Encounters With Individuals ‘out in the field’

Featuring Rosie Brock Words by Nastasia Khmelnitski

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The beauty of the South is portrayed and rediscovered through Rosie Brock’s staged semi-documentary images. The family members became a central part of her project Interlude, in which they embrace a role in a narrative Rosie builds. Rosie explains her approach to creating the characters, “it became abundantly clear to me that the people in my images were not my family members as they exist but instead fictional characters of my own making.” With her work Soliloquy, Rosie pushes the boundaries to tell about the people living in Tarwater, Georgia, depicting strangers from the community and their stories deeply woven into the local landscapes. When speaking of her approach, Rosie emphasizes the importance of observance, “My portraiture and storytelling approach is often predicated on chance meetings while out driving. Experiential research, namely encounters with individuals 'out in the field,' fuel my world-building ventures.”

Rosie Brock is an artist who currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. Rosie is an Instructor of Record and has recently taught at the University of Georgia. She gained her BFA in Photography & Video from the School of Visual arts and has recently graduated from the MFA Studio Art Program at the University of Georgia.

In this conversation, we discuss Rosie’s fascination with photography from early childhood and the support from her family to allow education in this sphere. Rosie builds her narrative about what she knows best — the American South — the uniqueness of the local landscapes interconnected with an understanding of people. We discuss her projects Soliloquy and her recent work Interlude (which hasn’t yet seen the world fully).

‘I’ve been making images for slightly over a decade. When I was fourteen, I started making portraits of my younger sister and friends.’

My Story

Hi Rosie, it’s very nice to meet you! Thank you for this opportunity to discuss your work. Could you tell about yourself and your decision to get into the arts field? How was it accepted by your family?   

Hello! It's a pleasure to meet you as well, and thank you so much for chatting with me. I’m an artist who utilizes photography and writing. A few months ago, I graduated from the MFA Studio Art Program at the University of Georgia, and now I’m figuring out the next phase of my career/creative practice.

I’ve been making images for slightly over a decade. When I was fourteen, I started making portraits of my younger sister and friends. I went on to attend the BFA Photography & Video program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City for college. Consequently, my entire adolescence and young adulthood have been largely devoted to pictures.

Fortunately, my parents have supported my artistic pursuits since I was little. They enrolled me in art classes starting when I was about five. When my interests pivoted to photography as a teenager, they consistently encouraged me — frequently driving me to photo sessions, paying for summer workshops, and complimenting my work. In recent years, they’ve graciously allowed me to direct and photograph them, even when they’re tired or the weather is less than ideal.

‘When I was a child, I always watched my surroundings, specifically other people. I loved quietly studying small mannerisms and listening to conversations. Many of the narrative concerns in Soliloquy are directly influenced by my upbringing and observations in the South.’

Athens, Georgia

With your work, it is noticeable that warm light and nature play a critical role in telling a story that you create involving the characters and personalities you choose to depict. You grew up in Gulf Coast, Florida, and currently, you're living and studying in Athens, Georgia. How do you think living in the American South and moving quite a lot during your childhood affected the narrative you are building? 

I appreciate that observation, and I absolutely agree. My fascination with locality and regionalism was solidified due to being raised in Florida, spending time in South Georgia, moving to Virginia as a teenager, and returning to the South as an adult. When I was a child, I always watched my surroundings, specifically other people. I loved quietly studying small mannerisms and listening to conversations. Many of the narrative concerns in Soliloquy are directly influenced by my upbringing and observations in the South. My portraiture and storytelling approach is often predicated on chance meetings while out driving. Experiential research, namely encounters with individuals 'out in the field,' fuel my world-building ventures. An image or writing piece is often the result of overheard dialogue or a brief moment that is then expounded upon, reimagined, and transformed.

‘I realized that I was not interested in a documentative approach rooted in actuality; instead, I reveled in the ability to play pretend through images.’

Interlude

With the series Interlude, you focused on photographing family members, working on staged images through several time periods. The changing of seasons and some personal moments form a connection with the viewer inviting them inside the family circle. What did you learn about your family, working with them as a photographer, staging the situations, and creating the narrative? 

