India Poems: Photographs by Milwaukee artist Waswo X. Waswo
 
(Milwaukee, WI) The Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University is presenting an exhibition of 30 sepia-toned, visually poetic photographs taken in India between 1999 and 2004 by native Milwaukee artist and poet Waswo X. Waswo from June 28 – September 23, 2007.  The exhibition opens with a gallery talk and book signing by the artist on June 28th at 6 p.m. followed by a reception. This event is free and open to the public.
 
Waswo produces silver-gelatin photographs in black and white using both Nikon and Rolleiflex cameras and gives his images a pictorial feel by the use of the chemical sepia-tone process. This effect is enhanced by the artist’s avoidance of modern elements within his images. The themes explored in this body of works address issues of the remnants of India’s caste system, the emergence of individuality and the beauty of India’s rural landscape.
 
Waswo first toured India in 1993 and returned several times before establishing a second home there. He says of his life in India and his work:
Over the past ten years I have worked to create a body of photographs that in a small way imbues travel with the mystique of the past. I do not see these images as a factual record of my actual journeys. I do not see them as documentation of particular cultures, peoples, or places. On one level, there is a lot of untruth in what I do. I see my photography as the conscious creation of a myth. It is the myth of beauty, romance, adventure, discovery and exoticism that once was an unquestioned mainstay in every traveler’s lexicon.
Works from the series India Poems: The Photographs have been shown in solo and group exhibitions throughout India, Sri Lanka and the United States.
 
Waswo studied at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Center for Photography and Studio Marangoni, the Center for Contemporary Photography in Florence, Italy. He has published two volumes of poetry, and one book of photography. He currently keeps homes in both Udaipur and Goa and is working on a new photography book as well as another volume of written poems.
 
This exhibition is sponsored in part by the Mary Martha Doerr Endowment Fund and the Wisconsin Arts Board.
 
The Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University is located at North 13th Street and West Clybourn Avenue. Museum hours are Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. The museum offers free admission and is open to the public. Free parking is available in the Haggerty Museum Parking Lot (enter on 11th St. through Marquette Lot J).
 
For more information call Mary Dornfeld at (414) 288-7290.