Julie Ann Bakker is a photographer based in Sarasota, Florida. Her work focuses on the natural beauty of the outdoors, and the historical objects in her environment. The artist also travels around Florida and beyond to find inspiration. Bakker describes her photography practice: “I seek out that which calls to me—objects that will allow me to frame a poignant story through my roving camera lens.” 

Bakker’s exhibition is titled Relic to Roses, representing the juxtaposition of the artist’s subject matter. A relic is defined as “An object surviving from an earlier time, especially one of a historical interest. A trace or remnant of something that is disappearing or no longer exists. An object that serves as a reminder of a past event, person, or experience.” Keeping that in mind, Bakker approaches her photography with a goal to capture not only objects, but also the element of nostalgia that shines through them. 

For still life images in her exhibit, Bakker was inspired by soft velvety petals of pastel-colored roses, integrated together with textures that would not necessarily go together, but were blended in with an eclectic array of many-layered old postcards, and tilting stacks of antiquated books conveying their history and age from the tattered Smyth-sewn spines to the handwriting from complete strangers on the margins of the pages.

In her travels, Bakker’s vision is on constant alert to catch just a glimpse of that something untouched in the distance and off the beaten path. Bakker says the goal of her exhibit is to “bring each viewer a nostalgic moment by portraying a sense of the good ole days, another place and time—perhaps reminding one of younger days and found treasures in the family attic, aspiring to a memory of a beloved past, which is now a mental relic.”