Still Beating
Narrative Art refers to visual imagery which tells stories, engages the imagination, and
stirs the emotions. These stories transcend culture and are relatable to all. My
photomontage is narrative art which additionally uses magic realism. Magic realism creates
stories which seem both true and believable, but likely are improbable.
Using magic realism, “Still Beating” presents narrative imagery about the vitality of all
living things whose survival is challenged. These living things are the embodiment of
contrasts, both weakness of body and strength of emotions. As you hold a wild bird in your
hand, you can feel both its fragile bones contrasted with the fortitude of its beating
heart. And yet such creatures prevail through sheer grit. Witnessing the determination
for survival is a source of hope that the natural world will endure.
Photographer Tom Chambers was raised in the Amish farm country of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Tom completed a B.F.A. in 1985 from The Ringling School of Art, Sarasota, Florida majoring in graphic design with an emphasis in photography. Since 1998 Tom has exhibited photomontage images from ten photographic series both nationally and internationally in twenty three solo exhibitions and over seventy group exhibitions and art fairs. A retrospective book Hearts and Bones, containing images from his first nine series, was published by Unicorn Publishing, London, in 2018.
Awards Px3 2018 - Prix de La Photographie Paris, Digitally Enhanced category, Bronze award
11th Annual Pollux Awards, Digital Manipulation & Collage category, March 2018, First Place
Biennial Of Fine Art and Documentary Photography’s 2nd Biennial Grant, January 2018, 2nd place
International Photography Awards 2015 (IPA), Professional Special Photographer of Year & Professional Digitally Enhanced, 1st Place
International Photography Awards 2012 (IPA), Digitally Enhanced, 2nd Place and Fine Art Book, Honorable Mention
PX3 2012, Fine Art Book Award, Honorable Mention and Fine Art Digitally Enhanced, Honorable Mention
PDN Magazine Photo of the Day, August 4, 2011
International Photography Awards 2011 (IPA), Digitally Enhanced, First Place
PX3 2011, Fine Art Digitally Enhanced Category, Silver Award
Jacob Riis Photography Awards 2011 and 2010, Finalist
PX3 2010, 2nd Place, Fine Art Digitally Enhanced
Critical Mass Top 50: 2010, 2008, and 2006, Photolucida, Portland, Oregon
PhotoSpiva 2010: 34th Annual National Photography Competition and Exhibition 2010, First Place
Intenational Aperture Awards 2009, 3rd Place-Gold, Abstract/Illustrative Category
The Worldwide Photography Gala Awards, 2009, Madrid, Spain, 1st Place, Digitally Enhanced Category
Fotoweek DC Awards 2009, Washington, DC, First Place, Fine Arts Category
TPS #15 and #18: The National Competition, 2006 & 2009, Texas Photographic Society, San Antonio, TX, 1st Place and 3rd Place
Professional Fellowship, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, May 2005
Visual Artist Fellowship, Virginia Commission For The Arts, December 2000
