Photographic Memory

John Ritchie

Corrine Woodman Gallery

September 29 – October 24, 2026

Reception + Artist Talk : October 15, 5:30- 7:30 PM

About the Exhibition

Corvallis artist John Ritchie visually explores the faults of memory through double exposure on film. The final compositions are created by embracing the randomness of his process.  Ritchie says in his artist statement, “Like most people, I’ve long trusted my memory to accurately report experiences from my past. Only recently, as I’ve paid more attention, have I come to realize that there’s a lot more going on up there. Memory isn’t about facts, it’s much more complicated than that.”

About the Artist

John Ritchie started getting serious about photography 20 years ago. Like many photographers, he
began by trying to capture reality as perfectly as he could, using the camera as a way to freeze and preserve what he was seeing. After a few years of this, John became tired of too much reality and began exploring ways to portray things that he couldn’t see but might imagine. He enjoys night photography and lighting techniques that bring hidden things to light, and collaborates with people to portray scenes from the imagination.

Ritchie started exploring film photography and analog processes to counter-balance the technical perfection of digital photography and its stranglehold on his imagination and emotions. He uses expired film and weird cameras for their lack of quality, and revels in the accidents and failures of self-developing his own film. Film is loosening his head, freeing his photographic imagination in every medium. His latest images, Photographic Memory, are an
embodiment of analog uncertainty, allowing imagination free rein to interpret meaning and emotional content.