Frani Evedon (b. 1951)

Frani Evedon’s photography is informed by the Lakota shaman Lame Deer whom she quotes as saying, “The physical aspect of existence is only representative of what is real.” For her, “This existential notion suggests that layers of realities exist beyond the physical and that, through these realities, we communicate in a way that defines and reflects both individual and humanity’s transitions.” Reflecting issues related to physical health, serious illness, and mortality, she states, “My current work studies synchronicity and explores issues that are based in the physical.” Many of her recent works start “with my husband’s and my MRIs and X-rays” that she converts into digital negatives that she alters and produces as cyanotypes and gum bichromate prints to express her interpretation of Lame Deer’s philosophy as it relates to universal anguish over “physical deterioration.” This work is more metaphoric than literal in its expression of pain and impermanence. (NW)