Doin’ the Holga Polka

The Holga Camera is an unlikely art star—it’s a Chinese toy camera that’s notorious for light leaks, blurring, distortions and overexposure. The back panel tends to fall off, so in the freakin’ Holga manual there are instructions on the best sticky material to affix to the back in order to keep film from tumbling out while you’re shooting. Yet images made with these funny little contraptions, like films shot on Pixelvision cameras, are often stronger for their flaws. When Saskya Byron of the Regional Arts Commission contacted me to ask if I’d like to participate in RAC’s huge group Holga show (the wonderfully titled “Holga Polka”), I panicked; I don’t know how to use an f-stop, though I know the Holga has one. (The only thing that’s made this slightly less intimidating is I’ll be in the company of two other writers.) At press time, the film was loaded into the camera—I lost one exposure while wrangling with the gears and innards—but the images were yet to be captured. Spoiled by digital cameras, with images as disposable as mini-Kleenexes, I find myself worrying over wasting frames, especially through nothing more than ineptitude. The plan at the moment is to take a trip down to Meramec Caverns, as well as to a car-repair service in my neighborhood that features a sign bearing a pink cartoon aardvark mooning passersby and advising them not to “get caught with your pants down.” See how more than 40 artists caught images with this peculiar little plastic camera when the show opens on January 9 at the Regional Arts Commission Gallery (6128 Delmar, 314-863-5811, art-stl.com). The reception runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., and the show is on view until February 22. You can also visit our arts blog, “Look/Listen” (stlmagblogs.typepad.com/looklisten) closer to the opening date for a diary of how I learned to love the Holga.