Reception: Homage to the Forest with Elliot Schildkrout @ Stoneham

Over the years, the woods, a lifelong cherished place for me, have deepened as a source of spiritual nourishment. As the forest turns with the seasons, I too, see the woods in a larger spiral that links together life, death, and our fragile dependence on the other. We breathe each other’s breath, and we share each other’s fate.

In the last few years, I moved from doing traditional landscape work to making multiple exposures in camera.   As images mixed together in color and time, I welcomed the unexpected serendipity of the process. Blending layers, changing colors, mixing movement with clarity captured for me a deeper sense of the forest’s mystery and my relationship to it. It’s never the same, and I have reveled in the surprise.

But the images also spoke to me of another more ominous theme that has been with me for a long time — the slow and relentless advance of climate change.  I was photographing while California burned, and I deeply felt how out of balance we (I) have become with nature’s restorative rhythm. I fear I have irrevocably turned way from that responsibility. Our hand reaches deep into nature’s ever spinning web, and of course, at the same time we are simply a part of its evolutionary song. My pictures help me slow down a bit, so I can retune, and at least pay some homage to this forest home of ours.

Bio

Elliot Schildkrout began photography in the 1960s in a course with Lisette Model at the New School in New York City. His early years were consumed with studying the works of Edward Weston, Harry Callahan, and Aaron Siskind. At the University of Rochester, Elliot studied with William Giles, a student of Minor White. While practicing medicine, he continued making photographs and was accepted into the Polaroid collection. For several years Elliot worked with SX-70 and 4×5 Polaroid materials; one of his images was published in Barbara Hitchcock’s book, The Polaroid Collection. Since retiring from medical practice, his photographic subjects have shifted from urban scenes to landscapes, ones increasingly captured from a more internal, spiritual perspective. Elliot’s current work, Wonderland, focuses on multiple in-camera imagery. He is represented by the 555 Gallery, which moved from its Boston Gallery space to ARTSY. All photographs are courtesy of the artist and 555 Gallery. You can view his work both on ARTSY and on his website: elliotschildkroutphotography.com and Instagram: @elliotschildkrout