Tina Tryforos is an artist who has continually experimented with photographic processes throughout her 30-year career. Her art is semi-documentary and often begins with autobiographical material that explores the natural world and how humans interpret it. She is a book artist, educator, mother, gardener, lover of the sea, and is currently a photography mentor for young artists at New Urban Arts in Providence, RI.
Splitting Time #1, 2020-2025
unformed quilt made of cyanotype on various cotton fabrics including men’s shirting, canvas, old sheets, t-shirts, and quilting fabrics. 63″ x 114″
Artist Statement
I am obsessed with the Greek myth of Persephone. Persephone splits her time. She spends half of the year on earth as dutiful daughter with her powerful mother Demeter, and the other half with her husband Hades, God of the underworld, who abducted young Persephone while she was picking flowers in a field with her friends. The story of how she came to split her time is one of deals brokered, hearts broken, trickery, violence, and (perhaps) personal choice. I use traditional and alternative photo processes to represent Persephone’s story, which resonates with my own. The work examines the dichotomies of lust and love, bounty and famine, and life and death. In the underworld Persephone ate (and planted) the seeds of a pomegranate, an action that sealed her fate. In summer she returns to the world to tend to other’s needs, bringing rebirth and agricultural fertility. In winter, when nothing grows, she resides in the underworld.
Additional Info
Artist Website: tinatryforos.com
Instagram: @localpictures
Part of Growing the NetWorks
This artist was selected by a past NetWorks Rhode Island participant as part of Growing the NetWorks — a 2025 exhibition presented by WaterFire Providence, at the WaterFire Arts Center, celebrating peer-nominated artists from across Rhode Island. Learn more at waterfire.org/growingthenetworks
Highlighting the work of selected artists who have played vital roles in shaping the contemporary visual arts community in Rhode Island. This collection of brief video portraits provides a window into the lives, practices, and cultural contributions of professional artists.
