“Farmhouse, Sanouli Village: Uttarakhand, India,”
photograph by Stuart Gelzer
Las Vegas, N.M. – A Highlands University media arts faculty member’s photography exhibition titled, Kumanoni: People of the Indian Himalayas, is in the 2 Ten Galeria on the Historic Las Vegas Plaza.
Stuart Gelzer’s solo exhibition of portraits taken during five weeks in the mountains of India in spring 2018 continues through Aug. 8.
Gelzer, who grew up in West Africa and India, said the theme of his photography exhibition is people in the context of their daily lives.
“I went to the Himalayan mountains of India with a group of researchers who followed the steps of a legendary man-eating tiger hunter from the early 1900s,” Gelzer said. “I expected to focus on the spectacular landscape, but instead found myself drawn to the people, especially people at work, both in remote villages and in markets of larger towns.”
Gelzer’s photography spans four decades and four continents. The 2 Ten Galeria also features his work of the American Southwest and the Republic of Georgia.
During his career, Gelzer has also worked as a screenwriter, film editor, drama teacher, and fiction and travel memoir writer. In addition, he is a singer specializing in the folk music of the Republic of Georgia.
“My photography in my adopted state of New Mexico focuses primarily upon the power of the landscape,” Gelzer said.
He joined the Highlands media arts and technology faculty in fall 2014 and teaches courses such as Screenwriting, Editing and Directing, and Digital Photography.
“Especially with my film editing and screenwriting teaching, I’m bringing years of real-world experience to my students to give them a strong sense of the career challenges. In digital photography, I want to go beyond teaching the technical skills to helping students develop an eye for photography, or learning to see through the camera,” Gelzer said.
Gelzer’s solo photography exhibition of landscapes, titled, Charismatic Rocks, from New Mexico’s Bisti Wilderness and City of Rocks, appeared at Traveler’s Café in Las Vegas in 2017. Some of his New Mexico landscape photographs were chosen for Biolgique, a juried show at the New Mexico Art League in Albuquerque in January and February 2018.
“The artistic community in Las Vegas is strong, active and supportive, and as a result I’ve felt encouraged to make and show more photography work,” Gelzer said.