transfigure

trans·fig·ure vt

14th century. Latin transfigurare, from trans- “to change” + figurare “to shape, fashion” from figura “figure”

: to give a new and typically exalted or spiritual appearance to

: transform outwardly and usually for the better

For more than twenty years, Elisabeth Sunday has photographed her subjects, or more precisely, her subject’s reflections, in one of two custom-made mirrors she designed.  For scholars and mystics alike, the mirror serves as metaphor for the anima, reflecting the invisible world of spirit and human emotion.  Revealing the unseen, Sunday’s images become “transfigurations.”  And in her series, Turareg, Sunday uses her mirrors once again to reveal the strength and beauty of these nomadic peoples.

Sunday photographed her subjects using the windswept dunes of the Sahara as a backdrop, while their loose, indigo-dyed garments billowed into unfamiliar shapes.  But the mirrors captivated the women, holding them transfixed as she worked quickly in the blowing sand.

Revered by their men, Tuareg women are typically tasked solely with raising children, while the men cook, clean, weave, and even henna the women’s hands.  The men, who believe childcare “is enough work to fill a life,” encourage the women to relax, eat cream, and sip sweet mint tea.  Sunday believes the women have become emboldened by the power they hold, a strength she saw reflected in the work.

Elisabeth Sunday’s series have been produced in settings around the world, including the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Ituri Forest in Central Africa, the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, and the Aboriginal homeland in Arnhem Land, Australia.  A prolific artist, she has had solo and group exhibitions at the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego.

Sunday’s work is included in both public and private collections throughout the United States and abroad including the Berkeley Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Oakland Museum of California, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Chrysler Museum of Art, and the Polaroid Collections.

Sunday frequently lectures on her work and her travels.  An evocative and engaging speaker, she has spoken at the University of San Francisco, San Francisco Camerawork, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the San Francisco Art Institute.