Bailey Rigby (BFA) is a fine art photographer based in northern Utah. Rigby adopted the fine arts after a two-week residency with photography legend and ‘Prince of Darkness’ Kurt Markus. She received her BFA from Utah State University where she also worked as the photo editor of The Utah Statesman and as a gallery assistant at the Tippetts and Eccles Galleries. Rigby now lives and works in Salt Lake City at Modern West Fine Art Gallery. Rigby’s practice embraces autobiographical storytelling grounded in archival, iconographic and experiential research. Her visual and written investigations synchronously explore themes of family history, tradition and religious identity through both anthropological and personal perspectives. Her photographs are dark, dreamlike compositions which often utilize allegory and metaphor to portray her narratives.
ARTIST STATEMENT
‘The Study of Last Things’ narrates an ongoing and unresolved pilgrimage of a personal faith crisis in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Through conjuring eschatological imagery, somber landscapes, esoterica and visual allegory, I share the personal experience of my apostasy along with confronting and stepping away from the truths I grew up with. The photographs in this series contain direct references to a supposedly terrible ending, using dark and dreamlike compositions to depict the horrific imagery I held as a child. As the main visual piece for my exhibition, I displayed an installation of these photographs in a salon style. My self-portrait, a dark silhouetted figure, sits in center. My younger self might think she is all-consumed by her prophetic fate, but really this portrays a narrative of a corrupt belief system and an acceptance of moving away from it. As an additional part of the installation, I hung a large, sheer veil over an image of myself at just four or five years old – unaware of what is ahead of her. Just as a bride does on their wedding day, I show my younger self underneath the veil as a person of a past life. Once the veil is lifted, I am longer the same. Stepping away from the LDS church became a rite of passage and revelation, just as a marriage, or going through the temple might be for someone else.
LINKS
https://baileyrigby.com
Bailey Rigby, “Self-Portrait,” 2023, archival pigment print, 25 x 30 in.
Bailey Rigby, “Fire,” 2022, archival pigment print, 14 x 20 in.
Bailey Rigby, “Fallen Ground,” 2022, archival pigment print, 14 x 20 in.
Bailey Rigby, “Rumination,” 2022, archival pigment print, 14 x 20 in.
Bailey Rigby, “River of Blood,” 2022, archival pigment print, 14 x 20 in.
Bailey Rigby, “Eschatology,” 2023, archival pigment print, 20 x 13 in.
Bailey Rigby, “Black Sheep,” 2023, archival pigment print, 7 x 5 in.
Bailey Rigby, “Never on the Fence,” 2022, archival pigment print, 15 x 20 in.
Bailey Rigby, “Revelation,” 2022, archival pigment print, 14 x 20 in.
Bailey Rigby, “Dove,” 2022, archival pigment print, 5 x 7 in.
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Categories: Photography | Utah Artists - R
