about

April Friges’ (b. 1981, Lorain, Ohio) work is made in various analog photographic darkroom settings, utilizing light and chemistry as the foundation for their exposure, without the use of a camera.  She then applies three-dimensional construct methods with the material, such as assembling and sculpting the photographic prints, or working with heavy duty sheet metal tools to form her tintypes.  Subsequently, the fragility of the darkroom papers and the rigidness of the aluminum plates employ a playful dialogue within contemporary photographic practices, such as expressing the object-ness and material aspects of the medium. Her works relate image, object, and perception to demonstrate how these theoretical concepts are central to the field. Friges received her MFA in studio art from The University of California, Irvine, and is associate professor at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA.  She has been teaching higher education lens-based courses for over fifteen years.

Friges’ work has been included in venues such as LAXART, The Spencer Museum of Art, MOCAD, AIPAD, Filter Photo and PGH Photo Fair. Permanent public and private collections include The Museum of Contemporary Photography, BNY Mellon, the Duane Michals Estate and Carnegie Mellon University. Her most recent solo, titled, In Absolute Space, ran Mar-Apr 2023 at Silver Eye Center for Photography and will be exhibited again in 2024, at Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto.  

Friges’ work can also be found at Stephen Bulger Gallery. 

• View CV

• Contact

• listen to me discuss my work via Bloomberg Connects here

  or read community perspectives by curators and artists in this

• educational guide here

afriges@gmail.com