Colonial Comfort

19.09-20.11  /2014
Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts, Frederiksted, St. Croix

Living in a “comfort zone” is an experience people on our Caribbean islands share with the rest of the world. The comfort zone is a state in which a person uses a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without taking risks. In the comfort zone you try to remain anxiety-neutral. While this strategy enables survival, settling for less can eventually lead to a fear driven, mediocre life that often comes with depression. Just outside of the comfort zone is a world of excitement, financial freedom, success and passion, a fulfilled life. But that can only be achieved by leaving the comfort zone, by experimenting with new behaviors.
Some of the images were done as part of commercial or editorial commissions, others were by-products of such assignments, and yet others were conceived as art works. This museum exhibition reveals the thin line between artistic, commercial, and editorial photography, and shows the power of the context in which an image is viewed.
Colonial Comfort features work by the following artists: ADÁL, ae.i.ou, Denise Bennerson, David Berg, Diane M. Butler, Nicole Canegata, Janet Cook-Rutnik, Lionel Cruet, Mónica Félix, Tina Henle, Liza Morales, Erik Miles, Ray Miles, Marta Mabel Pérez, Herminio Rodríguez, Steve Simonsen, William Stelzer, and Rebecca Zilenziger. Curator: Lisa Ladner.