Whitespace is proud to present, Interior Mind | Exterior World a photography exhibition with Julie Sims and Yukari Umekawa. 

Through the photographs of Julie Sims and Yukari Umekawa, the relationship between internal and external merge in the gallery’s current exhibit “Interior Mind | Exterior World”.  Sims creates small, constructed settings that she photographs to reference both the natural world and the anatomical structures and pathways of the brain.  Umekawa focuses her view through a pinhole camera to express the world around her and then manipulates the image to show her inner self at that exact moment.

Julie Sims, Fault Line

Julie Sims, a resident of Smyrna, Georgia, draws a parallel between her frustration with her personal psychological experiences of anxiety and depression, and that which is experienced in a natural disaster, when the environment becomes inhospitable beyond human control.  The psychological environment is subject to fault lines and erosive forces, just like the Earth. This metaphor offers a different context in which to consider mental health issues, and works to dismantle the stigma attached to them.

Yukari Umekawa, You Are Beautiful

Through a tiny lens, Yukari Umekawa photographs abstract, ambiguous images that she takes without thinking, only feeling.  She is attracted to color, light, and familiar places, such as her hometown of Osaka, Japan.  With the digital film she uses, Umekawa alters the colors of her photographs in order to communicate her happiness, confusion, excitement, longing, or contentment at the time to the viewer.  By fusing artistic elements with her emotions and the scene around her, she projects her inner sentiments onto her external environment.