Bozeman Daily Chronicle review of Grace Under Pressure Solo Exhibition
Thanks to Rachel Hergett, the editor of Ruckus, for a great write up for my upcoming show at Old Main Gallery.
Wild mustang collection therapeutic for photographer Tracie Spence
Tracie Spence has never had horses, yet her latest collection of photographs of wild mustangs is about to open in Bozeman. The horses, she said, speak to her spiritually.
“That’s why I keep going back,” she said.
“Grace Under Pressure” will be at the Old Main Gallery for the month of February, with an opening reception Friday. The collection has 39 images of horses captured on North Carolina’s Outer Banks in late 2017, its ocean waters still muddy from Hurricane Irma. Fourteen of the large-format photographs will be on display, each with an accompanying quote to lend a narrative to the name.
Stylistically, Big Sky-based photographer Spence leans toward negative space and unconventional framing to draw the viewer into the eyes of her subjects. In each, she attempts to capture emotion and the spirit of the horse. Horses in “Blessings” are nuzzling, showing their love for each other. In “To Become,” a 2-day-old colt lies next to its mother, a promise of life yet to be lived.
One photograph, “Grace,” is Spence’s perfect representation of the life the wild horses endure, swimming from island to island, constantly eating salty sea grass and attempting to avoid predators like bull sharks and crocodiles. The image is of an older horse, his back sagging and rib and hip bones visible.
“I have even more compassion for these animals because of the harsh environment,” Spence said.
Photographing wild horses takes patience. With the animals almost always grazing, Spence spent most of her time observing between moments of action — a pair racing across the dunes or a mustang taking to the water.
After a shoot, Spence will put the work away until she is both physically and mentally prepared to weed through the thousands of images in roughly a week of sitting at a computer. When she opens them, Spence feels like a kid at Christmas.
Spence spent more than a decade as a fashion, food and advertising photographer, a second career built after giving up psychotherapy to start a family. A traumatic brain injury after a skiing accident in December 2010 led her to years of recovery in which she had to regain vision and balance while dealing with the constant threat of re-concussing. Photographing what she calls “spiritual” subjects, like the mustangs and a collection of ghost trees, started as a form of therapy. Then it turned into more.
“This is my joy,” she said.
Spence would like to photograph other animals she feels connected to, like wolves and ravens. She also wants to experience how horses live around the globe, such as Iceland or Sable Island.
“I said a year ago I have only four or five more wild horse shoots in my career,” Spence said. “I don’t know if that’s true anymore.”
For more information, visit www.traciespence.com or oldmaingallery.com/artists/tracie-spence/.
Rachel Hergett is the editor of Ruckus, the arts and culture publication of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. She can be reached at rhergett@dailychronicle.com or (406) 582-2603.
