Where the Roots Rise

• Photographer
  Jaime Aelavanthara, United States
• Website
  http://www.jaelavanthara.com
• Instagram
  https://instagram.com/darkroomdove/

My work articulates humankind's capacity to decay as a marker of our identity. Set in the swamps and woods of natural places where one encounters life and death, growth and decay, the series chronicles the intimate relationship of a feral woman and her surrounding nonhuman environment. The woman collects the bones, branches, and flora and treads with the animals, both dead and living. The cyanotype process shifts focus to patterns, textures, and the relationships of forms within the images. This project reflects upon the forms, the impermanence, and the interconnectedness of natural life.

Jaime Aelavanthara, an Assistant Professor in Photography at the University of Tampa, received her BFA from the University of Mississippi in Imaging Arts and her MFA in Photography from Louisiana Tech University. Her photographs exploring the human condition and experience with nature have been shown in venues such as the Center for Fine Art Photography, The SOHO Photo Gallery in New York, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Most recently, Aelavanthara won SOHO Photo Gallery’s 2017 International Portfolio competition and was awarded a solo exhibition at SOHO Photo Gallery, NY.

Awards 2018, 1st Place: Rangefinder Fine Art Contest, jurors: Brooke Shaden, Romina Ressia, Lisa Saad
2018, 2nd Place, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts Member Show, Tampa, FL
2018, First Place, Conceptual Photography, International Photography Competition, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts
2017, Honorable Mention, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops Portraits Contest
2017, Finalist, Photography Category, Open Art Miami Competition
2017, SOHO Photo Gallery International Portfolio Competition Winner (awarded a solo exhibition).
2017, Finalist, Dotphotozine Award for Excellence in Photography
2016, Finalist, Photo Lucida’s Critical Mass
2016, 3rd place, PRZM/JUXTAPOZ Dream Big Contest
2015, Mississippi Arts Commission Artist Fellowship Grant
2015, Honorable Mention, Slow Exposures Festival, jurors: John Bennette and Jerry Atnip
2015, Finalist, Clarence John Laughlin Grant, New Orleans Photo Alliance, Juror Dr. Carol McCusker, Curator of Photography at the Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville FL
2015, Best in Show, Who Is Magdalena, juried by Aline Smithson, Los Angeles curator, International House Hotel, New Orleans, LA
2015, Purchase Award, Who Is Magdalena, International House Hotel
2014, Grand Prize—Portfolio, Character: Portraits & Stories that Reveal the Human Condition International Contest, Maine Media Workshops + College
Jurors: David Brommer, Director B&H Photo Event Space, Emily Shiffer, Documentary Photographer, David Turner, Fashion Photographer
2014, Finalist, Clarence John Laughlin Grant, New Orleans Photo Alliance, Juror Mr. Del Zogg, Works on Paper and Photography Collection at the Museum of