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BIOBIBLIOGRAPHY
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I was born in Brooklyn, NY and grew up in Peekskill, NY. I attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where I majored in English literature and philosophy. But I think my "art self" was born when I attended the Ann Arbor Film Festival and saw experimental films by filmmakers such as George Landow, Ken Jacobs, Bruce Connor and Maya Deren.
My work is basically about the subjective relationship of personal experience to the phenomenal world and how we situate ourselves in all the "stuff" that appears to be out there. Most of my art life has been involved in making and showing large scale color photographs and playing music. My photos are mostly made using a pinhole camera with a very short focal length that seems to create an impression of distortion. I like distortion because it shakes up notions of consensus reality.
I have exhibited my work in Europe and the U.S., most recently a travelling show "Dream Machines", organized by the Hayward Gallery in London; "Exurbia" at the Luisotti Gallery in L.A. in which I showed "When Walking, Know That You Are Walking" (video, 2000, 23 min.) and a solo show of my work "She Woke With a Start" that included photos and the video "Acid Karaoke" (2000, 46 min.) about altered states. A book of my photo work "I Am Not This Body" was published in Nov. 2001 by Aperture. Concurrently an audio project "Radio Guitar" (with filmmaker Peggy Ahwesh) was released on the Ecstatic Peace label.
Barbara Ess
New York
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