Visuals 04.21.22

JOAN LOBIS BROWN

This photo is part of the 2022 Center for Photographic Art (Sunset Center, San Carlos & 9th Ave., Carmel) Members’ Juried exhibition, a diverse show that honors the center’s photographic roots with a multitude of landscape images along with an incredible variety of other photographic genres, processes and techniques. “The medium of photography is never static,” wrote the curator Crista Dix. “Always evolving, shifting vision, technology and styles, creativity flows through us in a myriad of ways. This group of images was no different, pushing the boundaries of what is and what is to come.” Joan Lobis Brown is a photograper and activist based in NYC. She studied photography in the advanced studies program at the International Center of Photography. The exhibit is free and on display until May 8. [AP]

MARK FARINA

Sunflowers stand for truth and honesty because their heads gravitate toward sunlight. A lesser-known fact about sunflowers is their use as a symbol of nuclear disarmament. That’s because sunflowers contain a unique capability: they are able to absorb and eliminate radioactive toxins from the environment. When the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, the new nation of Ukraine held the third largest arsenal of Russia’s nuclear weapons. By 1996 Ukraine committed to ending its nuclear stockpiles. To honor the occasion, representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. planted sunflowers where nuclear missile silos once stood. The piece above, titled Yellow, Red, Blue (oil on canvas) is part of an exhibit by Mark Farina and Erin Lee Gafill titled “It’s All About the Sunflower” at the Carmel Art Association (Dolores St. between 5th & 6th Ave., Carmel). [AP]