By Cathy Miller

Artist’s statement:
“The world inside my photographs is a place where I answer to no one. A feeling of powerlessness haunts me in the world I actually inhabit. I create scenes where I control every aspect – and within these images I am in charge, confident, and powerful. I channel folklore, fairy tales, and dreams in rural and neglected corners of New Jersey. I create solitary and macabre imagery using a large format camera and film. By constructing my own sets, costumes, and lighting design, I transport the viewer into a realm where I explore concepts of gender stereotypes, anxiety, and isolation.”

Anne-Marie Caruso moved to Washington when she was 12. Boredom set in a few years later, so at 17 she relocated to Brick. Although she graduated high school in Brick, she attended Warren Hills from seventh through eleventh grade. She earned her Bachelor in Fine Arts from Montclair State University. In 2006, she became a working photographer, shooting for a group of magazines. She said she “really found my style in 2012.” Around 2016-2017, Gannett bought out the magazine group. It was then that she became a newspaper photographer and videographer for the Bergen Record and NorthJersey.com and admits, “News is a lot more fun!” She currently resides in East Rutherford with her husband Mike Karas, and a cat named Waffles.

The Gallery Talk at M Galleries was a two hour-long tour and talk with the artist as she delved into the inspiration, vision, and process of creating five of ten pieces she has on exhibit through Jan. 31. All of her works are exercises in planning and patience and precision. The lighting has to be exact – using everything from Dynalites, Alien Bees, Nikon SB800s, to tiny waterproof electric tea lights. Her cameras are a Crown View and a Graflex Speed Graphic, which was made sometime in the 1950’s.

How does she feel about cell phone photography? “As long as you’re creating something beautiful with the cell phone, go with it!” She never wants to discourage people’s art.

The photograph with the multi-colored windows and the bright red dress is titled “I can’t bring warmth into a frigid world” (a 40″ x 30″ framed C-print). It was made in her mother’s back yard and involved one full day of set-up, and two days for the actual shoot. The dress is lined with wire to support the lighting rig inside it. All the windows are gelled for different color effects. This is the oldest work in the collection.

“The Mad Tea Party” (30″ x 24″ framed archival pigment print) was also shot in Anne-Marie’s mom’s back yard using assorted pieces of her mother’s china. The glow inside the tea cups is from waterproof electric tea lights, and the “steam” was mimicked by burning incense. She admitted a fixation with Alice in Wonderland, noting this image is like “stepping through to another dimension, not quite in balance, but that’s life, right?” This image was made with Anne-Marie’s 4×5 tilt shift camera.

Anne-Marie is drawn to more macabre imagery, like Edward Gorey. She remarked, “It’s okay to be a little morbid. It’s okay to not be happy all the time.” Frank May, M Galleries owner, commented her work has a certain David Lynch-ian quality to it. This is evident in the subject matter of the third piece discussed by Anne-Marie, called “Best Served Chilled” (30″ x 40″ framed C-print).

What’s the meaning behind this piece, which includes a body part-filled gelatin mold? It’s wide-open to interpretation! Anne-Marie said, “Everyone will see something different. I don’t know if the intention behind it is so important. I have to be happy with the end result. I have to like it.”

Anne-Marie’s job at the newspaper entails working with digital equipment. She enjoys her work a great deal, and when on assignment, once she’s captured the action, she generally allows room for her creative self to come out and play.

Beyond that, she doesn’t use technology too much. Her personal work is done on big film cameras. At $30 for ten sheets of film, she usually shoots only two photos at a time. Once her set is designed, built, and the lighting is in place, she makes a digital image to be sure everything is working, then she shoots a polaroid on the film camera to check the lighting and one final look. The shooting process takes about an hour from proofing to the final snap of the shutter. She sends her negatives to a professional lab for processing.

Anne-Marie loves film. She learned photography with film and she earned her BFA using large format film. When asked about her influences, she immediately said Cindy Sherman, an influential photographer whose work is entirely comprised of photographic self-portraits. “I love her work. It’s thoughtful, tragic and funny.” Gregory Crewdson is another photographer whose work she admires, along with Sandy Skoglund.

Anne-Marie often finds inspiration when reading a book or watching movie. “Suspiria,” a horror movie from 1977, is one of her favorites. There was even a moment of inspiration during her gallery talk!

“Bioluminescense” (30″ x 24″ framed archival pigment print) was shot in a creek; the model was required to sit stock still for a 30 second exposure, despite cold water and hungry mosquitoes. With lights in the woods, in the trees, in the water, and a tripod-mounted camera in the creek, the picture was made.

The final photograph Anne-Marie spoke about is simply titled “The Burial” (24″ x 30″ framed archival pigment print). It shows her white christening dress laying in a dark hole. The depth is not obvious until the perimeter comes into view. She noted that “this shoot was fun, because I got to dig a hole in my mom’s back yard!” There was one major mishap during the making of “The Burial” – the rig holding the camera suspended over the hole gave out and the camera fell in. Anne-Marie reassured everyone, “old cameras can be fixed pretty easily.”

Through her imagery, Anne-Marie wants to transport the viewer somewhere else. “You want the viewer to go to a dark place.” There IS a lot of black in these photos. In fact, she mentioned she was once criticized for using too much black.

Her philosophy towards art is simple: “As long as people are creating things and getting something out of it, as long as people are making it, and it’s causing a reaction, that’s what’s important.”

Her choice to work with old cameras has affected how she herself works. “It’s really fun using that old camera. It slows you down. You can only take one photo at a time. You can only get one sheet of film in the camera at a time. So I’m slowing down and creating something, something I’m proud of.” She added that although the process is slow, it’s not necessarily relaxing. “I’m fully stressed out during a shoot. They take a long time to set up. That tension transfers into the final image.” The trade-off is the color and depth of film just can’t be beat!

Only two days remain — Thursday, Jan. 30, and Friday, Jan. 31, to view (and purchase) the remarkable photography of Anne-Marie Caruso at M Gallery. Hours are 2-10 p.m.

Story updated Jan. 30, 2020 12:50 p.m.: Corrected the name of one of the artist’s works 7:48 p.m.: Corrected the length of exposure required for one of the photographs