Jim Graham’s newest exhibition explores the islands of Nantucket and Iceland.
Island is on display from February 5 – 27 at the Hardcastle Gallery
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From Jim Graham …
There are times in our lives that we make choices without knowing why or what the result of that choice will be. In July of 2001 I stood in a driveway and was admonished to, “Go to Maine, do a show, and don’t loose too much weight.”  All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.
I was, at least with the first two suggestions successful.  That trip to Maine brought me to my first workshop with John Paul Caponigro.  And with his help and support I managed to find a number of images that were worthy of being in a show.  That December, six months later, I opened my first solo show, “Along the Waterline.”  This coming February, 9 years later, I’ll open yet another show, my ninth since first meeting John, “Island.”
This show holds a collection of images from two islands, Nantucket and Iceland.   Each a location is a singularity.  Each has its own story.   Each offers infinite opportunities.  It is part of the photographer’s job to see more intensely than most people do. He must have and keep in him something of the receptiveness of the child who looks at the world for the first time or of the traveler who enters a strange country.  I’d like to think I still have that childlike wonder.  But I’d also like to believe that over the years that John has helped to open my eyes and share some of his insight and vision.  I do know that he has offered me many visual possibilities.  And given me the gift of a vision that I might not have had had I not made that initial trek to Maine.