WITCH DOROTHY: TUCUMCARI by artist Snow Mack

Archival Print on Paper, 12” x 16”

Framed size 12 3/16" x 16 3/16"

The artwork is framed under Clear Acrylic with standard foam core back, ready to hang on the wall!

For LANDSCAPES, I present two selections from my "Witch Dorothy, There's No Place Like Home" series: "Tucumcari" and "Rio Grande". "Tucumcari" was photographed on a drive across the United States from Baton Rouge, where my husband was on location for a film project, back to our home in Los Angeles. "Rio Grande" was photographed on a solo journey I took to attend an opening at the Harwood Museum in Taos, New Mexico. I was included in the group exhibition, "Orale, Kings and Queens of Cool", at the Harwood Museum in 2014, focusing on the works of Low Brow Artist and Pop Surrealists.

"Witch Dorothy" is a self-portrait series that began when a pair of ruby slippers I ordered arrived at our apartment in Baton Rouge. From my first photography session with the slippers, I was intrigued by my strong feelings of nostalgia. Black & white striped stockings remind me of the Wicked Witch of the East from the 1939 classic film, "The Wizard of Oz". One never sees this Witch's face, only her stockinged feet curling back under Dorothy's house after it fell on her! The Ruby Slippers are the talisman that saves Dorothy.

Dorothy chants, "There's no place like home!", near the end of her journey in The Wizard of Oz. It's a mantra given to her by Glinda the Good Witch, the meaning of the mantra is that Dorothy had the power to change her circumstances all along. In our current times, the mantra, "There's no place like home!", takes on a surreal meaning, unique to each one of us. For many of us, travel is an integral part of who we are. Traveling allows one the perspective of looking homeward, recognizing the special place we are fortunate enough to call home.