From 2008 to 2013, Art & Document was the voice of the Center for Documentary Arts, a nonprofit project founded by Timothy Cahill at the Sage Colleges of upstate New York. Situated at the crossroads of art, ethics, faith, and conscience, the blog continues the Center's mission to present artists, writers, and thinkers who, in their lives and works, partake of the sacred, bear witness to suffering, and manifest beauty, dignity, and charity.

23 November 2010

David Brickman's "Get Visual"

I'm still a bit dazed as I post this, by the generous and enthusiastic review of Battlesight from the Capital Region's premier art critic, David Brickman.  Here is how he begins:

It's as though the International Center of Photography opened a branch in Troy. The exhibition Battlesight: Dispatches from Iraq and Afghanistan by International Photographers is that good, and that important.

An extraordinary endorsement. The rest is here:  http://dbgetvisual.blogspot.com/

16 November 2010

Gallery Notes

Comments left by visitors after viewing Battlesight, 
to Cheryl, Balazs, and Teru for their extraordinary work. 







01 November 2010

Press: Albany Times Union

War with faces


Published: Friday, October 29, 2010


The Blue Mosque, Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan 2007 (Photo by Teru Kuwayama)


The 32 photographs in “Battlesight: Dispatches from Iraq and Afghanistan by International Photographers,” which is the inaugural exhibition of the Center for Documentary Arts at The Sage Colleges, draw out an emotion that fulfills not only the mission of the show but also the mission of the center.

“The show raises our consciousness, not about a certain political agenda, but about our fellow human beings,” says Timothy Cahill, the center’s director. “That gets to the big word, which is compassion/empathy. If you open yourself up and don’t come in with one agenda or another, if you just look at the pictures, I think it’s impossible to walk away not having connected to their humanity.”

Read article

Press: The Daily Gazette & Metroland


The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY), October 28, 2010



Photos capture physical, 
emotional impact of war

Views of Afghanistan, Iraq wars bring home reality

Thursday, October 28, 2010

By Joanne McFadden


TROY — One assignment, three different results,
 all poignant statements about humanity.

That’s what visitors to The Arts Center of the 
Capital Region will see in “Battlesight: 
Dispatches from Iraq and Afghanistan by 
International Photographers,” the debut 
exhibition of the Center for Documentary Arts
at The Sage Colleges. It will be on exhibit through Dec. 19.

Timothy Cahill, founding director of the center, admits that there’s “something very 
brave about launching a not-for-profit devoted to documentary art and compassion in 
the midst of a great recession.” Yet he, along with founders Dr. Melvin Krant and 
Steve Lobel, did just that.

“Battlesight” goes to the heart of the center’s twofold mission: to use documentary 
arts to bring viewers into the lives of other people and as a result increase awareness 
of what we share as humanity and foster increased compassion for one another.

In part, Cahill chose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the center’s first exhibition 
because it will be on view at the same time as The Sage College’s Veterans Week 
2010, and this was a way to highlight the activities of the center’s host institution. 
Despite the subject matter, the exhibition is not a political statement. Neither it nor 
the Center for Documentary Arts has a political agenda, Cahill said.

He chose three photographers who had worked in Iraq or Afghanistan on 
assignment to provoke a conversation about how documentary artists work and also
to give the public a closer look at what is taking place in that region of the world.
“I wanted the show to begin to be a dialogue about various ways these artists
take reality and mold it into something that’s truthful and communicate that truth,”
he said.
 


Full article here




Metroland, October 28, 2010


ART MURMUR

THIS IS WAR An exhibit opened at the Arts Center of the Capital Region
(265 River St., Troy) last week that we all would do well to check out. 
Curated by Timothy Cahill, Battlesight: Dispatches from Iraq and 
Afghanistan by International Photographers is a powerful collection of war 
photography by Pulitzer Prize winner Cheryl Diaz MeyerBalazs Gardi 
and Teru Kuwayama. The exhibit is on view through Dec. 19, but there 
will be a reception tomorrow evening (Friday, Oct. 29) from 5:30-9 PM 
during Troy Night Out.
The battle for Iraq on view at the ACCR: Cheryl Diaz Meyer’s Dust Storm (2003).


Giotto's Kiss

I'm thinking on this day before Christmas about  Giotto's depiction of the reunion of Joachim and Anne, Mary's parents, at the G...