Lydia Panas is an exhibiting artist with Aline Smithson.
Artists Statement on Reciprocity
At the beginning of the 2020 quarantine, Lydia Panas and Aline Smithson began a visual conversation as part of a group project that facilitated pairs of photographers in dialogue. The artists both have a long legacy in portraiture and were excited by the potential of their exchange. They discovered many overlapping ideas and threads that ran through their work: womanhood, motherhood, nurturing with eyes wide open. Both create emotional images and don’t back away from deep seeing. The result has been a rich pairing of aesthetics, offering a chance for insights into each other’s archives and visual histories. This thread has bonded them in a special way. Surprised by the parallels in each another’s image making, they are grateful for one another’s strength and sense of beauty. There exists a generosity in the exchange that has been greatly needed throughout 2021. And more importantly, a profound connection with another photographer.
Artist Bio
Lydia Panas is an artist working in photography and video. Her work explores our collective societal relationship to women. Her work has been exhibited widely in museum and galleries in the U.S. and internationally. Her works are represented in numerous public collections including the Brooklyn Museum, Bronx Museum, and the Palm Springs Art Museum. Her work has appeared in periodicals such as The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine. Panas has two monographs, “The Mark of Abel” (Kehrer Verlag, 2012) and “Falling From Grace (Conveyor Arts), and looks forward to her third with MW Editions in Fall 2021.
© Lydia Panas