In the last few years, photographer Doris K. Hembrough has been gaining attention for her color images of natural and man-made phenomena. Whether rock formations or abstract images of sand, there is an anthropomorphic quality to her “creating stories” that is at once poetic and serene.
“I photograph the rocks as people. They have seen all, heard everything. I am drawn to the exquisite beauty of the drying stone, or the layers of sandstone, the swirls and textures left by erosion and nature’s actions. I see ‘stories’- the narrative and characters speaking their language written without letters.”
Born in Morgan County, ILL., Hembrough grew up on her grandmother’s small farm. “The sky was my refuge,” she said. Primarily self-taught, a trip to Maine in 1984 inspired the series “Silent Glory.” “From this moment, my life has been committed to this journey. I do not feel that I am making these images, but that they are being given to me,” she said.
Hembrough has exhibited at numerous galleries, including Edgewood College’s DeRicci Gallery and Promega Gallery in Madison, Wis.