NYU's Nathaniel Ward

Courtesy of the artist

Nathaniel Ward, "Victoria's Secret, Willowbrook Mall, Wayne, NJ" (2005)

Send a letter to the Editor

Save to Del.icio.us Digg this

Artist's Contact:

n.m.ward@gmail.com

Artist’s Statement:

As a photographer, I am fascinated and inspired by the artifacts of contemporary culture. I minored in anthropology while completing my BFA in photography at NYU Tisch, and I believe there is much to learn from the spaces, commodities, systems and waste that we produce.

In an attempt to expand my understanding of the mechanics of our contemporary culture, and subsequently myself, I use the camera as my personal tool of exploration and exposition.

In my work I illuminate and explore the banal and purely functional as well as the tragically sensational in an effort to reveal systems that establish and perpetuate culture. As a product of that very culture, I can’t separate my own experience.

Many of my photographs describe unease, anxiety, wonder and other emotions I associate with the mechanics and systems of contemporary socialization. I believe these very emotions present an accurate, if not personal, portrayal of the societal and psychological implications of the content of my photographs.

I hope my photographs challenge viewers to confront their own discomfort and question how they have been impacted, molded and defined by the culture they enable.

Artist’s Exhibitions:

* “Engulfed by Katrina: Photographs Before and After The Storm”; The Nathan Cummings Foundation, NYC, June 2006;
* “The Psychological Implications of the Constructed American Landscape, Part One: Educational Interiors”; Gulf and Western Gallery, NYC, February-March 2006, May-June 2006
* “Dreamland”; Galleria Illy, NYC, December 2005

Artist’s Honors:

* Leon & Michaela Constantiner Fellowship, Photography and Imaging, 2006

* Academic Achievement Award, Photography and Imaging, 2006

* New York University Honors Scholar, 2006

* Seth Tobias Award, Photography and Imaging, 2005

About NYU’s Department of Photography and Imaging:

The Department of Photography and Imaging at Tisch offers a four-year BFA program centered on the making and understanding of images. Students explore photo-based imagery as personal and cultural expression. Situated within a university, the program offers students both the intensive focus of an arts curriculum and a serious and broad grounding in the liberal arts. It is a diverse department embracing multiple perspectives, and its 130 majors work in virtually all modes of analog and digital photo-based image making and multimedia.

The faculty and staff consist of artists, professional photographers, designers, critics, historians and scholars offering a wide range of perspectives. Alumni from the department pursue graduate degrees, exhibit their work in galleries and museums, publish in national newspapers and magazines, work as documentarians and picture editors, produce Web sites and multimedia projects, and work in museums, educational and community settings.

The department’s facilities include two large black-and-white darkrooms, color darkrooms, digital lab, film processing rooms, a print finishing room, two shooting studios with professional lighting equipment, a non-silver processing area, a gallery space, and a digital video editing room. In addition, there is a library for the department’s print, book and slide collections.