JP Terlizzi, Mother

April 28th – June 1st, 2018

Camerawork Gallery
2255 NW Northrup Street
(Linfield School of Nursing – Peterson Hall)
Portland, OR 97210
http://www.TheCameraworkGallery.org
http://www.facebook.com/cameraworkgallery
Gallery Hours: 9am-4pm, Monday-Friday, Saturday 9am-5pm

The course of a life can be determined by a single, sharp moment; one that is inevitable and ultimately essential. A moment of trauma, setback or challenge reverberates for years to come, daring us to keep moving forward, and shaping our capacity to connect and flourish.

Terlizzi notes, “My mother was devastated by my father’s infidelity, which led to a bitter divorce that had a profound impact on our family. As I witnessed her life unravel, I thought about strength of character, and began to wonder whether it was an innate quality or a personal choice. How is it that some emerge from the most difficult of moments better and stronger, while others find comfort in solitude, anger, jealousy and despair?

“It’s been over 45 years since that traumatic event, yet my mother has never fully recovered nor has she felt the need to seek professional help for her mental stability. Instead, I witnessed a woman who thrived on self-pity and detached herself from loved ones. As a result, her extreme actions and behavior were a detriment to the entire family.

“Mother explores the emotional and psychological terrain surrounding the ending of relationships and the loss of personal identity. I use photography as a means to interpret and understand my mother’s experiences, and piece together a tattered family narrative scarred by emotional trauma. For me, the process was one of personal discovery, but more importantly, it provided closure. A therapeutic process emerged where the feelings of sorrow, disappointment and anger resurfaced, and I was able to tame those feelings through acceptance and forgiveness.”

ABOUT THE ARTIST JP Terlizzi is a visual storyteller who uses photography to explore themes of memory, relationship, and identity. Drawing inspiration from his personal
experiences he captures moments that convey narratives—whether the story is a framed moment that reveals something about family and home, or a poetic interpretation of a fading reality, the feeling of loss and detachment are recurring themes in his work.

Born and raised in the farmlands of Central New Jersey, JP currently lives in Manhattan. His career spans thirty plus years as creative director for a boutique agency specializing in retail design. He earned a BFA in Communication Design at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and has studied photography at the International Center of Photography in New York and Maine Media College in Rockport ME. His work has been exhibited in the United States and abroad including shows at The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, Umbrella Arts Gallery, New York, NY, Soho Photo Gallery, New York, NY, The Griffin Museum, Winchester, MA, Tilt Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ, A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX, The Los Angeles Center of Photography, Texas Photographic Society, Dallas TX, Project Basho Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, Municipal Heritage Museum, Malaga, Spain, and

The Berlin Foto Biennale, Berlin, Germany, among others. In 2018, his series Descendants was selected as a Finalist and was awarded a solo show with the Soho Photo Gallery in Manhattan. In addition, work from his series The Cedars Run Silent was selected in 2018 Photo Emerge as twenty emerging photographers with the Midwest Center of Photography in Wichita, KS. He was named a Photolucida 2016 Critical Mass Finalist for his series Mother and was a 2015 Critical Mass Finalist for his series Hunter’s Calling, which was also selected for the C4FAP Portfolio ShowCase Vol. 9 and ONWARD Compé ’16. His work has been featured in PDN, Lenscratch, L’oeil de la Photographie, All About Photo, The Photo Review, F-Stop and Abridged Magazine.

www.JPTerlizziPhotography.com