Carla Moore

Carla Moore was born and raised in Washington, DC and moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland in late 2012, where her love of Photography was born. With nothing but a camera, God, and time she walked aimlessly around the streets and parks of her new home in an effort to learn more about how to wield her weapon: a point-and-shoot Fujifilm camera. She is currently finishing her courses at Salisbury University for a B.F.A. in Studio Arts with a track in Photography.  She has taken as many design courses as photography courses and its influence is seen in her most recent work.

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Her time at SU has birthed a desire in her to not only tell a story in her work but to also live outside of the rules of art. While Carla’s focus is photography, she utilizes most mediums in her work. It’s not uncommon to see a photographic print drawn on with crayon, or a photo manipulated in post-processing to include some sort of graphic design elements. The perfect portrait isn’t seen as the ending but rather the beginning of many possibilities.

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It’s already been said that Carla prefers to tell a message in her work but what hasn’t been said is that the message is often hidden in small details. A single teardrop in a page full of candy, an array of ominous black squares in the sky, there is often more present than what greets the casual viewer. Carla creates a world outside of this present reality, in which the viewer must take time to explore to reach the hidden message. Much like she roamed the streets and parks, her viewers are invited to roam her images. In a sense, viewers are invited to roam the deep crevices of her mind. The work is not meant to be causally viewed, rather every partaker is encouraged to become curator if only but for a moment. What else do you see can be repeatedly asked?

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Any viewer that accepts her invitation to roam her artwork, finds themselves in one of two places: at the feet of a vulnerable young girl traversing her own path of healing, or at the end of an unexpected disappearing path, as the artist avoids the weight of various traumas that she has experienced. There is often much left unsaid, and only left to be imagined. However, this is part of the experience. It is up to the viewer to reach the truth behind the different works of art once the visual cues of the piece have ceased. Where have you been led? Where have you been taken? While the artist may only hint at some things, she’s left the door open for the viewer to insert their truth. Her experience, her memory, at some point in viewing, becomes your experience and your memory.

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As of late, Carla’s work highlights the view of the black male. She shows him as beautiful creation of God rather than the stereotypes he’s so often and so long been defined by. She doesn’t stop with racism. She challenges the black man in how he views himself or rather challenges the way he feels he can’t be viewed and this is challenge is what serves as the inspiration for her show More Than a Hashtag.