Studio KFS Gallery

Studio KFS, LLC 1100 Bingham Street Pittsburgh, PA 15203 (412) 381-2030 mail@studiokfs.com

Galleries

Sixteen Sundays : Sixteen Sundays: Worshipping the Pittsburgh Steelers Photographs by Kevin Francis Sweeney For sixteen Sundays every year, generations of fans unite as one, a nation worshipping black and gold. And all the nights that fall in between are filled with hope and Super Bowl dreams. We are the Steeler Nation. Sixteen Sundays captures the perpetual passion of America’s most dedicated football fans, the Steeler Nation. Year after year, fans of the six-time Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers support their team through victory and heartache in stadiums, bars and homes around the world. Photographer Kevin Francis Sweeney documented the experience of life as a Steelers fan during the rollercoaster of five incredible seasons. These black and white photographs reveal the enduring expressions of love and devotion to football that are rooted in the city of Pittsburgh and spread around the world. visit www.sixteensundays.com videos available at http://www.youtube.com/sixteensundays

Sixteen Sundays

Sixteen Sundays: Worshipping the Pittsburgh Steelers Photographs by Ke ...

Updated: Jun 01, 2009 1:35pm PST

Passing Time (2004) : Time stopped in Cuba several decades ago. There are so many remnants of the past permeating Cuban life that it seems untouched by the present. The whole island may exist as evidence that life was in fact simpler in the past. The absence of capitalism means that there are few distractions to keep people from enjoying the simpler moments of life. Time is slowly catching up with Cuba, and there is much speculation about Cuba's future. Many people are waiting for change, both political and economic. And while most Cubans have little in terms of possessions, they have an abundant spirit for living. With all the promises of the future, hopefully nothing will replace their ability to enjoy life under any circumstances. While people everywhere wait for something to happen, Cubans will keep living life. They will work, play, wait and wonder. When the present catches up with the island we will certainly long for a time that has passed.

Passing Time (2004)

Time stopped in Cuba several decades ago. There are so many remnants o ...

Updated: Dec 11, 2008 12:31pm PST

Portfolio I (2003) : Walking is the only way to see the world. If I see something of interest, I stop and inspect it. Inanimate objects have a life of their own. The mystery of these objects reveals their lives and whether they were cherished or forgotten. They are witness to me as much as I am to them. And perhaps my photograph gave meaning or proof to their lives, and the person who made them. If someone stops to ask me what I’m doing, I stop to converse with them. Often I make friends. Sometimes I get good pictures. When I don’t know where to go I trust my instinct, or I just follow the animals. Most of these images come from my second trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, and are a continuation of the ideas behind Living with the Dead. These images deal more directly with survival and the effects of time. Warning: This portfolio includes graphic images of dead animals that may be disturbing to some viewers.

Portfolio I (2003)

Walking is the only way to see the world. If I see something of intere ...

Updated: Dec 11, 2008 12:13pm PST

Living With the Dead (2002) : Living with the Dead: Vanitas Street Photography These images were taken during the Day of the Dead Celebrations in Oaxaca Mexico in 2002. They were exhibited from June 2 through June 26, 2004 at The Silvereye Center for Photography in Pittsburgh. Living with the Dead: Vanitas Street Photography Living with the Dead is a collection of vanitas street photographs depicting instances where the dead coexist with the living. These photographs were taken in Oaxaca, Mexico during the 2002 Días de Muertos. They present a somewhat surreal environment concerned with the issues of mortality, loss, and inevitability while underscoring the importance of nourishment, entertainment, caring and love. The project had its roots in both my own interest in the popular Mexican art of José Guadalupe Posada, and the recent loss of my father. Seeing death through the eyes of a different culture was both cathartic and expressive. In these photographs the living embrace the dead and in turn the dead are full of life. The fiesta of Días de Muertos celebrates the departed souls who return each year to visit their families. Great feasts and offerings of bread and sugar skulls are common in many homes. The arrival of the departed souls is marked with fireworks and joy. Throughout the Day of the Dead celebrations, families unite in thanksgiving in homes and at cemeteries to remember and celebrate the lives of their deceased loved ones. Vanitas is a genre of still life painting devoted to the contemplation of the brevity and futility of earthly existence. They were popular in the 17th century but have been revisited by many artists including Paul Cezanne, Pablo Picasso, Irving Penn, and Gerhard Richter. Early Flemish paintings contained moral suggestions that devotion to sensory pleasures was folly, and sometimes included inscriptions like momento mori, a Latin proverb attributed to Horace meaning “be mindful of death,” or more ironically, “remember to die.” Symbolic elements common to this genre are a human skull, flowers, rotten fruit, musical instruments, mirrors, timepieces, and candles. During the Días de Muertos (Spanish for Days of the Dead), Mexicans live in a world filled with symbols of the dead. The calavera (Spanish for skeleton or skull) is unlike that of the western skull that represents death. Juanita Garciagodoy describes the calavera in Digging the Days of the Dead: The calavera is a sign not so much of death or the dead as of Días de Muertos and all that it celebrates: the completed but continuing life of the dead; their visit to the living; the continuing life of the living with all its complexity of work and leisure, suffering and delight, and knowledge of a certain future death. The Mexican relationship with death may seem strange to the Westerner, but it is precisely because the Mexican respects death that he can, at the same time, mock it. The Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz describes the Mexican attitude best in The Labyrinth of Solitude: The word death is not pronounced in New York, in Paris, in London, because it burns the lips. The Mexican, in contrast, is familiar with death, jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it; it is one of his favorite toys and his most steadfast love. Besides the colorful decorations and sculptures, the Mexican attitude towards death is a healthy alternative to dealing with the subject. Perhaps viewing the dead as active participants in everyday life will add a sense of comfort to those who experience the loss of a loved one. KFS

Living With the Dead (2002)

Living with the Dead: Vanitas Street Photography These images were ta ...

Updated: Dec 11, 2008 12:45pm PST

Your Bio

Studio KFS, LLC provides Photography and Graphic Design services in Pittsburgh, PA.

These black and white photographs are available in limited edition archival prints on fiber paper. If you are interested in ordering a print please contact mail@studiokfs.com for prices and sizes.

All Images Copyright 2002-2008 Kevin Francis Sweeney