Patty Maher
The Japanese have a concept called “Ma” which loosely translates to ‘negative space’. It speaks to that area of space around or between subjects: a ‘free zone’ that allows dissimilar things to coexist. Ma says that how we spend our time and how we shape our space, directly impacts our progress. If we have no time, or our space is restricted, then we cannot grow.
When I first moved from the city to the country in 2011, I was intimidated by the space I encountered. I was used to the feeling of being crowded out and hemmed in by the space restrictions of the city, and felt very vulnerable in the wide open spaces of the country. But it was because of this newfound space that my imagination began to open up and I was able to conceptualize and create from a place that may never have revealed itself to me had I stayed in the city. The countryside gave my artist space to grow and flourish.
I often get asked what overarching message I am trying to convey with my art and the answer at its most basic level is this: I am trying to create imaginative space. I believe that two keyways to our personal and collective transformation as a human race are space and imagination. If we give ourselves the time and space to engage with those things we find at our core, we are able to begin a slow and steady course of transformation. It occurs when we begin to give ourselves enough space for the imagination to unfold and flourish.
In my photography practice, the space I am attempting to create varies from photo to photo or series to series - space to grieve, space to forgive, space to transform, space to connect - and very often it is space that elicits questions without an immediate answer. I portray figures within these spaces so their identity is not shown and, by doing so, I am also inviting the viewer to place themselves in the scene and inhabit the space.
With painting I use intuition and inspiration to create through line, form, colour and texture - creating spaces that are influenced by essence, nature, time, and memory, My paintings are a dialogue, a dance, and an unseen communion - they are not a journey toward a definitive endpoint, but an ongoing exploration—an unfolding, a becoming, and a commitment to the unknown.
For me, art is a space of transformation, It is a dialogue between the seen and the unseen, the conscious and the instinctual. When art is present it tranforms - and my goal is to continually put myself in touch with that transformational space. ~ Patty Maher
ABOUT PATTY
Patty Maher was born in Toronto and completed undergraduate and graduate degrees in English Literature at the University of Guelph. Maher began her fine art career in 2010 and since then her photography has been featured on book covers and recognized in numerous online and print publications around the world including a video interview with Yahoo Productions created for the series "The Weekly Flickr". Maher has received recognition in prestigious photography contests including the PX3 Prie de la Photography Paris, Moscow International Foto Awards, Tokyo Foto Awards, the International Color Awards, Fine Art Photography Awards, and the International Photography Awards. Most recently Maher won the 13th edition of the Julia Margaret Cameron award and was awarded a solo show at Fotonostrum Gallery in Barcelona. She was also named a finalist in the prestigious Hassleblad Masters Competition in the Fine Art category. Maher's work was also recently included on the list of 35 Most Influential Conceptual Portrait Photographers by the influential ExpertPhotography.com portal. A book of her photography entitled "Story" was recently published by the prestigious Swedish publisher New Heroes and Pioneers and can be purchased on amazon.Her work has been exhibited internationally and sold throughout the world.
The inspiration for Maher’s photographic art comes from an exploration of the feminine in the context of natural space. Working primarily through staged portraiture, Maher is widely known for hiding or obscuring the faces of her subjects, often using only posture, gesture, symbol and colour to convey emotion and story. Maher explores the inner worlds of her subjects while at the same time considering notions of personal space, identity and the relationship of the individual to the larger world. Her goal with each photo and series is to create pieces that ignite the imagination by disrupting the boundaries between real life and the otherworldly; the surreal and the commonplace. In the telling of visual stories she invites the viewer to become a co-creator in meaning, leaving the stories open ended but touching on basic and universal emotions. Maher believes that space and imagination are the keyways to transformation - both personally and collectively. Her photos attempt to visually represent ideas and concepts that engender transformation.
Patty Maher is also a painter who works primarily with acrylic and mixed media. The inspiration for Maher’s painting comes from a deep and abiding reverence for the healing power of simplicity and space. Influenced by a combination of zen and wabisabi aesthetics, her paintings are comprised of muted tones, gestural marks and minimal or indistinct subjects. In her work, Maher seeks to capture the essence of a concept, subject or feeling while embracing imperfections rather than correcting them. The goal of her paintings is to create space for the mind to rest and for the soul to expand. Her paintings have been displayed in numerous solo and group shows.
