Reception with the Artist
December 9th 2016 from 8-11P
Artwork will be on display and available for sale
December 9, 2016 – January 5, 2017
International House
221 Camp Street • New Orleans • LA • ihhotel.com
Who she was and why she was: For the fourth year in a row, the artfully inclined International House hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana presents MAGDALENA, an exhibition of provocative, evocative photographs that celebrates female mysticism and explores, with great reverence, the life and legacy of Mary Magdalene. This Holiday season features the powerful images of Canadian-born, award-winning photographer, journalist, editor and lecturer Stephen Thorne. Thorne’s passionate vocation has taken him from war-torn Afghanistan to capturing iconic moments with celebrities, sports figures, and royals, and his images and text have been featured in Time, International Journal, and newspapers worldwide.
For Christmas, it being the last of seven local rituals observed annually at International House, the hotel explores the immortal mystique of an essential character in Christianity and Judaism, Mary Magdalene, a woman whose magnetism endures over millennia. Through the medium of photography, MAGDALENA finds contemporary expression through Thorne’s vivid lens. MAGDALENA 2016 presents sixteen captivating portraits of women from around the world, an ensemble on view together for the first time.
Several of Thorne's photographs have been acquired by the hotel and will join works from previous MAGDALENA exhibitions, gracing the walls of the hotel’s MAGDALENA Gallery, a permanent collection and 2nd floor public space - "a tribute to extraordinary women and the divine feminine." As New Orleans' premier boutique hotel, International House honors creativity and dedicates considerable resources to not only collecting and exhibiting art but serving as prism and hub for discourse on topics that matter.
From its establishment 18 years ago, the hotel has incorporated the work of artists and artisan-makers in its space, weaving not only authentic local ritual, but also a creative culture of invention into its soul. And as a soulful complement to the exhibition, “Spirit Handler” Alan Walter at Loa has created a libation to honor miss Mary. THE MAGDALENE is served on a papyrus of her Gospel printed at International House, with Palestinian and Israeli almonds, turmeric and ginger dark chocolate by Katrina Markoff, edible rose petals grown locally, and Green Chartreuse VOSP, made of 130 alpine herbs, plants and flowers. This drink offers an Extravagant Taste of Place, the full complement of the region in France where lore has it that she spent her last years and from which many New Orleanians immigrated. It is a parallel much like she, the full complement of woman.
MAGDALENA is art that engages the eye, challenges the mind, touches the heart and fuels the soul. International House invites you to this compelling gallery-style exhibit, to meet the artist and two other very special guests on December 9, 2016. The exhibit will remain up through January 5, 2017 in the hotel's soaring lobby, coinciding with the city’s annual PhotoNOLA gathering.
Opening Reception - Friday DECEMBER 9, 2016 from 8-11pm