Amy Burke is a Pennsylvania based artist working in analog photography. Her work is influenced by memory, storytelling, and play. Amy earned her BA in Photography from the Pennsylvania State University and an MFA in Costume Design from the California Institute of the Arts. Within the past 12 months, she has had her first solo show, titled “Home” at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA; was awarded First place at Bethlehem, PA’s 2021 InVision Photo Festival for her piece “Juliette Sleeping;” and received a Third place award at Cumberland, MD’s Allegany National Photography Competition for “Toad in a Teacup.” She recently was awarded several category wins and honorable mentions in the 18th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries nationally, and will be part of this year’s FotoNostrum Julia Margaret Cameron Awards exhibit in Barcelona.
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As a child, my sister and I played dress-up, staged, and shot scenes with the family Polaroid camera. I’ve carried this style of play into my current body of work. Object or location initially influence my photographs. I take inspiration from personal memories, from stories I heard as a child, from “what if” moments, and from the desire to visually communicate with someone. Characters are built based off of these moments, and my children are cast in their roles.
Accidents are invited into my practice by shooting with old cameras, some of which have light leaks; or by using historical photographic techniques, such as wet plate collodion, dry plate, and film. Working with antique equipment and techniques breaks my tendency towards perfectionism, and gives my work an expressive painterly quality. It also forces my subjects, and myself, to slow down and exist in a quieter space- a space that is both past and present.