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Rahshia Sawyer (1976) is a conceptual photographer based in the Washington DC area. She was the 2012 recipient of the Contemporary Talents award from France’s François Schneider Foundation.
“Beauty anchors us to our humanity; it acts as the balance between reality and fantasy. “
Rahshia Sawyer (1976) is a conceptual photographer based in the Washington DC area. She was the 2012 recipient of the Contemporary Talents award from France’s François Schneider Foundation. Exhibited in the 2012 Inaugural Dublin Biennial, her photographs and installations have been included in numerous group shows in Canada, England, France, Ireland, Spain, and the United States. Her work is in the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s permanent collections, Foundation François Schneider, and Radford University Museum.
More recently, she received the 2020 Honorable Mention from the International Photography Awards. She received her MFA from George Mason University in Virginia and her BFA at the Corcoran College of Art & Design in Washington DC. Her current projects examine the balanced (or imbalanced) relationship between beauty and chaos.
Beauty anchors us to our humanity; it acts as the balance between reality and fantasy. Our experience of the world is not static; it is a compilation of layers. Maturing over time, we add layers upon layers, becoming ridged but never finite. An inquiry into the existential questions of our reality, identity, and beliefs lead us to examine layers of significant transition. When we passed from the known to the unknown, this time is described by many as a sensation of floating, being disconnected from their reality.
“My work contrasts this Daedalian journey with figurative photographs, the subject disconnected from the ground signifying their transforming reality. Each composition is selected to be neutral, that sliver of space between positive and negative. Allowing the works abstract quality to be informed by the viewer, recreating a singular struggle with our emotions — an experience we all share.”
Invisible Listeners: Signature Gallery Greater Reston Arts Center, Reston, VA
Within the im/balance, The Center for the Arts of Greater Manassas & Prince William County, VA
Some Things I Can’t Explain, ArtSpace Herndon, Herndon, VA
Some Things I Can’t Explain, Craddock-Terry Gallery, Lynchburg, VA
Then you weren’t, Workhouse Art Center, Lorton VA
Some Things I Can’t Explain, MFA Thesis Show, George Mason University (catalog)
Subversion, Greenbelt Community Art Center, Greenbelt MD
MFA Art and Visual Technology School of Art George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
BFA Photography Corcoran College of Art + Design Washington DC
AA Humanities, Foreign Languages College of the Redwoods Eureka, CA
Undertow, OpenArtExchange, Schiedam, The Netherlands
EMERGE: Center Gallery, Wichita, KA
ASPIRE, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH (catalog)
Berlin Foto Biennale 2016: Palazzo Italia, Berlin
Contemporary Talent 2012, François Schneider Foundation, Wattwiller France
Dealing with Trauma through Art Making, Holy Family University, Philadelphia, PA
Positive ID: Bodies & Subjectivities in Photography: NOVA-Woodbridge, Woodbridge, VA
Artifex: GMU Graduate Student Exhibit: Capital One Corp. Art Program, Richmond, VA
2nd Annual GMU MFA Exhibit: GMU School of Art, VA (catalog)
Hickok Cole: WPA, Washington, DC
Common Pulse Festival: Intersecting Abilities, Durham Art Gallery, Ontario Canada
ACADEMY 2013: Annual MFA / BFA Invitational, CONNORSMITH, Washington DC
EMERGE: Center Gallery, Wichita, KA
Humans Being II: Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL (catalog)
Body and Brain: Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL (catalog)
1st Annual GMU MFA Exhibit: GMU School of Art, VA (catalog)
Artomatic 2012, Crystal City, VA
The Surrealist Influence on Contemporary Photography, Austin, TX
Hickok Cole: WPA, Washington, DC
Graduate Student Exhibition: GMU School of Art, VA
Honorable Mention, International Photography Awards (IPA)
Honorable Mention, International Photography Awards (IPA)
Honorable Mention, International Photography Awards (IPA)
Honorable Mention, Prix de la Photographie (Px3)
Finalist, 8th edition of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award
Honorable Mention, Jax Exhibition
Honorable Mention, Fine Art Photography Awards (FAPA)
Semi-Finalist, The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards
2nd Place, EMULSION 2015
Honorable Mention, International Photography Awards (IPA)
Honorable Mention, Prix de la Photographie (Px3)
Best in Show, WATERGIRL, Artzibs Gallery
Academic and Artistic Excellence, George Mason University
Grand Prix Juror Award of Merit, International Fine Art Photography Competition
Contemporary Talent 2012, Photography Category, François Schneider Foundation
Gold Medal Award San Francisco International Photography Exhibition
2nd Place, Fine Art Photography Competition 2013
Juror’s Choice Award, Open Water!
Leadership Award, ODIME 2013 Vision Awards
EMERGE Fellowship Award, 2013 Midwest Photo Emerge
First Place, 1st Annual Radford Photography Exhibition
Purchase Award, Art Comes Alive
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