Contributors
Last name: Nobler    
First Name: Leslie
Affiliation: William Paterson University
E-mail: noblerl@wpunj.edu
Submission Details: see below

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Cameography: Portraits of Resilience (Artist's Book)
Cameography: Portraits of Resilience (Museum Banner) 
Aleksandra
Bronislava
Chana
Ida
Marta-Magdalena
Ruth
Shoshana
Teresa-in halves

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Short Note

        This is a collection of about 20 portraits of resilient 19-20th C. creative women.They have been combined to create a banner, which was chosen for public (in the street) display at two NYC-area museums.  All the portraits are also combined into approx. 20 handmade artist's books.  Banner and Book are titled “Cameography: Portraits of Resilience. I have also included several individual digital/mixed-media/experimental digital printmaking portraits separately.

Short Biography​

        Leslie Nobler, a Professor of Art, works in digital, mixed media, fiber, and book arts. She holds a BFA from University of Michigan School of Art (Ann Arbor), MA in Computer Graphics from New York Institute of Technology and MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from City University of New York/Hunter College.  Her  recent installations reinvent sacred and mystical artifacts, employing alternative digital printmaking. Presently, her work involves portraits of early 20th Century marginalized people who showed resilience and through their creativity. The subtext of her work strives to bring issues such as ethnophobia, immigration, intolerance, escape and refuge to light.  She received Artist's Grants from the Surface Design Association and Puffin Foundation, and was invited to do a special project at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland in 2022. Nobler's exhibits include the New York Visual Arts Museum's Digital Salons, New Jersey State Museum, Noyes and Montclair Art Museums (NJ), Old Main Art Museum (AZ), Athenaeum Museum (PA),  Kemper Museum of Art (MO), Afrigraphics of Pretoria,  Eurographics in Barcelona, and Nanjing Art Institute. Her work is in artists’ book collections of universities and museums and has been featured in the New York Times, New Jersey Star-Ledger, Surface Design Journal, Leonardo, Textiles: The Art of Mankind, the Review/Midwest, and her recent portrait project was featured in New Jersey Jewish News and WomensWork.art.

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Artist’s Statement​

        Typically, I invest in looking into history, looking backwards, to create contemporary digital art with both technical flair and meaningful content.  Many years of work in the field and experiencing its advancements have landed me in this place – believing we should use advanced artistic tools and the media now at our disposal to convey messages of social justice. The process begins with art historical and socio-political research. My newest mixed media art work evolves from gleaning provocative and compellingly soulful stories from this research. I select those women whose narratives stand out as powerful in their own right/s, survivors of terror, war, genocide, racism, misogyny, etc., who played a rich role in Western culture.  Each woman has a personal digital portrait painted of her, often using motifs of their heritage and art.   Delving into and responding to their histories, entering their spheres of creativity, and sometimes spirituality, however remotely, has been a powerful “quarantine” journey.
        I can reinterpret my subjects' artworks and eras using endless mixed media, fiber, and digital techniques.  While this use of art technologies at an advanced level is exciting, the main energy comes from creating output that offers a deeper message. Recent Neo-Nazism and the rise of white supremacism, intensified my need to reflect, through my artwork, about our modern plagues and the hope of “curing” them.  Using non-confrontational portraiture of those who strove to overcome racism, nationalism, and terror, I proffer thought-provoking moments. Featured here are inspiring, and most important –RESILIENT – women, victims of racism, anti-Semitism and sexism, providing lessons applicable to life today.