Torrance York’s 2022 Kehrer Verlag monograph, Semaphore, established the photographer as an artist with an awesome life challenge that led to a flow of commanding images. The book – her first monograph - forms an autobiographical narrative of clear personal depth. Even if you did not know she had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease seven years prior to its publication, her story radiates an insistence on being told. Using the camera as an instrument to discover how the disease altered her interactions with the world, she used the physical and emotional difficulties associated with Parkinson’s to guide her. In Semaphore she often turned to her own body, her natural and domestic surroundings as well as medical images as subjects. Parkinson’s as metaphor directed her progress, measuring her optimism and forward movement. Interstices, the current body of work, expands and refines that effort.

Since the publication of Semaphore, York has meticulously continued to photograph with a calculated and sophisticated visual risk. The works in the exhibition date from just after the release of her book, up to this year. Many of the same themes appear but are advanced in approach and scope. Difficulty with movement and balance are symptoms with which Parkinson’s patients are keenly aware. Untitled #3125, 2024 is a self-portrait, picturing one of the photographer’s exhibition announcement cards bathed in pink and lavender hues, folded and punctured by a stylus spinning on its point. Blurry and slightly askew, the artist’s name is abstracted by the movement and angle but clearly visible. She has inserted herself into this colorful schematic: precision amidst chaos.

Interstices takes all those literal translations and reimagines her journey with what she gained through Semaphore, resulting in a body of work that resonates with the optimism and accomplishment inherent in her life’s pursuit. She describes her mission now as, I photograph discoveries and constructions inspired by the oscillations of my psychological journey in order to build resilience to new obstacles imposed by both illness and aging. Ultimately, York’s struggles are universal despite the specificity of the disease. Currently there is no cure for Parkinson’s but like any good boxer in the ring, she matches the hits punch by punch. This body of work is the story of her fight.

On April 30, please join us for a closing celebration as Torrance sits with award-winning journalist, Alisyn Camerota for a conversation on Interstices and how artmaking affects and is affected by one’s life experiences. Ms. Camerota, now the Special Events Anchor for the Scripps News Network, has over three decades of experience as a news anchor, leaving CNN in 2024. Alisyn is author of two books, a 2017 novel, Amanda Wakes Up and a recent memoir, Combat Love. Her memoir was an instant Amazon bestseller that was described by author Elin Hilderbrand as “unputdownable!” She and Torrance have known each other for over twenty years.