Jo Ann Callis’s Cake Hat Pillow

While visiting Jo Ann Callis’s “Cake Hat Pillow” exhibit at the Center for Creative Photography I was constantly in awe of her far out, surreal photographs. I have always enjoyed looked at art, but going to interpret it for an assignment was a new experience. Through her black and white, and color pieces, I saw images that could be interpreted in several ways. The freedom surrealists have as artists, and in this case, a photographer is endless and also captivating to all the viewers, no matter if they like them or not.

Surrealism is defined as “a 20th century literary and artistic movement that attempts to express the workings of the subconscious and is characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtaposition of subject matter” by the American Heritage College Dictionary. Callis uses this method of photography to portray her dreams and make them real by recreating them using humans, objects and different moods illustrated by the photo’s lighting. Her photographs often are themed in either theatricality or domesticity. Many of her photos are of simple house hold objects, or include a curtain with a stage setting giving the viewer the feeling of being in the audience rather than just looking at the photo.

It is apparent in her work that the mood of the photos is controlled largely by whether she photographs certain objects or people in color in black and white. To me, her black and white photographs such as her untitled piece with a person made into a bed and a lace bed spread on top. The picture seems to have not been taken in an actual bedroom, because the rest of the room is black and seems to go on for eternity. I thought it symbolized a death and a burial of some one who will always be in their memories but never physically with them again. In the picture with the lady lying face down and wild dark hair with beets coming out of it gave me a different vibe. As apposed to eternal darkness in the other photo, there