Today we’d like to introduce you to Barbara Parmet. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Barbara Parmet has been making photographs for fifty years. Trained as a photojournalist, Barbara worked for newspapers for 15 years before going on to develop experimental photographic techniques that would support her composite imagery combining human and natural forms. Her work has been collected and exhibited nationally and internationally.
Barbara is also a community artist and organizer who makes herself available to artists and organizations, especially those supporting marginalized communities of color as well as people with disabilities and those in the LGBTQ+ communities. In 2016 Parmet began teaching and documenting community arts programming at CAW (Community Arts Workshop) and Escuelita at El Centro. She also supports community events at Ortega Park. She has been an active member of Ethnic Studies Now! SB and SURJ for the past six years.
Most recently Barbara has been organizing young artists of color and co-curating their work for exhibitions such as the one at the Arts Fund titled Resistance and Resilience: Art for the People.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
After working on newspapers for 15 years, I began creating experimental composite imagery. This was before Photoshop, so most galleries did not accept the kinds of photography that are very common today. And since I did not go to art school, I was not aligned with art trends of the 90’s. Fortunately, I had several curators who supported my work and gave me opportunities to exhibit the kinds of large-scale constructed prints I was building in the darkroom as well as using new digital forms.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My special area of expertise is in using experimental and alternative processes. Early on I spent many hours at a time in the darkroom double and triple printing black and white portraits of humans, animals and plants that I would glue together into large-scale installations. I was an early adopter of photoshop and I used that early technology to continue layering images. Later I made digital negatives which I then printed as cyanotypes on fabric which I sewed together. I also did a series of photo etchings that did quite well in the gallery that represented me. I have continued to use unusual substrates like wood veneer which I put through my printer. All this sounds old-fashioned now, but I had to figure these methods out for myself. I loved the experimentation and the quality of prints that set them apart with their unique tonal ranges and glitches.
I had a very exciting show in Paris in the oughts and still have a gallery there that sells my platinum prints. Showing my work internationally gave me a new level of confidence in my work.
As I am working toward my next exhibition in 2024, I am engaged with the community in order to promote ideas about our interconnectedness and the need to support our more marginalized young artists of color.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
It was a different art and photography world when I was starting out in the 70s. Now, photography is ubiquitous. You do not need to know much to make a great photograph. However, pretty pictures are not enough. You need to have ideas about the direction you are going in. Follow your own interests, always. Go deeper. Ask more questions. Ask for help. Build relationships with people you can trust. Making a living and creating a career are always challenging. Create community and share your resources. Help each other. Don’t be afraid to look a little foolish. Courage and integrity are the foundations of a creative life.
Pricing:
- $5,000-$20,000 range
Contact Info:
- Website: Barbaraparmet.com
- Instagram: bparmet
- Facebook: Barbara Parmet
Image Credits:
Barbara Parmet
