Workshop Participants
Barry Mayo's fine-art photographs focus primarily on the natural interplay of light and shadow. In many of Mayo's images, the stark contrast of both his black and white and color imagery highlights his study of social, visual and emotional juxtapositions. Through careful observation and the interplay of the visual geometry of space and place within his photos, Mayo's work results in something that is formally complex - yet his images deliver a succinct and direct assessment of his surroundings - and the imagined interior life of his subjects. His images explore racial themes, ideas around presence and absence, and cultural dilemmas found in science and faith. In the end, the photographs of Barry Mayo make the experience of the world a newly seen experience for the viewer.
More recently, Barry Mayo began an exploration of identity issues amongst mixed race individuals. His first in a series of documentary shorts films, “Maya Osborne: Confessions of a Quadroon” was screened at nine film festivals and garnered two awards.
After a successful 35-year career as a radio broadcasting programmer, manager, and President, Barry Mayo began exhibiting his photography in various museums and galleries, predominantly in the Chicago area, including a group exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Mayo has served on the boards of numerous educational institutions including service as the Vice Chair of the World of Money.org; an organization that teaches financial education and philanthropy to young people in the New York City metro area. He also serves as the Co-Chair of the Board at the Center for Photography at Woodstock. Mayo is a father and grandfather, a rabid Jazz fan, and circumnavigator who makes his home in the magnificent Hudson Valley of New York State.