In a recent interview with 032 magazine, photographer and artist Roe Ethridge discusses an early body of work that examined fugue states—an amnesiac, in-between sense of being. While he’s slowly moved away from this theme, it’s fair to say that Ethridge’s entire oeuvre is itself a fugue state: part commercial photography, part free form photography, always vivid, strange, and brimming with an odd sensuality. His personal photography, inherently conceptual, seems to seep into his commercial work, while the latter makes its way into the former too, sometimes quite literally. It’s a symbiotic exchange that ultimately forms a referential narrative, both humorous and thoughtful.
As part of the Institute of Contemporary Art’s ICA SPEAKS series—a set of lectures that focus on an interchange of thought and ideas—Roe Ethridge will present a lecture on Thursday, September 24. ICA SPEAKS features artists from the museum’s permanent collection; and the museum was recently gifted two of Ethridge’s pieces by Javier and Monica Mora. Ethridge’s discussion will focus on the role of women and gender in his work and, perhaps inevitably, photography’s ability to both juxtapose and transform itself.
Roe Ethridge was born in 1969 in Miami, Florida, and lives and works in New York. His work has been shown around the world, including MoMA PS1, the Barbican Centre in London, Carnegie Museum of Art, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, and Les Recontres D’Arles, France, among numerous others.
The talk takes place at the Palm Court Event Space, located at 140 NE 39th Street (3rd floor) on Thursday, September 24 at 7:00 p.m. Admission to ICA SPEAKS is free with RSVP at https://www.icamiami.org/calendar/ica-speaks-roe-ethridge.
