Ryan Francisco and Jessi Bowman strike a pose in the courtyard of Harwood Court Complex for FLATS' "Interwoven" exhibition. (Photo by Studio D-18)
There’s no place like home. While walking through FLATS photography collective’s recent “Interwoven” exhibition in Houston, Dorothy’s infamous proclamation as she clicked her heels to return to Kansas from Oz rang true. With the clicks of their cameras, this collection of Houston-based photographers captured the essence of their homes and made viewers think about theirs.
The event was organized by photographer Ryan Francisco and Jessi Bowman, the founder of FLATS — Houston’s sole community photography development lab. Artists Colby Deal, Lee Deleon, Sol Diaz-Peña, Mary Margaret Hansen, Adrienne Simmons and Briana Vargas showcased their work inside community members Catherine D. Anspon and John Walker’s apartment in the historic Harwood Court Complex. Named for its famous Houston-bred architect Harwood Taylor, the complex is now owned by architect and art patron Palmer Schooley.
The familial centric theme of the show encouraged the sharing of stories behind the intimate portraits included in the showcase. Mary Margaret Hansen’s exhibition in particular made attendees feel as though they were stepping into Hansen’s own home. A collage of photos her children took on Instamatic cameras throughout the 1980s evokes feelings of nostalgia in viewers. Their smiling faces tinted by a sepia filter remind viewers of their own childhoods.
Hansen also bared her soul and body through several nude portraits taken in the early 1980s with photographer Patsy Cravens. Hansen says the duo was inspired to experiment with nude photography by their professor George Krause, who founded the University of Houston’s photography department.
“We were like two little kids playing, and we had a really good time for three or four years making all these photographs,” Hansen tells PaperCity.
Hansen mounted those images to a refrigerator door, surrounding them with poetic musings about breaking gender roles of the era. The photos allude to the limited options available to women at the time as Hansen and Cravens contort their bodies to hide behind cleaning supplies and cooking wares.
SHOP FOR MOM
“It’s about cooking and homemaking and being a mom and carpooling and all the things we did back then,” Hansen says. “It was the whole roleplaying we had to do at that time and women breaking out of that.”
FLATS’ Freeing Photography
Briana Vargas, another featured photographer in the exhibition, praised Bowman and Francisco for their careful curation of the show. Vargas says she often photographs her family and offered them a selection of images. Fortuitously, Bowman and Francisco selected one of her favorite works, Alejandro, después de cirugia, 2021.
The black and white portrait of a young man with a crescent shaped scar on the back of his head, arms stretched towards the sky, is a photo of Vargas’ brother Alejandro, who has epilepsy and underwent brain surgery to reduce his seizures. Vargas says the image captures “a fleeting moment of peace” following Alejandro’s difficult medical and emotional journey.
“I love photographing my family, and this portrait is a culmination of that because I grew up with my brother and I’ve known his journey, moments of freedom, and acceptance,” Vargas says. “The gist of my work is: I love my family and I want to preserve their essence.”
Pulgas and Portraits
Fellow photographers focused on representing home, Darío De León and Max Hummels, took free portraits of attendees in the courtyard. De León and Hummels run Studio D-18, a photo studio in Houston’s northside flea market dubbed Pulgas (the Spanish word for flea). Based at 8720 Airline Drive, these photographers capture the culture of shoppers and vendors one portrait at a time.
“Our goal is to document, archive and celebrate the culture of Houston’s northside Pulgas. People are the lifeblood of these markets, so we take an anthropological approach to our work,” De León says.
FLATS’ next exhibition “Ephemeral Vistas” is set to tackle the varied impacts of human innovation on the earth and will be on display from Sunday, September 1, through Sunday, September 29 at 5601 Navigation Street. Drawing inspiration from the historic World’s Fairs, this show promises to be an interrogation of industrialization, filled with landscape photography. Check out FLATS’ website to learn more.
