I’m pretty blown away to announce that my first solo gallery show opens this week at Homer Council on the Arts in Homer, Alaska. ‘At Road’s End: Analog Photography by Clay Duda‘ will hang in the HCOA gallery for the month of May, and in the main hall at South Peninsula Hospital for June and July 2024.
The First Friday opening reception is tomorrow, May 3 from 5-7pm at Homer Council on the Arts, 355 W. Pioneer Ave. in Homer. If you’re in town and interested in that sort of thing, please stop by and say hi.
This series of photographs was all captured on 35mm film within the past year. Much of the work was hand-printed and developed in my home darkroom that I built last year for $37 thanks to some generous donations from people in Homer. Of the 16 photos on display, 12 are black and white archival silver gelatin prints (darkroom prints) and 4 are color 35mm photographs printed digitally by a professional lab. The color photos are displayed in shadow boxes floating above Alaskan-themed backdrops.
Intentionally or not, a lot of my works centers on the intersection of people and their environment. Living on the cusp of wilderness along the shores of Kachemak Bay, these relationships are often at the forefront of everyday life. An excerpt from my superfluous artist statement does a good job of summing it up:
Through his photographs, Clay Duda explores the intersection of daily life and the wild frontiers of Kachemak Bay. His work probes the dualities between stewardship and venery, the fleeting moments of enjoyment on the edges of sustainability, consumption, leisure, and life. At road’s end we all find our home, our purposes, and our livelihoods — and we all aim to protect that. But we still take from the land and, often, may not give back as much as we envision. Is it sustainable? Or have we simply run out of road to escape the modern trappings we hoped to leave behind?
My background in photojournalism heavily influences my current work. Before moving to Homer, I worked 7 years as a full-time journalist and photographer. Now days I call myself a “lifestyle” photographer, which simply means that I photograph the world around me. Photos are rarely staged. Instead I strive to capture the fleeting minutiae of life and our interactions with the things around us, and let the resulting photographs evolve to tell their own stories of time and place.
‘At Road’s End: Analog Photographs by Clay Duda‘ is on display at the Homer Council of the Arts gallery May 3-June 4, 2024 at 355 W. Pioneer Ave. in Homer, Alaska.
