Georgia Theaters: A Ballad Surrounding the Proscenium

photography by Brandon Narsing

June 8 - September 1, 2023

This photography exhibit by Brandon Narsing, reflects the emptiness of public theaters during the sheltering of the pandemic.  During Covid 19, Georgia theaters were bereft of value due to their large gatherings for performance arts, an impossibility at the time. What resided is an accumulation of props, dim lighting, and illusions of inhabited spaces. The theatre is and always has been a habitat of the life it provides and has roots and characteristics deeper than that of its structure. In this photographic series which spans the entirety of Georgia performance theaters, an assertion of unity appears within them as you cannot figure what has happened except that these spaces are subject to deprivation and a withdrawal of their people. 

Brandon Narsing is a photographer who builds calm, minimalist photographs embodying abandonment and the surrealist nature of developing urban environments. Originally a Mechanical Engineering student at Georgia Southern University, Narsing reformed his interest of applied science into the BFA program in Photography at the University of Georgia. Inspired by the inevitable, tumorous growth of buildings and institutions throughout Georgia, he focuses on the systematic and underlying strangeness of instituted structures looking at closed performance theaters, restaurants, untamed over-growth of banal buildings and large, subdued, vacant-feeling spaces. Narsing’s interest stems from the subliminal understandings of the banal and easily overlooked symbolism in urban areas throughout Georgia. He is constantly evaluating and re-understanding how engineers and developers re-appropriate our consciousness through his picture-making process.

All exhibitions are free of charge and open to the public.  Exhibitions are on view during regular gallery hours Tuesday and Thursday 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.   Children must be accompanied by an adult.