Adam Kennedy Bernard

(b.1970; resides Akron, OH)

Memories of high school are usually not of its educational merits but more often its dramas and social interactions. Adolescent feelings of uncertainty, triumph, defeat, and self-awareness culminated in events that brought students together outside the classroom. Beginning in 1995 Adam Bernard has made annual returns to northeast Ohio-area schools during high school prom season, and produced documentary-style photographs with a dramatic range of emotion. Bernard’s black-and-white pictures taken with a flash exaggerate moments such as the coy gesture of a girl removing a young mans tie, or the unsure expression of a young girl as her date clings to her in an apparent intoxicated haze. Capturing a pivotal moment in the transition from childhood to adulthood, Bernard’s observations suggest that youth are often not far from adulthood at all.

Bernard received a BFA from the University of Akron in 1995. Bernard has been awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship by the Ohio Arts Council in both 1995 and 1997. He has worked as a photography instructor at the University of Akron, and exhibited at the Roy G. Biv Gallery in Columbus, Ohio.