Artist Donald E. Camp creates a new body of work for the DCCA exhibition Dust-Shaped Hearts – New Orleans, a photographic reflection of human dignity

Wilmington, Del. - 15 September 2008 - The Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by Philadelphia-based artist Donald E. Camp. Dust Shaped Hearts – New Orleans will be on display in the DuPont I Gallery from September 16, 2008 through January 6, 2009. Camp’s dramatic photographic portraits of individuals challenge false assumptions about images of African-Americans and other members of society often ignored or denigrated. The common thread that links all of Camp’s work is his deconstruction of stereotypes.

Camp’s labor-intensive printing method is based on an early non-silver photographic development process that he has adapted by using photosensitized earth pigments. He coats non-photographic paper with what is essentially dust and applies casein, a binder made from milk, imbuing the large monochromes with a delicate tactile quality. He then subjects each print to repeated washing, scrubbing, and drying--a process so rigorous that he has said, "I scrub the prints until they cry."

According to DCCA Adjunct Curator J. Susan Isaacs, “Don Camp brings a quiet dignity to all of his subjects. Camp's work is consistently powerful and provides a humanist interpretation of the human condition.”

The opening reception for Dust-Shaped Hearts – New Orleans will be held during the Art on the Town extended-hours loop night on October 3, 2008, from 5 – 9 p.m. Art on the Town is free and open to the public.

Donald E. Camp (Philadelphia, PA) holds both a BFA and an MFA from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and is the subject of the Smithsonian Institution American Artist Oral History Project. He has received numerous awards such as the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts. He has exhibited his work at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia and the Noyes Museum in New Jersey. Camp's work is included in a number of public and private collections including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He is currently Assistant Professor (Artist-in-Residence) at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania.