The Landscape of Stillness
Michela Caudill
March 15 - April 17, 2004

In years of photographing landscapes, I have been fascinated by the different types of stillness, which such photographs can depict. First, and more obviously, landscapes in themselves can be in a continuous state of stillness - as in the case of an abandoned building, weathered by time, which does not change noticeably from one day to the next. Second, stillness in a landscape can result when a camera freezes a moment, which is itself, part of an ongoing activity, even a frenzied or violent activity - as when the camera captures that eerie stillness just before a storm breaks.

During the past year, I have made two extended trips to the Outer Hebrides, islands which lie in the North Atlantic sixty miles off the northwestern coast of Scotland.

For a variety of reasons (historical, economic, climatologically), these islands offer to the photographer an unparalleled opportunity to record both kinds of stillness. First, the ancient history of the islands, and the relative lack of success which "progress" has had in sweeping away the past, have left many things virtually untouched by time. One sees, for example, the peat moors, very much the same as they were thousands of years ago, or one can turn to old structures such as the Standing Stones of Callanish, which are centuries older than Stonehenge. At the same time, the violent and ever-changing weather on the islands provide numerous opportunities for the camera to impose stillness by capturing a moment in the midst of activity.

While the emphasis of this exhibit is upon the Outer Hebrides, I have also included selections from my photographs of a wide range of other landscapes, from the Arctic North to the wooded areas of the Delmarva area. In all of these, I have likewise sought to present the two aspects of stillness.

Michela Caudill
March 2004

The months and days are travelers of eternity.
The years that come and go are also voyagers…
I too for years past have been stirred by the sight
of a solitary cloud drifting with the wind to ceaseless
thoughts of roaming.

Such stillness--
The cries of the cicadas
Sink into the rocks.

-Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

Michela Caudill is courageous. Not simply an intrepid traveler willing to explore inaccessible, seldom-seen terrain -- she accepts silence. Rocky cliffs become sculpture; lochs and rivers clear as glass, fog transforms and ancient monuments look human. Ms Caudill is resolutely fearless in her willingness to share inspired meditative serenity and the rhythms and mysteries of nature.

Silence and stillness in our world is precious. Michela's choice to capture beauty in stark vistas conveys confident self-possession and daring. By quietly demanding her viewer to slow down, look, be still, we are rewarded by the essential nature of her subject and are enriched by it.

Diane DiSalvo
March 2004

Selected Exhibitions

The Landscape of Stillness Villa Julie College, 2004
Black and White Sassafras Gallery, Baltimore 2003
Black and White Artscape, Baltimore 2002 Carl Clark, curator
Mothers and Daughters Unicorn Gallery Towson, Maryland 2002
The Necessary Document School 33 Art Center Baltimore 2001 (co-curator)

Grants and Awards

Woodbourne Institute 1992-93
American Institute of Photography, Tisch School of Arts, NYU, Fellow 1992
Maryland State Arts Council, Individual Artists Grant, 1990. 1993

Experience

Associate Adjunct Professor, Department of Fine Arts, University of Baltimore 1989-present
Instructor, School 33 Art Center Baltimore 1996-2003
Instructor, Maryland Institute College of Art 1995-2000
Coordinator. Liberal Arts Program, Peabody Institute, Baltimore 1985-87

Education

MFA, photography Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore 1992
Ph.D. - Intellectual History, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England 1976
B.S. (Honors in history), Columbia University, New York 1966