An exhibition of almost 70 photographs by a Canadian photographer Birgit Freybe Bateman will be shown in this summer at the Stroganoff Palace of the Russian Museum. The exhibition will be on view between June 2 and August 30, 2011.

Entitled Mindful Vision, the photographs examine themes of colors and textures, nature and its patterns, and people.  Birgit Freybe Bateman explores the extraordinary in the ordinary using a camera as a means to create art. She often captures contrasts that exist in many parts of the world between well-worn ancient structures and the plastic artificial objects of our contemporary society.  Her images reveal the infinite variety of shape, form, line, texture and pattern of both the man-made and the natural world.

The project follows the presentation of works by Birgit’s husband, Robert Bateman, in Russia in 2009 and as a subtheme, it explores the theme of how one couple, two artists, see the world differently.

Explaining her vision, Bateman says, "The excitement of the visual world constantly provides me with the elements of art."

As succinctly summarized by Dr. E. N. Petrova, Deputy Director of Science at the Russian Museum, “The essence of Birgit Bateman’s photographs is not the subjects in the traditional sense, which contain narration, but the motifs dictated by the expressive forms of objects, fragments and details. Their intense "elastic" imagery draws a similarity between these photographs and oil paintings.”

Mindful Vision: Photography by Birgit Freybe Bateman, is organized by the Foundation for International Arts and Education (FIAE), a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, and the Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. 

The exhibition is made possible by:

Cina Alexander Forgason

Elisabeth Dudley

The Milwaukee Insurance Foundation, Inc

Victor Emanuel Nature Tours