Photo by Jean Pagliuso, “White #15,” 2006/Courtesy of FMoPA
By Greg C. Truax, Publisher
Fashion, photography, and chickens will intersect in an upcoming show by acclaimed fashion photographer Jean Pagliuso at the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts.
The exhibition, “Poultry, Raptors, Places of Ritual,” will open Jan. 26 at FMoPA and run through March 16. The downtown Tampa museum will host an artist lecture by Ms. Pagliuso at 6 p.m. on Feb. 9. The lecture at the museum is free for members while regular museum admission fees apply for not-yet-members.
Ms. Pagliuso turned her lens on a less traditional subject, chickens, after a 30-year career as a portrait photographer working for magazines such as Vogue, Newsweek, Time and Rolling Stone. It began as a way to honor her father’s love of breeding show chickens and today is an extensive collection of poultry portraits, according to FMoPA.
Zora Carrier, Ph.D., FMoPA executive director, believes Ms. Pagliuso’s chickens resonate because she photographs them the same way as fashion models.
“In the literary arts, animals are often used as a metaphor for human behavior. I think part of the reason these photographs are so successful at capturing our attention is because they bring that same metaphorical quality to the visual arts,” said Ms. Carrier.
Ms. Pagliuso’s exhibition at FMoPA will also feature a handful of photographs from her book, In Plain Sight, which explores endangered environments and places of ritual in Cambodia, India, New Mexico, Peru, and Turkey.
“Poultry, Raptors, Places of Ritual” will be on view during regular museum operating hours and is included in the general admission price. Museum admission is free for members and $10 for not-yet-members.
The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, located at 400 N. Ashley Dr., is dedicated to exhibiting important photographic art as central to contemporary life and culture. FMoPA collects preserves and exhibits historic and contemporary works by nationally and internationally known photographic artists.