organic/mechanic was created from a small selection of x-rays from the operating room of local surgeon Chip Ogburn. Ogburn is an Orthopedic Trauma Surgeon, which encompasses hardware implementation and reconstruction of fracture work; simply, when bones break, Ogburn puts them back together. The title of the show plays with the idea of the surgeon as mechanic for the body, installing new hardware when the bones fail from injury. Likewise, the title represents the dance between fluid and rigid energies inherent in the cyanotype images themselves.
Cyanotypes are a form of photographic printing enabled through the exposure of paper, coated in particular light-sensitive chemicals, to sunlight (or an electric UV light), resulting in the blue and white images seen here. The white shapes convey the depth and opacity of the object (in this case, the x-ray) that blocked exposure and inhibited the color change. These images, much like the surgical process of bone reconstruction and hardware implementation, embody a delicate fusion of disparities: human and machine, light and shadow, bone and metal, the parts and the whole.
The exhibition of this series is the long anticipated passion project of Chip Ogburn and his wife, Kjirsten, realized with the help of Athens-based photographer Holly Roman. Roman is a photographer and Chicago-born transplant living in Athens for the last three years. In addition to her personal photography work, Roman wears several hats at local metalworking shop St. Udio, where she provides support in marketing, social media, photography, and more.
The artwork on view is not for sale, as the series will be permanently installed at Ogburn’s medical office. Check out more of Holly Roman’s photography on her Tumblr archive.
All art shows at Creature Comforts are curated in-house. Please email us at [email protected] with any questions. Cheers!