Rahshia G. Linendoll-Sawyer 202 725 5922 | www.rahshia.com | Rahshia@gmail.com | 209 Elizabeth Ct, Sterling Virginia STATEMENT The overarching theme for my constructed photography is reflection. Showing the image within images, story within stories, and the idea within the ideas. Letting my photographs show both sides of an ideology of binary oppositions of the Self/Other, reality/surrealism, images/ideas and conscience/subconscious. My constructed photographs are mixed with symbols and imagery that simultaneously reveal a non-linear narrative. It is like seeing an entire film in one frame. There is no progression, no build up – just the image waiting to be seen – akin to Laurie Fendrich’s “quiet space” for abstract painting. I approach my projects with a series of questions about the Self. The Self is not simple. It includes the ego, which is the point from which we experience the world, the limiting perspective, the “I.” It also includes the body, the object “out there” in the world which “carries” the ego, and through which the ego relates to the world. And finally, it includes the mind, the skills, the memories, and the accumulated “residue” of the experiences, with which the ego relates to the world. The Self desires to maintain all three of these things — ego, body, and mind — even though doing so may be in conflict. ABOUT THE PROCESS I am often asked, “How did you do that?” The short answer is, I construct my images – better said – I construct environments to photograph. Traditionally photographers are seen as hunters of the image (they go out and find something), I do the opposite I invent something. The environments are temporary that deteriorate within hours, and all “effects” are done within the lens, no digital manipulation. BIO Rahshia Linendoll Sawyer spent her younger years in Thailand with her parents. Having lived and traveled the world she has a deep understanding of being - an other and an Outsider. She received her BFA from the Corcoran College of Art & Design in 2004. Presently She is a MFA candidate in Photography at George Mason University. She works predominately is in the constructed image creating surreal fanatical worlds that signify the human experience. EXHIBITIONS/GROUP SHOWS 2012 Dublin Biennial, Dublin, Ireland 2012 Imagination: A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX 2011 Distilled: Lana Santorelli Gallery, Hoboken, NJ 2011 Graduate Student Exhibition: GMU School of Art 2004 Black Milk: Marvelli Gallery, NYC, Curated by Monica Espinel 2004 All Senior Show: Corcoran College of Art and Design, Curated by Paul Roth 2004 Thesis Exhibition: Corcoran College of Art and Design 2002 Curator Twist 2: Intuition, Washington Project for the Arts\Corcoran COLLECTIONS Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC AWARDS 2004 Placed in show International Photographic Competition Professional Photographer Association EDUCATION 2004 Bachelor of Fine Arts Corcoran College of Art and Design, Washington DC Fine Art Photography, Honors 2014 Masters of Fine Arts (expected graduation date) School of Art, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA Fine Art Photography