Posts from the “Photography” Category

Jill Freedman: Resurrection City, 1968

Posted on November 22, 2017

In April 4, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech titled “Beyond Vietnam” at Riverside Church in New York City. Turning the focus from civil rights to human rights, he called for an end to the war, and renewed focus on fighting the enemies within the United States borders: poverty, injustice, and insecurity. One year later, to the day, he was assassinated – a crime for which the US government was finally found guilty in a court of law in 1999.

In the final month of his life, Dr. King called for a national demonstration that would “confront the power structure massively.” Following his death, “The Last Crusade” went forward, and 3,000 people came from across the land to set up a camp called “Resurrection City” on the Washington Mall. They lived in wooden shanties that stood for six weeks in 1968.

The Poor People’s Campaign, as it was officially known, was organised to draw attention to the poverty affecting people of all ethnicities in the United States. “They murdered Dr. King and I was furious,” photographer Jill Freedman remembers. “I had to go.”

Read the Full Story at Huck Online

Categories: 1960s, Art, Books, Exhibitions, Huck, Photography, Women

Awol Erizku and Olivia Locher Chosen for the Forbes “30 Under 30” List

Posted on November 19, 2017

Artwork: Awol Erizku, “Same Ol’ Mistakes” – Rihanna, house and spray paint on OSB, 2016

What a thrill to see Awol Erizku and Olivia Locher chosen for Forbes “30 Under 30” list – as well as all the amazing talents that prove the future is now.

In the past year I’ve had the great pleasure of interview Erizku for Crave Online and Locher for Dazed. Cheers to a bright future already playing out on the world stage

Photo: In Ohio it’s illegal to disrobe in front of a man’s portrait. Photography Olivia Locher, published by Chronicle Books 2017

Categories: Art, Books, Crave, Dazed, Exhibitions, Photography

Dazed Selects the Best Photo Stories of October

Posted on November 19, 2017

I am honored to have two of my stories featured in Dazed’s round-up of the best photo stories of October!

Here two artists step deep inside little known worlds and explore the challenges of simply existing as we who we are. I’ve learned so much from speaking with Laurence Rasti about her work, just published in “There Are No Homosexuals in Iran” (Edition Patrick Frey), and with Lilla Szász, who got to know a “family” of sex workers in Budapest and connected with them until the tragic end.

Both Laurence and Lilla are reminders of the power of the photograph – and the person behind the camera – to change the way we see, experience, and understand the world.

Read the Full Story at Dazed

Categories: Art, Books, Dazed, Photography

Alessandro Cosmelli and Gaia Light: Havana Buzz

Posted on November 16, 2017

HAVANA BUZZ © GAIA LIGHT

For the fourth chapter of the Buzz Project, a series of books and multimedia exhibitions based on photo-reconnaissance of contemporary cities, Alessandro Cosmelli and Gaia Light take us inside the famed capital during this period of change, as the nation becomes the last country on earth to emerge from the Cold War.

Rather than present a picture of the image the world has come to know: the vintage cars, derelict buildings, and cigar-smoking old women, Havana Buzz (Damiani, November 21) creates a portrait of a state of mind, one that is layered in complexity, having survived the corruption of the Batista government and the dictatorship of Castro.

The following exchange between Miss Rosen and the artists Gaia Light and Alessandro Cosmelli was conducted in early November 2017.

HAVANA BUZZ © ALESSANDRO COSMELLI

Please talk about the Buzz Series. What is the concept you have been developing with this work?

Havana Buzz is the third chapter of the ongoing series, The Buzz Project, a symbolic portrait of the contemporary metropolis and its inhabitants, but as viewed through the moving frame of the public bus window. The entire project is realized shooting photos and videos from the special perspective of the public buses of the most iconic contemporary cities.

The choice of the bus window “as a second lens” is to be considered a statement of purpose or intent – a powerful democratic symbol in itself and a ubiquitous element of the global urban landscape. The bus and its route become markers of a metropolis’s social level of (in-)equity and of its (un-)sustainable patterns of growth.

