International photographer Anna Skacel’s absolutely stunning show will be installed this Tuesday, Jan 28th with a reception on Thursday Feb 6th, at a later than usual start time of 6:30 pm. Her photography exhibit includes people and architecture from six countries.                                                               
Artist’s Statement: Through My Eyes!

What happens to us when we travel? If we are lucky, we become transformed. We do this by leaving the comfort of our home and making ourselves available to unfamiliar cultures and amazing new landscapes. The adventure and the challenge of putting ourselves, however temporary, in another place or way of being, can transform any person who makes themselves available to such opportunities. It can often invigorate our awn way of seeing just how wonderful, precious, and often times sad life can really be.As a photographer, I am interested in expanding my horizons on this level. There are few things more gratifying than stripping away the expectations of the day and replacing them with the unknown experiences of being immersed in another society’s existence!

I do believe that there are those who travel but never completely arrive, those that visit a place but never fully engage, those that experience another culture but never take the time to understand, and those that look but never really see!

As a photographer, I feel that if I can help to open up people’s eyes and minds to the amazing and different things that surround us, then I have managed to do some good in this world. If I can pique the interest of the viewer as to what is happening in other cultures, and as a result influence them in seeing the world as one diverse but amazing planet, then I have had a good day!

Biography

I was born in Yorkshire, England. I lived in Nigeria as a child, and although I was young, I have retained some amazing images and memories of those days that I believe ignited my interest in different cultures. I attended college in England where I obtained a BA Hons. Degree from Loughborough College in Industrial Textile Design and Fine Art, a post-graduate teaching degree, and an AA degree.

I was an art teacher both in England and Bahrain (Middle East) for many years. On my arrival in the U.S., I began designing jewelry, and then selling my work in Nortdstroms, Macys, and as far away as Hawaii and Japan.

I have been taking photos in ernest since 2007. I believe my interest in photography was influenced by my father—he had been an avid photographer all his life. After his death in 2009, the family came across an old, brown suitcase in the attic. It contained hundreds of negatives, many of which we had never seen before. I brought them back to the U.S. with me and spent the next year scanning them. It was cathartic, to say the least. What I saw in those negatives was a glimpse into a life that I hadn’t been aware of before: tell-tale images of my mother and father’s life when they were younger, their hopes and dreams before the family, then as we were growing up. When you capture a moment in time, there is a nostalgia that presents itself that intrigues me. You will see this in much of my work.

I have had solo shows of my work at the International House of Davis, the Androvich Gallery, the 2010 Gallery, and the Viewpoint Photography Gallery. My photograph “Sheltering From the Storm,” Ethiopia, was given an Award of Excellence at California State Fair in 2017 and won First Place at the KVIE Art Auction in 2019. Another one of my photos from Ethiopia, “Boy With Coffee Bean Branch” was given an Award of Merit at the Califomia Sate Fair in 2018. I share a studio warehouse, The Art Garage, in Midtown with several other artists, and we participate In the Sacramento Open Studio Tours.