While making Interlude, my main influences were cinema and narrative storytelling. While producing the series, it became abundantly clear to me that the people in my images were not my family members as they exist but instead fictional characters of my own making. I realized that I was not interested in a documentative approach rooted in actuality; instead, I reveled in the ability to play pretend through images. The title of the series comes from Ingmar Bergman’s 1951 film, Summer Interlude. I sought quite a bit of inspiration from Bergman’s approach to depicting family units with characters in different stages of adulthood.

Soliloquy

Let’s discuss Soliloquy, your return to the theme of the South, and the change in perspective, this time photographing strangers but still building a very personal narrative both to yourself and the characters you chose to photograph. What are the questions you’re trying to answer or the story you want to offer with this project? 

There’s a fairly elaborate backstory for Soliloquy. I’m unsure how much detail I’d like to divulge, considering that one of the project’s central research questions is how much ambiguity to provide the viewer. Perhaps I’ll forgo discussing my process of creating the work and instead include an excerpt from the project statement that gives insight into the narrative:

“Soliloquy chronicles the rural Georgia town of Tarwater. Located along U.S. Route 117 and State Route 345, Tarwater is home to a failed Christian commune begun in the 1970s by a young man who claimed to be in communication with the spirit of Mary Magdalene. For roughly a decade, the religious group strove toward creating a utopia on earth. However, in 1981 three young women were murdered, and subsequently, the community disintegrated.”

A substantial written component, comprised of short stories, transcribed conversations, and fieldnotes, accompanies the images and has yet to be published.

Teaching

You’re currently finalizing your studies toward an MFA at the University of Georgia. Meanwhile, you had a chance to get teaching experience as an Instructor of Record. What do you think are the main changes in your perception of photography and the history of photography that took place as a result of this experience? 

This is a terrific question that I've tried to foreground throughout my graduate career and teaching experiences. Like every practitioner, I have my own aesthetic preferences and thematic concerns. Being in an interdisciplinary graduate program expanded my understanding of what creative research and contemporary art might entail and encompass. The pandemic began towards the end of my first year in graduate school. The following months further exposed the country's deep fissures and injustices related to class, race, and equity. Due to this cultural reckoning, discourse around the photographic medium centered on scrutinizing and revising the monolithic 'canon' of Western photography. 

During this time, I was teaching my first Introduction to Photography and Image Culture class on Zoom to a large group of students. I found myself consumed by the desire to expand upon my understanding of the history of photography as it was taught to me as an undergrad. This endeavor involved lots of independent research, reflection, and studying different artists and histories, which I was unfamiliar with previously. I completed a Directed Study in Pedagogy / Research with UGA's Art Librarian, Lindsey Reynolds. I was able to compile a database of teaching and photography resources which I utilized for the next two years.

I also think it is common practice in photographic education to privilege a particular approach — most frequently the 'wanderer' type of image-maker who embarks into the world searching for meaning within resonant moments. Since I predominantly work similarly, it is easy to fixate on this mode and neglect discussing other types of work. Cognizant of this potential shortcoming, I try to share work that is outside my wheelhouse— such as camera-less photography, alternative process images, collage, installation, still lifes, etc. Having peers and friends who make images in various ways has been immensely influential in changing my perception of what photography can be.

‘I also think it is common practice in photographic education to privilege a particular approach — most frequently the 'wanderer' type of image-maker who embarks into the world searching for meaning within resonant moments.’

A Sneak Peek

Could you provide us a sneak peek into the project you’re currently working on or some of the themes in development? 

Aside from my thesis group exhibition, Soliloquy hasn’t been put into the world yet. I’m primarily focused on beginning to showcase that project. However, in terms of a new body of work, I have been toying with the overall concept of Femme Fatales related to the movie star, Susan Hayward, who married my Grandaddy Larry’s first cousin, Floyd Eaton Chalkley, in 1957. She moved from Hollywood to Carrollton, Georgia, to live with him on his ranch. I have yet to investigate this element of my familial history, but I recently remembered my link to Susan while watching a video essay in which she was referenced. It dawned on me that this might be a fruitful project topic. Conceptually, I would be able to explore the convergence of my interests in ancestry, film studies, female archetypes, glamor, and the slippage or merging of identity.