In many cities today the bus is actually an outcome of sprawl – a conveyance system for the poor to move from hovel to work and back. Fast-urbanizing areas of the world have also failed to supply the necessary infrastructure to support incessant expansion. What we see, as a result, moving from center to periphery, for example, is the very fabric of inequality.

The work is conceived as a multi-series documentary project, with the ultimate goal of composing a multifaceted commentary on contemporary urban life. As series, we are able to address modern-day issues as they unfold, such as urbanization, social justice, and the environmental conditions of urban habitats in general. This is a “symbolic photographic portrait” of the contemporary metropolis in this specific time in history, a celebration of urbanity itself. The central motif is “the portrait”: how we live, prosper and/or simply survive in globalized urban habitats that are increasingly and alarmingly becoming contested sites in all senses of the word. Our main focus is on the human landscape, the people who represent the soul of any city.

So far we have initiated eight installments (Brooklyn, Milano, São Paulo, Havana, Mumbai, Istanbul, Mexico City, and Paris) and published three books (Brooklyn Buzz, Milano Buzz, and Havana Buzz). As with the first two chapters, Havana Buzz has been published by Damiani Editore – for us and the project a major point of pride. We consider The Buzz Project as an invitation to open the eyes of consciousness on the beauty of everyday life, no matter how stressful that everyday life may or may not be. We are proud that the main inspiration for the project is Robert Frank’s 1958 series, From the Bus.

HAVANA BUZZ © ALESSANDRO COSMELLI

How did you come to choose Havana for the site of the latest book?

We usually select cities on the basis of social, economic, demographic, geographic, and historical considerations. Each city presents its own characteristics and uniqueness, which combined become crucial for the realization of a universal portrait of contemporary urban reality.

Havana Buzz features a wide selection of pictures that were taken in Havana in 2015. Shrouded in myth and contradiction, Havana is a city like no other, one of the most iconic and controversial metropolises in the world. We purposely chose to explore Cuba’s capital at a time of crucial transition, in the wake of much-awaited historical change, eventually epitomized by the departure of its long-time dictator the following year.

We aimed at creating an unbiased visual account of contemporary Havana, while a passionate support for the cause of a free and democratic Cuba has motivated every step of our endeavor. Although documenting the daily struggles of the population, our work is ultimately a form of praise for the dignity that endures all hardship and that has secretly guarded the seeds of hope, saving them for the time when they can finally be sown.

HAVANA BUZZ © GAIA LIGHT

What did you expect to find in Havana – and what surprised you?

We expected to find a struggling city, weakened by long years of isolation and crises. We knew we were about to explore a decadent yet charming and fascinating urban environment. What surprised us though was the beauty and extreme dignity of the people, plus the richness of the culture, the simple but consistent lifestyle, the inventiveness and creativity of the people.

We were able to engage in incredibly insightful conversations about cinema, literature, and Italian poetry with perfect strangers randomly met on the bus or in the streets, we were constantly stunned by the originality and self-styling abilities of the younger generations surely inspired by their grandmothers, mothers and sisters, fantastic queens of elegance.

HAVANA BUZZ © ALESSANDRO COSMELLI

I love that your perspective goes beyond the stereotypical portrait of Cuba and gives a deeper, more nuanced portrait of the people. What is the message you would like to share with the world about the people of Havana?

The message is an invitation to push harder to break the stereotypes – to look at the people and the places in the photographs and see our own selves in the daily struggle for survival. It is a message of empathy and a message of freedom – a freedom from the chains of anachronistic ideology and a freedom from the stereotypes of misrepresentation. The perspective of The Buzz Project is a democratic one, synchronized as best we might accomplish with that of the common citizen who actually rides the buses in order to move around, to merely function, and to honor the role bestowed by society, no matter how humble that role may be. We do not feel like nor wish to be perceived as intruders.

Both as visual storytellers and documentarians we focus on “reality.” This reality we witness actually “spirals” away from the windows of the buses we ride – out into the city. We do not pretend that this is sociological or objective in any sense. It is a conflation of art and documentary photography. In many senses that is also what gives the work an intensely humanistic “edge.”

