,
lighting, and form. Viewers are
no longer seeing something
familiar in color, but a differ-
ent version of reality.
One in which black and
white photography is more
interpretative.
Harding combines the
above advantages of a black
and white photograph with
its other potential of seeming
timelessness. By cropping the
figures and often showing us
only parts, she used fragments
to suggest a larger story.
In each photograph, we see
how a story symbolically over-
laps or unfolds into another
one. Each picture is a fleeting
memory, a momentary experi-
ence. We can sense the lives
of those in the photograph or
remember our own lives as
interconnected stories we may
have taken for granted.
Harding brings us back to
those moments in time, pho-
tograph by photograph.
I am confident visitors to
Beautiful Strangeness: Pho-
tographs by Kyle Harding will
leave the exhibit happier than
when they arrived at Gallery
208. One cannot help but
smile when we connect our-
selves to innocence, joyful-
ness,
and hope.
e public is invited
to attend the opening of
Beautiful Strangeness:
Photographs by Kyle Harding
on Nov. 9 at Gallery 208 be-
tween 5:30 – 7 p.m.
Gallery 208 is located at
Up and Coming Weekly, 208
Rowan Street in Fayetteville,
North Carolina.
e exhibit will remain up
until the end of December.
Gallery hours are Monday –
ursday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. For
information call 910-484-6200.
COVER STORY
SONI MARTIN, Gallery 208 Curator.
COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin-
gweekly.com. 910-484-6200.
"ree Amigos" features two children and one dog in the middle. (Photo by
Kyle Harding)
Kyle Harding is often inspired by her two daughters for her photogra-
phy. (Photo by Kyle Harding)
