Rangefinder Magazine
May 2006

Profile: Rhona Shand by Steve Anchell
Photography by Design

Untitled (“Bad Girl”)

Rhona Shand did not set out to be a photographer. Enrolled in the Maryland Institute College of Art design program, her goal was to become an illustrator. On a whim she took a basic course in photography. By her senior year she realized that all of her electives were focused in photography, not in illustration like they were supposed to be. This was her first clue that photography was to be her creative direction. The second was that all of her illustrations were based on photographs she had taken with her Nikon N70.

When her work was being critiqued by a visiting New York artist, he asked her, “Why are you doing the illustrations? Why not just use the photos?” It was then that she made the decision to pursue photography as a career.

But she wasn’t ready to give up on illustration and painting altogether. Rhona attended graduate school at the Savannah College of Art and Design and began a quest to find ways to combine her drawing and painting with photographs. She began playing with various alternative processes—Polaroid, gum printing, cyanotypes, and others. During this time she stumbled into playing with the computer and realized it allowed a greater degree of control. Rhona discovered the computer was a strong way to combine images and make the powerful statements, which are evident in her work.

“Coronation” All Images Copyright © Rhona Shand

In grad school, her thesis was supposed to be on gum printing. Instead, she locked herself away and learned Adobe Photoshop®. In a three-month span she created 16 pieces, which is the most work she has created in so short a time. Her newer work typically takes three months to finish a single piece. Rhona graduated from Savannah with an MFA in photography.

Rhona continues to use a variety of materials, equipment and techniques. Many of her images have been created using an N70 camera and film, which is then scanned using an Epson Perfection 4870 scanner. A lot of the initial manipulation is done on the scanner. She places acetate on the scanner bed and then smears Vaseline and other surfaces that can be scanned through into images she has made with her camera. Sometimes she will go through and scratch and paint onto her photographs before running the scanner. Once the images are in the computer, she begins tweaking and painting through the layers.

Rhona’s work has been described as mysterious, perhaps because her images are very layered and textured. Rhona uses a number of techniques to acheive these qualities. For example, she uses Polaroid Captiva® film by peeling away the back and then using these remnants as elements in the scanner. She has found a way to create an effect similar to using turpentine on canvas. As she explains, “Sometimes the layers might not even go together. I’ll bring images that don’t fit the picture but I’ll incorporate them for the texture or color. The images will show through but you won’t know what it is because of how it’s manipulated.”

“Pretty as a Picture;”

Rhona’s subjects are photographed in the studio, where she can exercise more control over posing and lighting. She often photographs her subjects and backgrounds at different times, along with elements from other places. However, the pieces are all combined in Photoshop to create the final image.

Recently, Rhona has begun working on a series of images that started as drawings. The new work deals with a loss of self, or as Rhona suggests, perhaps finding a self. The new images explore the in-between places that people go when they experience the loss of a loved one or a home, or additional situations that create confusion, dislocating a person’s sense of identity. Rhona is also allowing this new work to explore how people build their identities based on other people’s behavior and their environments. Rhona carefully observes how people react to sudden or traumatic change, and she uses her images to freeze these transitory and fleeting reactions into permanent images.

The internal exploration that is so evident in her work grew from her own trying personal experiences; she has also explored how personal appearances influence the ways individuals construct their identities. As her own personal experiences molded her perspective on life, she used this new information to expand into a broader understanding of human nature and how we cope with change, illness and death.

Murbundi Ideologies”

Rhona’s work can be roughly divided into three categories: iconic, narrative and environmental. The iconic work is typified by the image “Nidus” (above). This red image depicts a girl’s hands spread apart, clasping Spanish moss that also looks like—and could be—her intestines. The iconic work presents the figures in a very straightforward manner. The background is de-emphasized, and the viewer sees the different elements relating to each other in a clear way.

Images such as “Yellow Wallpaper” (not shown) become more narrative. In this image and others like it, Rhona uses stories that other people have written about their personal issues. This association with stories from the human psyche helps her to voice what she is feeling and attempting to express.

In her environmental images, figures mesh in and out, reacting with their environments. Inspiration for the environmental and narrative pieces come from watching people very closely. Rhona believes that teaching is a powerful way to observe the ways people evolve and grow. Her opening receptions become another open tableau for learning about reactions and the way people respond to certain stimuli. Her audience will often inspire and stimulate new work by telling her additional stories spawned by the associations her images create. “I get a lot of stories at openings,” Rhona explains. “People see my pictures and tell me how they are reminded of when they were younger. This helps me work into new pieces.”

“The Little Black Dress;”

She also finds inspiration in the moments before falling asleep, and keeps a sketch book beside her bed to record the unconscious messages that surface right before she drifts away. According to Rhona, that’s often where her best images come from. Although Rhona’s work is based on subjective experience, she is always aware of her viewer’s point of view.

“Thinking about the viewer and the emotional charge they get when they see my pieces helps me make new work. I’m very aware when I’m creating my pieces what the viewer is looking at and seeing, and how they are reacting to them. When people look at my images, they don’t always know what the story behind the piece is but they can relate it back to something they have felt or gone through. I leave little clues, like in “Yellow Wallpaper,” where there’s a door with no handle and a girl trapped in the wallpaper. The girl has become trapped by different signs of communication that she is unable to use. The viewer becomes involved in the girl’s struggle and are led to questioning how the drama in the image will resolve itself.”

“Nidus”

Rhona currently resides in Pittsburg, Kansas. She serves an assistant professor at Pittsburg State University, and also manages to find time for her personal work. She says, “There is virtually no art scene in Pittsburg, which is good for me because I’m one of those people who gets caught up in stuff. I love watching people doing anything and everything and then I’ll be off and doing it. So when it starts to get quiet around here I can actually get down to making art work.”

Recently she accepted a position as education and promotion specialist for the George A. Spiva Center for the Arts in nearby Joplin, Missouri. “Working at Spiva provides me with all the art I need. They bring in some pretty nice shows. That’s a great way for me to get inspiration,” she says.

It is doubtless Rhona will continue to produce exciting new pieces of art that defy convention. As Julian Allen (the department head at Savannah) helped her realize, the only boundaries are those one places upon oneself. Rhona says, “I still find myself questioning, am I a photographer, am I a digital artist, and then I think, ‘Why do I need to clarify myself at all?”’ Visit www.rhona. shand.us.

Steve Anchell is an internationally published photographer and writer. He has authored many books on technique and has conducted photographic, darkroom, and digital workshops since 1979. For more information on his workshops call (719) 256-4157 or visit www.anchellworkshops.com.