About :

“At first glance, the photographs in Gortemiller’s Do the Priest in Different Voices are hard to decipher – a mishmash of seemingly dissonant visual elements that form a surreal or Magical Realist image. This is work that comes out of left field – strange, disturbing and funny all at once. Yet, underneath the surface of Gortemiller’s hard-to-classify metaphysical photographs reside common themes central to art in the South: memory, mythology, family and place. In an age when photographic imagery is ever present, Gortemiller has managed an extraordinary feat by producing totally original photographs that resonate with honesty and authenticity.”

Richard McCabe in Do the Priest in Different Voices

My most profound childhood memory involves reading a family bible. The illustrations, mostly Renaissance and Baroque paintings, did not function as a mere visual embodiment of the text. Rather, the pictures communicated in a far more powerful language, evoking both comfort and trepidation. The words of the book provided little interest, but the imagery moved me to contemplate the unseen. It is the pictures I remember – not the words.

The imbalance remains when I consider the possibility of a personal faith. While I am ambivalent towards the old established narratives, the semblance of the mythical in the mundane enthralls. I identify this conflict in the every-day: objects and situations that are alternately ineffable, laughable, and at times terrifying.

Download Press Release!