photograph of a person working with food in front of a window.

zhou huiyin "Care Work"

Anything But Still Block Gallery Exhibition

Raleigh Arts


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Visiting the Exhibition About the Artists

Anything But Still

Sept. 11 – Nov. 15, 2024 
Reception: Thursday, Oct. 10 5:30—7:30 p.m. 

Anything But Still aims to expand the traditional concept of' still life’ beyond the simplistic definition of an arrangement of objects. Each of the artists included has a unique approach to their work, demonstrating the vast possibilities of interpreting the documentation of objects within their photography practice.

Learn more in the Anything But Still Gallery Guide (PDF).

Reception and Book Signing

Thursday, October 10 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. 

Block Gallery will host an artist reception and book signing featuring the exhibiting artists. Add the reception to your calendar.  

"This Earthen Door" Book Signing
Co-authored by Leah Sobsey with Amanda Marchand, published by Datz Press 2024

This Earthen Door is a photographic re-working of American poet Emily Dickinson’s Herbarium, a forgotten book of pressed plants that lives at the intersection of science, poetry, and art. In a gesture honoring her nearly 200-year-old effort ­–artists Amanda Marchand and Leah Sobsey grew and harvested plants to remake her plant sampler with an alternative photographic process known as anthotype. Anthotypes are plant-based photographs, an innovation dating back to when Dickinson was at work on her herbarium.  The project also highlights the history behind the invention of color photography, the importance of archives, and the scientific/artistic contributions of women. During her lifetime, Dickinson was known as a gardener, not a poet. Over one-third of her poems and half of her letters reference flowers and plants with idiosyncratic symbolism, illuminating her deep connection to the natural world. Books can be purchased at the signing and at www.leahsobsey.com/books

Visiting the Exhibition

The artworks are displayed at Block Gallery, one of our City-owned galleries, from Sept. 11 through Nov. 15.

Gallery Hours & Location

About the Artists

Abstract photograph in moody dark colors of a concourse.

Derrick Davis "Vouch for Concourse C" (2024)

Derrick Davis 

 

Derrick Davis Jr. is a photographer, griot, and aspiring Speech Language Pathologist.  Above all, he’s an adventurous, critical Black boy navigating a complex world. He seeks to find beauty internally through self-portraits. He captures beauty externally through landscape street photography and documentary-style photography of the community. His ultimate goal is to achieve peace and express all forms of himself. Whether it’s his advocacy for human rights, his career in communication, or his love for many subjects, he wants to see himself and all Black people, have the freedom to express themselves in any form. 

Derrick attended UNC-Chapel Hill for his undergraduate, earning a degree in Hispanic Linguistics with a minor in African, African American, and Diaspora Studies. He is new to the art world with his first work exhibited in the NorthStar Church of the Art. His pieces, Goofy Kreme (2024) and Pass the Kollection Plate (2024) are part of the UPROOT: BIPOC  Visions of our Food System organized by the Durham Powerful Arts Collective (DurmPAC) and the Committee On Racial Equity of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems at NC State. 

 

While new to the exhibition space, he has experience curating stories through sneakers and clothing while working in Visual, Merchandising, and Styling at Nike’s House of Innovation  Flagship Store in New York City. He’s looking forward to new experiences as he continues to find his voice and confidence in his art. 

Instagram: @esoderic3 

Painting of a hydrangea in a vase and peaches rolling around in a classical still life style

Yana Slutskaya "Hydrangea and Peaches"

Yana Slutskaya

 

Yana Slutskaya is a Russian-born award-winning professional artist and contemporary still-life photographer based in Clayton, North Carolina. She holds a BA degree in Fine Arts, majoring in Painting and Theatrical Design, from Moscow State Academic Art College. 

 

She finds competitions and solo exhibitions incredibly rewarding, as they give her a chance to be part of the creative community while also showing her works at galleries, and museums, as well as to collectors and art enthusiasts nationally and abroad. Yana’s works were featured at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Cameron Art Museum, Research Triangle Foundation, 311 Gallery, C-MAC Gallery, Campbell House Gallery, Truist Gallery, ArtFields Festival, Cary Gallery of Arts, and others.  According to the prestigious International Photography Awards 2024 35AWARDS, she was recognized as a TOP 70 USA photographer.  

 

Yana is well known for her unique style of still-life photography inspired by classic European art traditions. In her works, she strives to weave together storytelling and visual delight while infusing them with hidden symbolism and deep philosophical meaning. 

 

Photographic print with a leaf in muted neutral greens

Leah Sobsey "Anna Atkins"

Leah Sobsey 

 

Leah Sobsey is an image maker, Associate Professor of Photography, Curator, and Director of the Gatewood Gallery at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.   

 

Recent exhibitions include Photofairs NYC, The Sachs Museum, The Harvard Museum of Natural History, Paris Photo, and a forthcoming exhibitions at the Brandywine Museum and the Huntington Museum, CA. Her books include This Earthen Door Datz Press, 2024. Collections: Birds Bones and Butterflies, 2016, and Bull City Summer, 2013. Her work is held in private and public collections across the country, including the North Carolina Museum of Art, Bill Gates-Microsoft, Fidelity Investments, Cassihaus, Duke Hospital, Duke Raleigh Hospital, Maine Media College, Rose Community Foundation Denver and many more. She has been an artist in residence at Virginia Center for the Arts, Dumbarton Oaks, Plant Humanities residency, Ayatana Research residency, Penland, Mother’s Milk, The National Park system, Vermont Studio Center, Hewnoaks artist colony, and Hambidge to name a few. Her images have appeared in Artnews, New Yorker.com, the Paris Review Daily, Slate.com, Hyperallergic.com, The Telegraph, and Audubon. Sobsey has exhibited internationally, and her work is held in private and public collections across the US. She is represented by Rick Wester Fine Art. 

Instagram @leahsobsey | leahsobsey.com

 

photograph of a large swath of white fabric splashed with paint.

zhou huiyin "Memories of grief"

huiyin zhou 

 

Born and raised in the industrial hub of Dongguan, China, huiyin zhou 徽音 (they/she) is a transnational queer feminist organizer and community-based photographer, writer, translator and multimedia artist. They are based in Durham, NC and NYC. They work with digital and analog photography, text, installation, and performance. Photographing with intimate and tender sensibilities, huiyin explores themes related to queer feminism, intimacy, memory, diaspora, and community and approaches photography with a relational, reciprocal praxis.   

 

Other than photography and writing, huiyin co-founded and co-direct a queer feminist art and activist collective, Chinese Artists and Organizers (CAO) Collective. They are a 2024-25 resident at Durham Art Guild and a 2023-24 resident at BRIClab: Contemporary Art Disability Artistry as a co-leading artist for CAO. huiyin has received accolades such as SEEK Raleigh (2024-25, Raleigh NC), John Hope Franklin Documentary Award (2023, Durham, NC), Benenson Award in the Arts (2023, NC), Dora Anne Little Service Award (2023), and Budding Writer 文学新苗(2019, Guangdong Writers’ Association, China). huiyin’s individual and collaborative work has been shown nationally. huiyin holds a B.A. degree in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University. 

Instagram @huiyin.zhou and @caocollective 

 

Contact

 

Stacy Bloom Rexrode
Curator of Exhibitions and Collections, Raleigh Arts
stacy.bloom-rexrode@raleighnc.gov
919-996-4687

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Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources
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Raleigh Arts
Board, Commission or Committee:
Arts Commission
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