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ANGELA HELEN ROELL
Photography
Photo: Wendy Doscher-Smith
Installation
Installation Photos: Jonelle Grazette
Installation Model: Chyna Van Dyke-Hughes
Artist Statement
The Undercurrent of American Culture
The American version of the traveling carnival began in 1892 at the Chicago World Fair, where the Ferris wheel took its first spin and cotton candy was introduced to the American public. And so began a long standing tradition of vagabond travelers, side show performers and ride operators carrying their wears from town to town and handing their legacy down from generation to generation.
The colorful rides have evolved since than but the nomadic tradition remains the same, as does American sentiment. The flashing lights and cotton candy hold both a charm and an undercurrent of mistrust. My photographs are a tongue-in cheek examination of a cherished childhood memory and its enchanting underbelly. I incorporate a 6X6 camera, tungsten film, off camera flash and five to fifteen minute exposures to achieve enriched photographs that, when enlarged, show the behind the scenes details of night life in the carnival from a silent observers perspective.
If the carnival documentation is a sub-cultural examination within childhood memory than the Teddy Dress is a rebellion against the baggage carried into our adult lives. Teddy Bears had their 200 th Birthday in 2002. The Teddy Bear is a staple of every childhood, within the dress it takes on a whole new meaning. All the stuffing is removed and the hides are composed into a full length gown—complete with shark-tail train, which constricts the wearer and turns her into a sculptural piece. The wearer becomes a hybrid between a renewed sculptural animal and a woman entrapped in the faux furs of childhood memory. She is engulfed in the history of the dress while redefining the ‘teddy bear' with the process of stuffed animal destruction. Carcasses of the animals she destroyed, stuffed animal ‘intestines' and animal heads lay around her—documenting the destruction and reformation of the teddy bear from an iconic figure to a wearable art form.
Future video and photographic explorations include film examination of raw human emotion; and an examination of roles of money/power within society, through the eyes of the exotic dancer.
My work encompasses a tongue-in-cheek examination of the things that comprise contemporary American culture along with the individual emotional responses to our individual social baggage. Process and technique are carefully planned and executed to ensure powerful final presentation. Final construction of my body of work will include a full scale Artist's Traveling Carnival, to include both photogaphy and mixed media.
Photo: Angela Roell
Biography
Angela Helen Roell is an emerging artist and recent graduate of Florida International University with a dual major in Humanities and Art History and a Visual Arts studio concentraion in Photography. She is formally trained in photography, fibers, and installation art. She participated in her first full length group show outside of a university setting in November 2005: Pimp My Kart Miami, a homelessness benefit held at Faktura Gallery in Miami, Florida conceptually conceived by Jacquely Jackson Johnson. She ‘Pimped A Kart' and displayed works in both print and fiber arts. Angela had her first sale in December 2005 to a Chicago based collector. The work was a still from ‘Conceptual Carnival' Angela's current and long term endeavor.
Future works include ‘365 Bad Ideas- A 2005 Review' and ‘Skate Miami' in collaboration with Jacquelyn Jackson Johnson and a joint show planned for Spring 2006 in both Miami and Chicago. Plans for ‘Pimp My Cart: LA' are also underway for 2006.
Angela participated in two major juried exhibitions at Florida International University's Frost Art Museum in 2004 and 2005. In 2005 she was awarded honors recognition and a monetary scholarship to aid in academic pursuits in the Spring Review, juried by Robert Chambers. In 2003 she was featured in the Visual Arts Spring Student Show at the University of Miami, juried by a panel of visual arts faculty members including Kerri Copen.
