There are few things that can stir emotions up so violently and effortlessly as the arts. Literature, music and art seem to hold up a standard of communicating in a way, viewer to creator, where each has a say in what the product means.

Portraits are wonderful. They capture the essence of a person if done right, but if done wrong the mere external shell shows through.

“Most of us tend to be critical of our having our photo taken; I am too fat, too old, my hair is bad,” wrote T.Anne in an explanatory note on her photography exhibit at Freda and Maude, 3129 S.W. Huntoon. “However, those photos often end up as treasured possessions, holding memories, filling in details, speaking without language barriers.”

T.Anne’s work usually involves architecture, and this was her first major venture into the realm of people – a venture she conquered.

The asymmetry of her portraits, shooting her subjects so they stood just off center, adds extra interest to her photographs. Most of the people look very ordinary, neither supermodels nor circus freaks, but staring at one of T.Anne’s works for this exhibit is the photographic equivalent to reading one of John Steinbeck’s character descriptions.

A rumpled looking man smiling for the camera with a mess of books behind him as rumpled as his blue and white stripped shirt, titled 7039 MO owner, stood out. There’s essence to the photograph; it truly seems to tell a story.

T.Anne blends both photojournalistic and portrait qualities together, often times capturing action like the whirling skirt of a flamenco dancer, other times capturing ordinary everyday moments like a mother with her child or a small girl screaming as she stands in a bedroom.

However, one of the most interesting pieces in the collection is not just a portrait or an action shot of people, rather it is a collage. Collages are relatively easy to make, overlapping the pictures cut out and glued into place. Yet T.Anne adds a twist to this process, one that is simple genius and most likely incredibly time consuming. She cuts the pictures so the clothes are lifted off the body, the body lifted off the desk or the windows are actually physically open showing the scene outside. All of this gives depth and a unique twist to the piece.