June 13 – August 31, 2023
Artist Statement
“You can wait here in the sitting room, or you can sit here in the waiting room.”—Firesign Theater
Much of our lives is spent waiting. We wait on lines to buy coffee, a ticket to a movie, to use a bathroom. We will wait in a restaurant for a table to be cleared so we can wait for our food to be served. We sit in a waiting room to see a doctor. We wait for the school year to start and then wait for summer vacation. We wait for a friend to show up for a walking date. A return phone call. A special event. We wait for a connection. We wait for love.
I am always waiting for something to happen. Or waiting to piece together what just happened. Even waiting to figure out what could have happened. And as I wait, I photograph places that reveal nothing clearly, or something just out of reach. I search for moments that evoke the feelings inherent in the discomfort of waiting. My intention is to capture the ironic, amusing, and suspenseful. I hope to capture a sense of curiosity about what could be or could have been.
I wait. And in that waiting, I act.
About
Joy Bush is a photographer based in Connecticut. She grew up near New York City and as a child she loved family excursions to NYC museums and theater productions. After graduating from college she discovered the magic of photography, and bought herself a Pentax Spotmatic. Eventually employed as a university photographer, she documented life on college campuses while developing personal bodies of work.
Joy’s fine art photographs grow out of her interest in social landscapes. In her images there is an echo of human presence: a sense that people have recently left with no certainty of when, or if, they will return.
Bush’s work was recently featured in UNBEATABLE WOMEN at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, CT (2022) and HOME VIEWS at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Massachusetts. (2021). Her photographs have appeared in Fraction Magazine, The Village Voice, The New York Times, Connecticut Review, and many other publications. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibits nationally and internationally including the International Center for Photography (NYC), Mattatuck Museum, (CT), Lyman Allyn Art Museum, Copley Society (Boston, MA), Garrison Art Center (NY), and Umbrella Arts (NYC). Bush is represented in the permanent collections of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Mattatuck Museum, Montefiore Hospital (Bronx, NY), the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Yale Medical Group Art Place, and private collections.
