Yvette Marie Dostatni | Face Value: Identities Both Seen and Unseen | September 8 - October 12, 2024
Althea, Waiting for Miracles, Maxworks, 2000, 6x7 Color Negative
Exhibition Dates: September 8 – October 12, 2024
Opening Reception: Sunday, September 8, 2024, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Join us afterwards for a private happy hour at the Quincy Street Distillery
Exhibition on view: Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays
Artist Talk: Saturday, September 14, 2024, 2:00 PM
The Riverside Arts Center’s Freeark Gallery is pleased to present Face Value: Identities Both Seen and Unseen, a solo photography exhibition by Yvette Marie Dostatni, curated by Laura Husar Garcia. Please join us for an opening reception on Sunday, September 8th from 3-6pm and a talk with the artist and the curator on Saturday, September 14th at 2pm. This exhibition is held in conjunction with Filter Photo Festival.
In "Face Value: Identities Both Seen and Unseen", Yvette Marie Dostatni's photographs offer a profound exploration of borrowed, invented and cultivated identities from individuals who find belonging in unconventional ways. Her raw and sometimes gritty imagery sheds light on the stark contrast between the subjects' self-perception and the external gaze from society. From her "American Dream" series to her "Unconventional" photographs, Dostatni's work provides viewers a front-row seat to her visual narrative. This exhibit delves into the complexities of self-expression, personal personas, cultural costuming and the underlying common thread of our search for identity.
–Laura Husar Garcia, curator
My Sister Clara and Snowball, 1994, 6x6 Black and White Negative
Yvette Marie Dostatni uses the camera as a passport to explore the lives of neighbors, friends, and strangers. Her subjects range from personal memories of growing up in small towns throughout the Midwest to more complex matters while living in Chicago. She has exhibited her photography in group shows across the United States, including the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles, California, the Houston Center for Photography in Houston, Texas, the Chicago Cultural Center in Chicago, Illinois, and the Griffin Museum in Winchester, Massachusetts. Her portfolio is part of The Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Photography Midwest Photographer’s Collection.
Dostatni was selected for Chicago’s CITY 2000; was one of fifty American artists invited to the Lishui Arts Festival in China; and was nominated by Time Magazine as one of the “Unsung Female Photographers of the Past Century.” She has been a finalist and recipient of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award (2010/2019/2023) and a Top-Fifty Photographer for Critical Mass (2007/2019). Her work has been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times Lens Blog, Russian Esquire, LENSCRATCH, LensCulture, AINT-BAD, The Paris Review, Photographer’s Quarterly, National Geographic, Chicago Magazine, The Chicago Tribune Magazine, and The Chicago Reader.
Laura Husar Garcia is an artist, curator, and creative director. Her photography has been exhibited widely, including The Biennial of Fine Art and Documentary Photography in Prague, Fotofever at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, The Polish Museum of America in Chicago, Fotofest Biennial in Houston, Photo Independent in Los Angeles, The Rangefinder Gallery in Chicago and The Griffin Museum of Photography in Boston. Grants and awards include The Illinois Humanities Council, International Julia Margaret Cameron Photography Award and Photolucida Critical Mass top 200 finalist. Garcia will be exhibiting her work at the Schingoethe Center Museum in Aurora this fall and the Barcelona Foto Biennial in April, 2025. Her work has been published in several books, as well as The New York Times, National Geographic Magazine, Newsweek, Slate Magazine, Suddeutsche Zeitung, Le Monde, and more.
Garcia serves on the Riverside Arts Center’s Board of Directors and is a member of RAC’s Exhibition Committee. She has curated Alice Hargrave and Barbara Diener’s “Semblance: Unfolded and Brought to Light” (2022) and co-curated “Past Perfect: Celebrating 30 Years with 30 Artists” (2023). She is also an Advisory Board Member of Fresh Lens Chicago, a free youth photography program in Chicago. Garcia is Creative Director and Co-Founder of Three Story Media, which produces visual media through non-fiction storytelling.
