The Andalusia Ballet Association will host an opening reception from 6 until 7 tonight, Fri., Feb. 6, for Andrea Barbier, the latest featured artist in its Art Supporting Arts series.

Barbier is a Louisiana-based photographer who specializes in the French alternative photographic technique, mordançage.

A mordançage image begins with a silver gelatin print, which is submerged into a combination of chemicls that lift the darkest areas of the emulsion, allowing for manipulation of the surface and the redistribution or removal of underlying silver salts. Barbier creates her imagery from digital photographs, and contact prints them in the darkroom using digital negatives. She manipulates the final prints with paintbrush and water to achieve her final, one-of-a-kind results.

“I created images that seek to balance reality against fabricated imagery, allowing the viewer to remain grounded in the picture while encouraging their subconscious to fill in missing details,” she explains. “The photographs address the complexities and deciphering of human relationships, intensified through the decisive acts of obscuring or revealing formal information. Running themes include what is known vs. what is unknown, and public vs. private.”

Barbier earned a fine arts degree in photography in 2004 from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and finished her master’s in studio art from Louisiana State University in 2014. She has worked as a camera educator, art gallery director, and freelance photographer.

She lives in Baton Rouge with her husband, Josh, and their son, Indie. She is the niece of Andalusia’s Dianne Phillips.

The exhibit will remain on display in the Cultural Arts Centre through February.