The Mary Elizabeth Dee Shaw Gallery will present the exhibition, "Life, Times, and Matters of the Swamp," featuring the work of Vietnamese artist Binh Danh. The exhibition runs Jan. 7–Feb. 16, 2008.

Through a unique process that transfers a photographic “negative” onto leaves and plants, Danh creates “sun leaf prints.” In Danh's work the intuitive experience of history and memory materializes in the veins of the leaves. Because the imagery is produced through the process of photosynthesis, the imagery itself—which stands in for individual episodes of history and memory—is inscribed, not just on the surface, but within the very tissue of the leaf. The fragments of a historical moment are woven into the organic celluloid.

In conjunction with the exhibition, there will be a public lecture and reception on Jan. 10. The lecture will be from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Kimball Visual Arts Center Lindquist Lecture Hall.  A reception for the artist will follow in the Dumke Atrium.

Danh was selected as the 2008 Dean W. and Carol W. Hurst Artist in Residence for the College of Art and Humanities.  As part of the residency, Danh will work closely with students during the week of Jan. 14-18.

The Hurst Artist in Residence Public Lecture is funded through the generosity of Dean W. and Carol W. Hurst.  "Life, Times, and Matters of the Swamp" is funded through the generosity of Weber County RAMP and the Marriner S. Eccles Foundation.

The exhibition runs Jan. 7–Feb. 16 2008. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 11-5 p.m. and Saturday 12-5 p.m.

All lectures and exhibits are free to the public.

For more information please visit the Department of Visual Arts website: weber.edu/dova/.