Candela Gallery is excited to present the first show of the new year: Science as Muse, an exhibition featuring photographic works from Walter Chappell, Caleb Charland, Rose-Lynn Fisher, Pam Fox, Daniel Kariko, Michael Rauner, Robert Shults, and Susan Worsham.

Candela Gallery is pleased to present “Theory of Place,” a group exhibition featuring photographic work by Marcus DeSieno, Courtney Johnson, Camilo Ramirez, and Justin James Reed.

Often, we introduce ourselves by where we come from or where we live, and sometimes, by where we do not. Our environment influences our identity. Inversely, we define locations by giving names to them. The aura of a place is tethered to both physical and cultural perceptions, but what happens when this delicate balance is altered and that tether is warped or frayed at the edges?

In “Everything is Going to Be All Right” Jared Ragland reflects on his personal history living in the American South and visually narrates the existential journey of Walker Percy’s character, Binx Bolling from the 1961 novel, The Moviegoer.  Set in New Orleans, The Moviegoer follows Binx’s pilgrimage for a clearer understanding of himself. In a similar way, Ragland’s work challenges viewers to experience beyond the lens of visual observation, encouraging them to reflect within, and strive for a more personal understanding. Steeped in the New Orlean’s landscape, the images within the series are a combination of black and white photographs and appropriated, digitally sourced images that often blur our perception of reality and evoke a deeper meaning.

Alyssa Salomon’s newest series, “Animal Land” explores the nocturnal landscape and the feral beauty hidden within heavily developed places along the East Coast corridor. Over the course of the last year Salomon has served as an Artist-in-Residence at Virginia Commonwealth University Rice Rivers Center, collaborating with biologist Anne Wright, Rice’s Director of Environmental Outreach, to highlight the mysticism of the ecosystems within the Central Virginia section of the James River Watershed. Salomon transforms night-vision stills from digital infrared cameras into handmade van dyke prints, resulting in romantic visions of unseen environments.

Candela Gallery is pleased to announce CHOP SHOP, an exhibition exploring the work of seven artists, who are transforming images through various processes of manipulation. Featured artists are: Nadine Boughton, Tom Chambers, Blythe King, Peter Brown Leighton, Lissa Rivera, Ayumi Tanaka, and Maggie Taylor.

Candela Gallery is pleased to announce By The Grace Of God, our second solo show from Richmond, Virginia based photographer, Susan Worsham.

Over the past nine years, Susan Worsham has let curiosity and a sense of nostalgia guide her, traveling quiet roads, to warmly lit places, engaging with people she meets along the way. Her portraits illustrate collaborative reflections of fleeting moments shared between strangers. Images of backyards, shrouded by overgrowth, lush with vivid color are rich with a deeper truth. Dated facades, blanketed by dust, are each a chronicle of time’s passage.  Worsham’s work often serves as metaphor for her own life experiences.

Visual storytelling is an art form unto itself.  It can entertain us with fictional narrative, impart wisdom through documentation, or provide an escape just as literature does.  This power of the narrative is immense. Opening November 4th, Candela Books + Gallery announces Chasing Tales, a group exhibition featuring photographic work by Daniel Coburn, Paul Thulin, and collaborators Antone Dolezal and Lara Shipley, all artists connecting the past and present fusing elements of reality with mysterious and imaginative intent.

As the General Election approaches, Candela Books + Gallery introduces STUMP; a group exhibition featuring photographic artists whose work is politically salient, couched in national issues, or generally steeped in concerns we are all facing.

With STUMP, our hope is to sponsor discussion around an array of issues at the forefront of national debates. The photographic works featured draw on our current culture and provide a lens through which to examine issues both locally and globally important.

Photography has a long and intertwined history with the book form. The synergy between the book and the photograph has not only continued, but significantly expanded as a powerful platform for photographers to present their work.

This May, Candela Books + Gallery will feature a compelling selection of work from eleven well-crafted, self-published and small press photography books: