Liam Besneatte-Cullinane is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on analog photography. He grew up in Johnson County, Tennessee, and attended Emory & Henry University, graduating in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art.
Liam explains, “Everyday scenes appeal to me the most—the shapes and patterns of nature, the movement of light and shadow, people and their lives—all with rural Appalachia as the constant backdrop… I am drawn to images where the quality of rebirth and erosion asserts itself… My goal is to communicate a sense of beauty in the ordinary world. I am inspired by the role photography has had in preserving history and truth, and this compels me to continue the practice. When I make a photograph, nothing is taken from the source—I simply show things as they are.”
Liam has consistently worked in the art field and is a professionally trained preparator. He is currently the Associate Director at The Art Place in Chilhowie, Virginia, where he is responsible for curating and installing exhibits of local and regional art.
Join us for a reception on May 15th, 5:30pm-7:00pm in the Panoramic Gallery
CURATOR’S THOUGHTS
I had the privilege of observing some of the tests that Liam developed as he prepared for the opening day of his show. Making fantastic use of WKMA’s ArtLab darkroom, I observed Liam exude a mastery of his craft to achieve the desired values, saturation, and contrast for each transparent film strip developed into the works you will see on display in the Panoramic Gallery.
The piece I’d like to particularly highlight is titled The Same River Twice, a gelatin silver print depicting a forked tree with twin branches that contrast dramatically against the cloud-covered sky. The way in which Liam has captured the unique growth of the tree in this angle of perspective creates an arrowhead shape for the viewer and exhibits the way flora of the Appalachian forests shroud themselves in mystery and intrigue, beckoning an almost-spiritual emotional response. I find myself longing to know the origin of the tree, its story, and what the tree has seen in its lifetime, as if it were a primordial entity I could commune with to seek the truths hidden in the forests.
In his artist statement, Liam shares “My goal is to communicate a sense of beauty in the ordinary world. I am inspired by the role photography has had in preserving history and truth, and this compels me to continue the practice,” and it is exactly that goal that brings me to appreciate so much of his photographic works. Liam’s personal lens, technical expertise, and eye for capturing the rural Appalachian landscape without barring the viewer from the raw truth is fresh, and his motivation is a much appreciated relief from a world filled with the desire for commercially manufactured ideas and the flash-in-the-pan social media interpretations of the current maker’s landscape.
– Joshua Blane Huffman, Curator of SWVA/NETN Decorative Art & Material Culture
