Artist Statement
Similar to the contemplative traditions of Miksang and Zen Art, Roberta Holden’s photographic practice emphasizes the experiential qualities of seeing as a path to awakening. From this philosophical perspective, there is no distinction between the photograph, the photographed and the photographer, no subject and object, no seer and seen, no barriers between mind and space. It is all experience. Seeing, really seeing, is a meditative act that broadens and deepens one’s awareness. Once basic technical considerations are mastered, the camera is no more than an extension of the mind, a tool to focus one’s attention on space and time.
Roberta’s style of photography shares many similarities to the Japanese aesthetic of Wabi-Sabi, which embraces the imperfect, the impermanent, the incomplete (“nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect”), as well as the earthy, the natural and the minimalist. It relates to feelings of solitude, melancholy, asperity and desolation. Through her subjective lens as a photographer, Roberta seeks to use her photography to bring awareness to social and environmental justice issues.
