Out Philly filmmaker Kelly Burkhardt will display another dimension of her artistic abilities this month.
Burkhardt’s first solo photography exhibit, “Atomic Age,” will run through May 30 at Ven & Vaida Gallery, 18 S. Third St.
Burkhardt, vice president of operations for TLA Releasing, has been an active contributor to the local arts scene for more than a decade, serving as programmer for LGBT film festival QFest and as organizer of the Phreak N Queer Arts Festival.
The 39-year-old award-winning filmmaker said her interest in photography was cultivated alongside the growth of her film career.
“As I was making films, I thought it’d be really interesting to try to tell a story like I do with the films, but in just one snapshot,” she said. “With film, there’s so much that goes into the artform and I started to find a lot of joy in photography. It gives you more of that instant gratification.”
Burkhardt said her photographic interests are vast, with a leaning toward street photography as well as posed settings.
The body of work that will be displayed at Ven & Vaida illustrates that range, she said, and represents the evolution of her work.
“It’s very diverse. It’s really a broad spectrum. There’s stuff that I shot with my little point-and-shoot six years ago up to things I shot on my most recent trip to Berlin.”
The exhibit encompasses candid street scenes from Philadelphia to New York City to Europe, such as a shot of men walking along a billboard in Florence, and a number of portraits.
Burkhardt is also displaying a collection of photos of childhood toys — a concept she began exploring with local women arts group The Midwives Collective for a fundraiser for Einstein Teen Health Clinic.
“That show got a lot of positive feedback,” she said. “People thought it was a really fun idea. Kids liked it and a lot of parents were like, ‘Oh my God, I remember the John Deere wagon and the Star Wars action figures.’ It’s something that’s really different.”
Burkhardt will discuss the inspiration for her work at an artist talk May 24, and will also be on hand for the opening reception from 6-9 p.m. May 4.
Burkhardt said she’s still actively working on scripts and pursuing her filmmaking aspirations, and is eager to incorporate photography into her future career path.
She’s currently working on a photo project about Philadelphia’s ghost walls that will launch during the second annual Phreak N Queer Festival in August.
Ideally, she’d like to follow in the footsteps of her photography idol David LaChapelle, she said.
“He’s one of my biggest inspirations with how he creates such amazing colors and rolls pop culture into this crazy artwork,” she said. “I’d like to head in the direction of David LaChapelle with capturing things that are colorful and vibrant, and I’m also a huge fan of street photography, so I’d like to find a way to mix the two.”
For more information, visit www.venandvaida.com.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].