{"id":42916,"date":"2008-03-14T22:32:13","date_gmt":"2008-03-15T04:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=42916"},"modified":"2023-11-13T13:57:39","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T19:57:39","slug":"what-i-thought-i-saw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/what-i-thought-i-saw\/","title":{"rendered":"what I thought I saw"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>what I thought I saw<\/i>\u00a0is an evolving photo\/essay book designed to catch you off guard. It’s also an exhibit that challenges the way you look at people and the assumptions you make about them. And most of all, it’s a concept that makes you question how much you really know about how you see the world.<\/p>\n

Here is a case in point: you look at the photograph of an attractive young man in a football uniform and maybe speculate that he grew up to marry a cheerleader, have several children and live a charmed life. But you would be wrong \u2013 Derrick* did marry and become a father, but several years ago he surgically became Jessica*, and recently elected to become Derrick again.<\/p>\n

Or, you could see the photograph of a high-powered lawyer and idly wonder what kind of home life she has while working 65 hours a week. Whatever life you imagined, however, probably wouldn’t include “happily married polygamous wife responsible for earning money to help raise her and her sister-wives’ 35 children.”<\/p>\n

And then there’s the photograph of a former Playboy Bunny enticing you with a big smile. Maybe you think she is whiling away her days reminiscing about rowdy parties in Hugh Hefner’s mansion. But are you wrong?<\/p>\n

These and others are the people who populate the world of Kim Silcox, Peta Owens-Liston, Amy Albo, and Sasha Polak, two writers and two photographers who want you to stop for a moment and question your certainty about what you think you see. A selection of photographs and essays from their (unpublished) book will be on display at Art Access Gallery March 21 \u2013 April 11, 2008.<\/p>\n

what I thought I saw<\/i>\u00a0is the “heartchild” of photographer Kim Silcox.\u00a0|0|<\/b>\u00a0She says she conceived of the idea after taking an “Artist’s Way” class at the Tao Institute with Rick Graham. Silcox recalls looking around at her classmates and wondering why they were all wearing masks and so afraid to share themselves with others. In fact, Silcox’s first idea was to write a book called “Fear,” which would examine the reluctance humans have to reveal their innermost thoughts and experiences. This was the seed that grew into\u00a0what I thought I saw<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Silcox mulled the project over on her own until a year and a half ago when she heard about a mother at her kids’ school who is a writer for Time Magazine. She approached Peta Owens-Liston\u00a0|1|<\/b>and outlined the idea. “The premise of the book just hooked me,” says Owens-Liston. “I loved the idea of breaking down stereotypes and giving people a chance to understand others. It’s sort of like taking black and white views and wildly shaking them up so they get all grey.”<\/p>\n