Looking Glass
About the exhibition:
This exhibition is a mirror to the soul. It is regular people doing beautiful things and the power that comes with simple existence. It is a trip back to childhood. It is a man seeing his father’s face in his own. The everyday self—the joys and reflections—are the things people tend to overlook. Looking Glass celebrates this state of being. On view November 19, 2022 - Jan 5, 2023
About Gason Ayisyin:
Gason Ayisyin is a New Orleans-based photographer who immigrated to the United States as a young child from Haiti and sustained a traditional Haitian lifestyle before moving to New Orleans in 2001. Throughout his upbringing, Gason’s daily experiences were the sounds of drums, the calls of ancestral spirits, the exaltation of dance, the tastes and smells of traditional Haitian foods, and the sights of healing folk medicine. Today, he is informed through a bi-cultural experience where modernity and custom converge into a unique worldview that values innovation, yet cherishes tradition. Gason's work embodies the gratitude he feels for his childhood experiences and the importance of culture as an anchor of fortitude throughout one’s life. He sees cultural learning as a lifelong practice that cultivates different levels of understanding and changes shade with each generation. His artistic viewpoint immortalizes emotion, quiet thought and all other expressions of the inner self.
Gason’s self-studied interest in photography began in high school while in South Florida and continued thereafter. However, a pivotal moment after Hurricane Katrina transitioned his interest from casual enjoyment to purposeful vision. Soon after, Gason developed a loyal following that has dubbed him The Spirit Catcher, due to his combination of spirituality and storytelling in a documentary style of photography. Gason seeks not to capture moments, but energies; thus, his artistic viewpoint immortalizes expressions of the inner-self and cuts through pretense to expose spirit and the beauty that emanates from such truth.