Laura J. Padgett
Laura J. Padgett (born 1958) is an American artist, mainly working in photography and film. Early life and education. Laura J. Padgett was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The artist studied painting at Pratt Institute of Art and Design in Brooklyn, New York from 1976-1980, receiving her BFA in 1980. Since 1981 she has been living in Europe. Padgett went on to study Photography and Film with Peter Kubelka and Herbert Schwöbel at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main, receiving her Master's in Art History from Frankfurt Goethe-Universität in 1994. Career. Since 1992, the artist  has also taught at many higher education institutions in Germany, USA and Jordan, including the Bauhaus-Universität in Weimar, Hochschule für Gestaltung, Offenbach, Paderborn University, Drexel University and the Hochschule-Rhein-Main in Wiesbaden. She is currently teaching in the Theater, Film and Media Studies Department at the Goethe-University in Frankfurt am Main. In November 2021 she became a member of the German Photographic Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie e.V). She lives and works in Frankfurt am Main. Padgett’s medium is photography and film. Her artistic oeuvre often features urban landscapes and interiors, with a concentration on  transient spaces created by humans and objects that remain as traces of everyday culture. In her photographic work the artist also composes single photographs into diptychs, triptychs or series. Text is introduced selectively to create correlations and as a deepening of the narrative. While at times Padgett emphasizes details and some images relate to classic still life, other works concentrate their focus on architectural elements in specific relationships. Both share the visualization of structures and layers that bring to light the correlations behind the surfaces of the obvious. Padgett uses a wide range of techniques, from classic black & white and  color film to digital photography and augmented reality. Since 2018 she is represented by the Gallery-Peter-Sillem. Since 1991, Laura J. Padgett’s work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Germany and throughout Europe. Her photography has also been widely published. The artist's photographs accompany the essays by Peter Zumthor in Thinking Architecture (2006/2010/2012). Between 2010 and 2012 Padgett followed the new construction and renovation of the Städel Museum resulting in the publication "Raum über Zeit – Space over Time" (2012). During this period of two years she created photographic narratives that capture time as  the space in between. A selection of the photographs from the book are now in the collection of the DZ BANK Kunststiftung. "Confined Space" was published in 2016, showcasing photographs she made in Lebanon during times she spent there from 2011 to 2015. Her first publication with the Galerie-Peter-Sillem "Open Equations" appeared in 2019. Padgett's second solo exhibit with the Galerie-Peter-Sillem "Regenerating Permanence" is also accompanied by a limited edition publication of the same name. The work in this exhibition is a culmination of two years' photographing the Westend Synagogue in Frankfurt am Main. Padgett  has recorded the special nature of this building and its history. Padgett’s films have been screened internationally at venues like the Media City Film Festival, Detroit, Cité Paris, House of World Cultures, Berlin, Pharos Centre for Contemporary Art in Nicosia, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Mousonturm in Frankfurt am Main, Cineteca di Bologna, Künstlerhaus Kino in Vienna, Viper Filmfestival in Bern, Kunsthalle Erfurt and at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. In 2017 she received the Marielies-Hess Art Award. In the accompanying exhibition at the Museum Giersch of the Goethe University, she also screened her film SOLITAIRE  (2017). A small selection of her films was presented at the San Francisco Cinematheque's CROSSROADS Film Festival, 21. August - 30. September 2020, curated by Steve Polta. In August 2021 her Film "So, tell me about your garden" and a selection of her films from her "From the Garden" series were screened at the Deutsches Filminstitut Filmmuseum as part of the Experimental Film program "Im Garten".