Elizabeth DeMayo

STATEMENT

My images begin as Polaroid photographs. Some are taken with a Polaroid I-Type camera; others are digital images turned into Polaroids using a Polaroid Lab printer. I physically manipulate these images, in order to change the look of their surfaces and to add a sense of movement and fluidity.

I first experimented with instant Polaroid pictures as a student. Upon returning to the film about 15 years ago, I found that the emulsion’s formula had changed. Any manipulation has to be done soon after the photos’ creation. Fortunately, the woods and parks near my apartment provide inspiration and a variety of trees, plants and gardens. And now the advent of the new Lab printer allows me to work with subjects from farther afield, and to explore the different effects that result from this technology.

When having my images printed, onto paper or occasionally large pieces of canvas, I usually keep the almost-square proportions of the Polaroid film. I think this creates an initial impression of formality that contrasts with the added lines and textures a viewer will see when looking at the photographs more closely. Sometimes a face or figure seems to emerge from the scene, or the colors change as I work on manipulating the photos. I try to enjoy this element of chance.
Website – http://lizdemayo.com/

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2021Canvases for my Neighbors, Beak Street and, Seaman Avenue, North Manhattan
2019, 18Open Studios, Annual Uptown Arts Stroll
2013Farmhouse Transformations Installation
Dyckman Farmhouse Museum
2011Changes: Polaroid Impressions
Whittaker Center Gallery, Educational Alliance
2009Views and Impressions / Polaroid Photographs
Gold Wing Gallery, Hebrew Tabernacle

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023Exposure, Ceres Gallery, NYC
2023, 2010, 2009Art in the Garden, Riverside Inwood Neighborhood Garden (RING)
2022Mother Earth Female Aspect
Gallery in the Gazebo, Bruce’s Garden
2017Bridging the Invisible Divide
Inwood Artworks Gallery

GRANTS and RELATED EXPERIENCE

Participant, “The Francis Hines Project”, providing photos for use in catalogs and in the film “In Hines Sight”, 2019 – present
Artist Walk and Talk, Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, 2013
Recipient, NoMAA Grant for Individual Artists, 2011 and 2013
Participant, NoMAA Artist Talk, 2011

EDUCATION

1977 BFA, New York University School of the Arts