Angela West
Angela West was born and raised in Dahlonega, Georgia. She received her BFA from the University of Georgia and her MFA from Yale University.
Much of Angela West's work is a series of varied photographic projects relating to her hometown and the chronology of its inhabitants. Employing the traditional academic genres of art to explore the nature and place of community, Angela West’s series include portrait studies of small-town teenage girls, landscape explorations of neighborhoods, and still lifes that represent the passing of time. In each genre, her richly realized color photographs balance affection for her subjects with precise and unsentimental observation.
Angela West's photography has been exhibited at the Pinchuk Art Centre, Kieve, Ukraine, the Modern 07, Munich, Germany, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia. Her work is included in the collections of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, Louisiana, The Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C. and the Sir Elton John Collection. She was the recipient of a 2009 Artadia Award.
From the artist: What there is to know about me, and what there is to know about my work, are synonymous. My work is very personal. It is about me, and therefore my experiences in the world. The roots of my work are my observations of my hometown of Dahlonega, GA.
I structure my work to show where the layers of the past and the present collide. I work to avoid a sentimentality that might be seen as simplistic-as something that avoids complexity and is content to revel in nostalgia. Though my work involves strands of ideology from the past, they are combined with a contemporary awareness. No image presumes exemption for the truth and power of the present.
EDUCATION
2000 Yale University, MFA - George Sakier Memorial Award for Excellence in Photography
1995 University of Georgia, BFA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021 Persephone, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
2015 Things on Paper, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
2011 Yes, Sunlight, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
2010 trigger, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
2009 Being There, Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta, GA
2008 Angela West, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL
2007 Angela West, Quality Pictures, Portland, OR
Sweet 16, Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago, IL
2006 New Photography, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Little Deaths, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Introductions--Angela West, The Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, GA
Angela West--Photographs, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
2004 Sweet 16, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta GA
2003 Familiar Landscapes, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 A Long Arc - Photography and the American South since 1850, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
Virginia Museum of Arts, Richmond, VA
2023 A Long Arc - Photography and the American South since 1850, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA,
2021 Underexposed, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
2019 Look Again: 45 Years of Collecting Photography, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
2016 Edge to Edge, Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, GA
2016 What is Near: Reflections on Home, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
2015 But, is it Photography, The Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2014 Second Nature, Barbara Archer Gallery/GoatFarm, Atlanta, GA
2013 Landscape Photography in a Changing World, The Bascom Center for the Visual Arts, Highlands, NC
2010 Southern Exposure:Artadia Awardees 2009 Boston, MA
Shootin’ Southern, The Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
2009 The Art of Caring, The New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
2008 The Morton Collection: Selected Works, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL
2007 An Instinctive Eye: A Selection of Contemporary Photographs from The Sir Elton John Collection, Pinchuk Art Centre Kiev, Ukraine
Still Life, Modern 07, Munich, Germany; Double X: Women Representing Women, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL
looking/longing, Agnes Scott College, Atlanta, GA
Picturing the South, California University of Pennsylvania, California, PA
2006 Photo Forum, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston TX
2005 Prologue, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Works from the Permanent Collection, The Hirshhorn Museum, Washington,DC
Recent Acquisitions in Contemporary Photography, The Ogden Museum, New Orleans, LA
2004 Portraiture Revisited, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA
(In)appropriate, Momus Gallery, Atlanta, GA
So Atlanta, The Contemporary, Atlanta, GA
Tender Landscape, Agnes Scott College, Atlanta, GA
2003 The …ing show, Ariel Meyorwitz Gallery, New York, NY
Sports and Swimsuits, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
2002 Diverse Works-Photographs from the High’s Collection, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Face Time, The Contemporary, Atlanta, GA
Girl, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
No Agenda But Their Own: A Decade of Work by Women Artists, Agnes Scott College, Atlanta, GA
True Blue, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
2001 Fresh, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta GA
GameFace, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC
10-Year Anniversary Show, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
2000 The Future of Now, City Gallery East, Atlanta, GA
It’s So Hot… Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
MFA Thesis Show, Yale University, New Haven, CT
1999 Humidity, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Picturing Home-Images from the American South, Center for Photography at Woodstock,
Woodstock, NY
1998 Gleaning Light, Washington Center for Photography, Washington, DC