Liam Ward’s birth mother was 24 when she gave birth to him, 24 minutes before midnight. She gave him up for adoption 24 hours later.
Inspired by the No. 24 and two anonymous adoption documents, Ward presents his newest project “Grow Up Fine Boy” in his Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition, “24,” at the Harrison Galleries in Tuscaloosa, Feb. 28-March 19. 2017.
“It doesn’t really give you any information but in some way a picture of what they could be like,” Ward said. “It’s like reading a book, an image comes in your brain about a character, it’s exactly like that.”
In “Grow Up Fine Boy,” Ward explores identity and its construction by creating a visual history for his birth parents and their relationship based on his imagination.
“I was curious about my birth parents’ relationship, not with me, but how they interacted with each other before me,” Ward said. “It’s interesting because I’m making work about a history that is real, but not real to me. It is a pretty powerful place to be, in terms of creating.”
The documents have limited information about Ward’s birth parents, such as their height, age and where they are from. The title for Ward’s exhibit, “24,” was inspired by the number’s repetition in the documents.
“My birth mom was 24 when she had me, she chose to put me up for adoption after 24 hours and I was born 24 minutes before the next day,” Ward said.
Ward’s exhibit is “untraditional” because his images are projected around the gallery rather than printed for display. Through these projections, Ward presents the feeling of invasiveness and the question of realness he experienced from creating this visual history of his birth parents.
“The viewer has to walk in front of the projections cutting off the light,” Ward said. “They become me in that sense because they are intruding into the images.”
Celestia Morgan, a graduate student instructor in photography, entered the graduate program with Ward in the fall semester of 2014. She said his creativity and ideas give him an impressive artistic vocabulary.
“He’s very conceptually driven with his work, the work he is doing now is the most personal for him that I’ve seen,” Morgan said. “He loves photography and all the different processes.”
In 2016, Ward completed another project, “North Woods Bible.” This work focused on his identity and how his adoptive parents, Brian and Lissa, contributed to its construction. Although he was born in South Korea, Ward describes himself as an American, a conservative republican, a heavy second amendment supporter and an avid hunter.
“Last year things were kind of heated in the political sphere,” Ward said. “That triggered my search for identity because I felt like being an artist was my identity, but I wasn’t fitting into the identity of the art world, which is ultra-liberal.”
Ward graduated from State University of New York at Plattsburgh in 2013 with a bachelor in fine arts in photography and ceramics. He is currently an MFA Candidate, graduate instructor and graduate ambassador at The University of Alabama.
Christopher Richmond, 22, a senior majoring in art, said he met Ward when he took his film photography classes and they developed a friendship.
“You can tell that he cares and that he puts effort into helping his students,” Richmond said. “I started assisting him with private stuff and the fact that he took the time to show me his process was really valuable to me.”
Chris Jordan, an associate professor of photography, met Ward when he arrived at UA. He said it has been interesting to watch him create a fictional personal history in a relatable way.
“I know at times [Ward] has questioned what it means to be an artist and photographer,” Jordan said, “but more recently, I think he has really embraced how art can address complex issues in a personal, yet wide-reaching manner.”
Ward took his first photography class when pursuing his undergraduate degree in New York.
“I was hooked,” Ward said. “I knew that photography was the best way I could communicate my artistic concepts.”
Ward has instructed photography classes at the University for three years and will graduate with his MFA in May 2017. He hopes to continue teaching and freelancing in the future. To see more of Ward’s work, visit his website at liamward.co and Instagram account @liamwardart.
