The Oak Cliff Cultural Center (OC3), a locally-focused arts and culture organization in Dallas, has announced the opening of a collaborative, community self-portraiture project called Ghost Studio. For the project, visitors to Ghost Studio will work alongside established local artists to make photographs that reflect their lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. Guests are encouraged to dress in ways that evoke their Covid experiences, or to arrive with objects that symbolize significant people, events, or feelings from the pandemic.
As explained by the press release issued by OC3, “Ghost Studio asks: ‘What have you lost or what has changed in the last 18 months? What have you learned? Is there anything you have gained? What are your hopes for the future?’”
Participants, per the press release, will be offered “a place to share or reflect.” Before each photo shoot, guests will partake in a series of creative exercises led by artists Emily Riggert and Rachel Rushing, the co-founders of Dallas arts nonprofit Sunset Art Studios. No strangers to the ghostly, Sunset Art Studios previously hosted Art Haunt, a haunted house based on the life and work of surrealist Salvador Dalí. Photographs will then be made by Kael Alford, who is the lead artist and organizer of Ghost Studio, as well as by Ciara Elle Bryant, Greta Diaz, Diane Durant, and Christopher Sonny Martinez.
The resulting portraits will be displayed in the OC3 Gallery from October 30th through November 20th, at which point the guests will be able to take home their respective photographs.
Ghost Studio will be open to the public at OC3 on the following dates:
Saturday, October 23rd, 12PM-5PM
Tuesday, October 26th through Friday, October 29th, 4PM-6PM
Saturday, October 30th, 12PM-5PM
Space is limited, so participants are encouraged to reserve a one-hour time slot via this form as soon as possible. Walk-ins will also be welcome as space allows. Groups of up to three people are allowed in each portrait sitting, and masks are required for all artists and guests.
