Raymond Grubb (born Knoxville, TN; lives Charlotte, NC) earned a BS from Davidson College, NC. His work has been exhibited at the Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC, McKissick Museum, Columbia, SC, Davidson College Galleries, the Baker Museum, Naples, FL, the Gregg Museum, Raleigh, NC, HUB-Robeson Gallery, Penn State, State College, PA and Sarah Moody Gallery, University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa. Grubb’s work has been recognized by BarTur Photo Awards and published in Ain’t Bad, Charlotte Magazine, South X Southeast Photomagazine and QC Magazine. His work is held in permanent collections including Davidson College, NC; Tweed Museum, University of Minnesota-Duluth; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC and the Bank of America Collection.
Statement from the Artist:
“Cloistered Order” – At the beginning of COVID, realizing my working habits would have to change, I began to photograph my partner and myself with plant life I was gathering from a neighborhood park. Metamorphosis is the theme in the series “Cloistered Order.” Plants and animals are woven together much like the painted margins of illuminated manuscripts. The results are portraits of our interactions during the confinement of COVID. The mixture of artificial and natural light, sometimes causing a sickly sallow complexion, lends an air of otherworldliness and highlights the tension between the security of our own space and the uncertainty in the outside world. My other series “PILGRIMS: Immigrants in my Home” considers the long-standing sociopolitical issues around immigration. Feelings of suspicion, mistrust, exclusion and outright hate are on the rise today worldwide. America, long a bastion of acceptance and dependent on assimilation as part of its societal mission, is following this trend. Through my photographs, I look at these issues on a micro level, using my home and neighborhood as sets. I photograph friends, acquaintances and strangers in my home as if they live there and are members of my family.