Kathy Lovas and Lynné Bowman Cravens
UV cured ink on vinyl banner, imagery created on cell phones
2014 - 2017
The project #lovaslectures by Kathy Lovas and Lynné Bowman Cravens is a series of photographic works inspired by the glitch, literally a mistake or malfunction, something broken. However, in #lovaslectures the glitch is intentionally transformed into something new, beautiful, optimistic, and exciting.
The series began as Kathy was lecturing to her large photography class at the University of North Texas, and Lynné, her then teaching assistant, was listening attentively. From her front seat vantage point Lynné began surreptitiously snapping photos of Kathy each week with her cell phone and posting them to Instagram. After “liking” the photos, Kathy screen-grabbed and processed them via the app Glitché, and printed them out as vinyl banners, a material commonly used for public signage. The eventual body of sixty #lovaslectures banners draws attention to the phenomenon of photographic indexicality while pointing to the many topics covered in a university photography class. The #lovaslectures project is one example of many possible benefits flowing from a strong mentor/mentee relationship.
#lovaslectures speaks in multiple ways to the rapidly evolving definition of photography. Unstable images, scripted mistakes, repetition, automation, and versioning reflect the dialogue inherent in classroom learning, and point to a 21st century liberation of photography from historic perspectives of human vision. Consciously blurring the boundaries between traditional disciplines, these photo banner readymades invite viewers’ imaginative participation in our current post-internet collective image environment.