Apothecary and the UTC Art Department present Love Lives: The Photography of Asher Love, Nov. 5-8, from 5–7 p.m. each day at the Apothecary Gallery, 744 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga Tn. 37403.
The opening night reception will be Nov. 5 at 5 p.m.
Chattanooga photographer Asher Love (Dec.
22, 1987 - Apr. 21, 2015), born Asher River Mendonsa, offered a unique, uncompromising and honest artistic vision unfettered by any external expectations, creating deeply articulated work that was both provocative and poignant.The exhibition “Love Lives: The Photography of Asher Love” focuses on his staged and natural glimpses of humanity, which offered everything from vivid, fantastic reveries to stark social critiques to candid revelations found in everyday moments.
On May 23, 2005, at the age of 17, Asher Mendonsa entered the Parkway Towers building with friends to take pictures. After stepping onto an inadequately constructed covering that concealed a hole in an upstairs floor, Mr. Mendonsa fell 40 feet and suffered injuries including a broken neck, a broken back and a traumatic brain injury, leaving him a C-5 quadriplegic with only limited use of his left arm.
In his new life, he renamed himself “Asher Love” and replaced his negative-film Mamiya camera (which was destroyed in the fall) with a Hasselblad H4D-50 medium-format camera. After participating in a Nashville exhibition for Tennessee artists with disabilities, Mr. Love was determined to never participate in such an event again, insisting that he be known as an artist who happened to be disabled, rather than a disabled artist.
Mr. Love was the director of the Asher Love Art Gallery in St. Elmo in 2009 at the age of 21, spotlighting artists in the community such as street artist Sour One, photographer Paul Fontana, and painters Daniel Liam Gill and Mike Holsomback, and presenting events such as the “Breast As Brush” exhibition to support the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
After a decline in health, Mr. Love passed away on April 21, leaving behind a potent portfolio of masterful photography with an individualistic spirituality and sensuality, guided by his biting sense of humor, tenacity and spirit of nonconformity.