Artist Statement July 8, 2021
Breath Taking: Sheltering In Our Garden

Photographer/gardener/diplomat, Donna Oglesby’s exhibition, Breath Taking: Sheltering In Our Garden, is a photographic journey of her deepening relationship with nature during the fifteen months of the pandemic.

Her images are grounded in the belief that a  garden is an emotional blessing; and, the camera is a contemplative instrument. Sheltering in place in my garden during the pandemic, I made photographs to convey the revelation of hidden wholeness we experience when we cultivate silence. I want to portray my sense of enclosure and stability, the feeling of drift and movement, and then the emergence into the light of a meditative universe when the textured veil lifts. I want to share visuals of beauty and the possibility of new beginnings.

Photographing the garden that I lent a hand to creating, consoled me during months of pandemic isolation with my husband, Bill and my Labradoodle, Sabai. Making photographs of the incredibly still yet very alive garden brought quiet pleasure. Planning to share my images gave me purpose. Perhaps, I came to know myself and how I connect to the wholeness of life with greater clarity by isolating for months in our safe green spaces. I was able to experience the present more deeply and merge in holy silence with the moods of the seasons.

My images are made with Leica and Hasselblad digital cameras and lenses. They are refined in Lightroom; montages are created in Photoshop. I share my work in these transformed times with the hope that it might offer a reflective path to transcendence.