Midge Wattles (b. 1990) is an American artist based in New York and Palermo. Inspired by her interests in art history and the origins of images, she uses photography as a tool to trace a historical or personal lineage throughout each of her series. Her recent work explores the elements of light, time, and surface as both the material and subject of her images. Midge has a BFA in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design where her interest in Italy began through RISD’s European Honors Program at the Palazzo Cenci in Rome. She is a recipient of a Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant in photography and a U.S. Fulbright grant with a Vinciguerra Award in fine art to further her work in Sicily from 2016-2017. Her work has been exhibited in both the U.S. and in Italy. She is represented by Francesco Pantaleone Arte Contemporanea Gallery in Palermo.
Awards & Residencies:
89books Residency & Catalogue
89books publishing house, Palermo, Sicily, IT
October 2018
American Cyborg Artist Residency
Aspen, Colorado, USA
January 2018
Fulbright & Vinciguerra Award
U.S. Foreign Scholarship to Italy, Fine Arts/Photography
Palermo, Sicily, IT
2016-2017
Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant
Award for achievements in the field of Photography
New York, NY
2015
Education:
The Rhode Island School of Design, BFA Photography, 2008-2012
RISD’s European Honors Program, Rome, 2011
Solo Exhibitions:
Passages curated by Agata Polizzi
Francesco Pantaleone Arte Contemporanea
Palermo, Italy
Dec 2018-February 2019
Group Exhibitions:
Castelbuono Paese Mediterraneo curated by Costanza Carzo
Il Museo Civico di Castelbuono, Castelbuono, Sicily
2017
Due South curated by Marianne Bernstein
Delaware Contemporary Arts Museum, Wilmington, DE
2017
Haunted Objects, Q07 curated by Laura Greig
Peridot Green, New York, NY
2016
Offertorio curated by Francesco Pantaleone
Francesco Pantaleone Arte Contemporanea, Palermo, Italy
2015
RISD In Rome: European Honors Program
Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI
2014
At This Point / a group show curated by Wen-You Cai
If and Wen Space, New York, NY
2014
Facades and Replicas
Red Eye Gallery, Providence, RI
2012
A Family Portrait
Palazzo Cenci, Rome, Italy
2011
Publications:
FORMEUNICHE. Il rigore e l’eleganza nelle fotografie di Midge Wattles in mostra alla Galleria Francesco Pantaleone di Palermo by Sasha Taormina
2019
89books Folio:
Passages & Oxalis by Midge Wattles
2018
Aint Bad Magazine: An Independent Publisher of New Photographic Art. Staff Picks: Midge Wattles published by Anna Brody.
2015
Lenscratch. Young and Emerging Artist Series, Midge Wattles: Lineage by Grant Gill.
2014
The Shin Bijutsu Shinbun Review. From New York, At This Point by Dr. Tomii Reiko.
2014
Lint-roller. 5×5: Classicism and the Uncanny by Olivia Gilmore.
2013