Rhona Bitner’s photographs depict the physical and material domains of music, dance, and the theater, among other subjects. The exhibition Rhona Bitner: Resound marks the artist’s first museum survey. This retrospective features work from seven series of photographs spanning the last three decades including original Cibachrome prints from the 1990s and newly produced prints. The exhibition is curated by Tracy Adler, Johnson-Pote Director of the Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College.
Much of Bitner’s photographic practice focuses on the spaces, people, and objects related to performance—from popular music and the circus to ballet and classical theater, among other subjects—to create images that evoke personal and collective memory.
Explains Adler, “Bitner has the distinction of being the only artist to be included in three group exhibitions at the Wellin. With this one-person survey, our audiences will gain a deeper understanding of the breadth of her photographic practice through the display of several series from the last 30 years. What I admire about Rhona is that she has continued to grow and explore as an artist throughout her creative career, and now she is finally receiving the recognition her work deserves.”
“Her photographs transcend the archive to attain a deeper and personal connection to the spaces, people, and objects she photographs,” continues Adler. “As an artist, she follows her own passions, and it has led her to many places to tell many stories. She has often remarked that her images are about ‘what is there and what’s implied.’ Those implications are for each of us to discern, drawing from our personal experiences and individual journeys. She is sharing—often in exquisite detail—what she has found along the way in the hope that we connect with her subjects on our own terms.”
Adds Bitner, “I am grateful to Tracy Adler and the Wellin Museum for their unfailing support and faith in my work over the past years, and I am honored by the recognition they extend with this exhibition. With the opportunity to see a broad selection of my projects, I hope viewers will be able to imagine themselves within the spaces and situations the work depicts, and that the photographs will spark their own memories and experiences. This synergy is the pulse of the work.”
Rhona Bitner : Resound
September 9 through December 9, 2023
Wellin Museum of Art
at Hamilton College
198 College Hill Rd
Clinton, NY 13323
www.hamilton.edu/wellin
