‘Of Consequence’ takes aim at mankind’s inhumanity to man, Earth’s destruction

Caitlin Peterson
In Motion Staff Writer

“The amount of miles I’ve flown would total enough to go to the moon and back at least two times,” said Colin Finlay at the opening reception for new installation at the Southeast Museum of Photography. “But, I didn’t fly all those miles for me. I did it to be a witness. A witness of what’s really happening in the world.”

Finlay’s photographs are beautiful but devastating. They capture the results of climate change, genocide, famine, war and cultural destruction.

“The Southeast Museum of Photography is an incredible facility and to finally get to see Colin’s work on display so beautifully, is amazing. As humans, we want to look away from documentary work, because we don’t always want to face what’s really happening,” said a curator for the installation, Andy Patrick. “But there is hope. All we need to do as individuals is step forward and make as much of a change as we can. The Earth matters to everyone, and we can change this.”

The music heard on the top floor of the SMP where ‘Of Consequence’ is housed, is an original 13-song score composed and recorded by Finlay and his musical partner James Saez. The music integrates Finlay’s guitar playing with ambient recordings from the various locations that Finlay photographed.

“Music reaches so deep into our emotions and that’s why I decided to set the photos to the music,” said Finlay. “We need to overcome this idea that’s if it’s not happening in our backyard it doesn’t matter. We are all one collective humanity. The Earth is our backyard.”

Colin Finlay is one of the foremost documentary photographers in the world and ‘Of Consequence’ will be on display through April 19 at the SMP, housed in the Hosseini Center in building 1200.. Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public.

His photographs have been featured in Vanity Fair, TIME, U.S. News and World Report, American Photo, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Asia Week, World Health Organization, UNICEF, Photographic Magazine, Communication Arts and Discovery. His works are housed in the permanent collections of the George Eastman House, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Los Angeles Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

He never attended art school nor assisted any photographer. He majored in English Literature, Economics and Religious Studies while at UC Santa Barbara. The Creative Studies department gave him this three-fold degree, and at that time, he knew nothing of photography. As he told a reporter from Digital Photo Pro, “I didn’t know the difference between an ƒ-stop and a sewer hole.”

Finlay will be returning to the Southeast Museum of Photography on March 26 for a panel presentation from 1 to 3 p.m. He will also perform music from his debut album, “Embrace,” at the museum on March 27 from 7 to 8 p.m. He calls the record “the musical voice of my photography” and it contains natural elements from the field, soundbites collected while Finlay was on location shooting.

For more information about Finlay and his work, visit www.ofconsequence.com.

The Southeast Museum of Photography will host a number of new exhibitions this year including “The Growth of a Collection Part 2: 2002-2014,” and “Andy Warhol: The Photographs.” Both exhibitions will be on display at the museum beginning Feb. 27 and running through May 10. The opening reception for both will take place at the museum on Feb. 27 from 6 to 8 p.m.

“Our ‘Growth of a Collection’ series is really great because we have something for everyone. Most people don’t know that we have over 5,000 photographs, and that we even have some photos that date back to when photography was first invented,” said Juliana Romnes, Interim Director of the SMP.

In addition to new photo exhibitions, the museum also features film and video programs that promise to entice even the pickiest of movie-goers with a range of cinematic favorites and cutting-edge independent films.

The series, “Women,” begins Jan. 28 and will show contemporary and classic films that tell the stories of brave, influential, inspiring and hilarious women on select Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m.

The series, “The Mind Is a Wonderful Servant but a Terrible Master,” will take a deeper look at how much power we really have over our mental and emotional lives, beginning Jan. 28 on select Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.

The documentary series, “Photographers at Work,” will examine the complex interplay between biography and aesthetic ambition in the lives and art of important 20th Century photographers. “Photographers at Work” starts Jan. 29 on select Thursdays at 5:30 p.m.

The survey film series, “Modern Art: Forerunners and Influences,” will take a deeper look at the impact of a number of key artists who laid the foundation of modern art as we know it today. That series began Jan. 30 and will play the various films select Fridays at 1:30 p.m.

Also in progress is the Exhibition Film Series: Everything Warhol, presented in conjunction with the exhibition Andy Warhol: The Photographs. Select Fridays at 7 p.m. this series will feature an array of films about Andy Warhol and the Pop Art Movement.

All screenings take place in the Madorsky Theater at the Southeast Museum of Photography. Film screenings are free and open to the public, with donations welcome. Visit www.smponline.org for more information and a detailed list of upcoming film schedules.