We feel this as a huge privilege that strongly effects our sense of responsibility toward the fair representation of such complex urban realities as the one we discovered in Havana: our book and efforts are entirely dedicated to the dignity, pride, creativity, hospitality, and beautiful culture of the Cuban people. We hope the long-awaited change now coming will be respectful of the dignity and greatness of the Cuban culture and people. Time has come for a revolution that serves the people rather than ideologies.

HAVANA BUZZ © GAIA LIGHT

HAVANA BUZZ © GAIA LIGHT

Categories: Art, Photography

Laylah Amatullah Barrayn & Adama Delphine Fawundu: MFON

Posted on November 15, 2017

Photo: Copyright Nydia Blas

Photo: Copyright Sabriya Simon

In 1986, history was made when Jeanne Moutousammy-Ashe published Viewfinders: Black Women Photographers (Dodd Mead), the first book to showcase the history of African-American women behind the camera dating back dating back to 1866. It spanned more than a century of work, showcasing the work of artists whose work had gone largely unrecognised in photography, which the author described to the Chicago Tribune as a traditionally racist and sexist industry.

The book spoke to Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, a young photographer from Brooklyn, who wanted to see more. As years passed, nothing occurred – so Barrayn took it upon herself to be the change she wanted to see in the world. In 2006, she and photographer Adama Delphine Fawundu put together a prototype for the project that would become MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora.

MFON is a biannual journal that will launch with a book of the same name featuring work of 100 women from across the diaspora, including Ming Smith, Delphine Diallo, Émilie Régnier, Lauri Lyons, Noelle Théard, and Dr. Deborah Willis, who wrote the introduction. MFON is named for Mmekutmfon “Mfon” Essien (1967 – 2001) a visionary Nigerian-American photographer who died from breast cancer the day before her photographs from The Amazon’s New Clothes, opened at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in the acclaimed exhibition Committed to the Image: Contemporary Black Photographers.

With the spirit of Mfon guiding their journey, Barrayn and Fawundu persevered, creating the book through a grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council and crowdsourcing through GoFundMe. Photographers in their own right, Barrayn and Fawundu, know exactly what it takes to make great work. Together they reviewed more than 1,000 works created by women around the world, and honed their selection with precision to create a powerful look at the heart of photography through the eyes of Black women from all walks of life. From the work of 13-year-old Fanta Diop, a native of the South Bronx, to 91-year-old Mildred H. Jackson, who reflects on Harlem in the 1930s.

Barrayn and Fawundu speak with us about their experience creating MFON, spotlighting the work of six artists featured in the book whose unique perspectives and incredible styles brings fresh new visions, original ideas, and innovative thinking to the art form while simultaneously giving us an inside look at the multidimensional experiences of Black women from every corner of the globe.

Read the Full Story at Dazed

Photo: Copyright Samantha Box

Photo: Copyright Hélène Amouzou

Categories: Art, Books, Photography, Women

Constance Hansen: Brooklyn c. 1969

Posted on November 15, 2017

Photo: Self-portrait, my place in Fort Greene, late 60s. Photography © Constance Hansen / Guzman.

In the wake of riots that began after the United States government ordered the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Daniel Patrick Moynihan, an urban affairs adviser to President Nixon, introduced a policy called “benign neglect” that would change the course of American history. The policy proposed systemic denial of basic government services to African-American and Latinx neighbourhoods across the nation, resulting in a massive collapse that decimated the people for well over a decade. The Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, home to the Pratt Institute, was one such neighbourhood to fall into disrepair. Yet from the destruction, a new culture was coming to bear.

Constance Hansen, one half the husband-and-wife team of Guzman, has just unearthed photographs of this pivotal era taken while she was a student at the Pratt Institute from 1969- 1971. “There was a whole other thing going on then,” she remembers. “The 60s vibe, the music, the Vietnam War, Civil Rights – everything was exploding. It was anarchistic. You just did your thing. There were a lot of artists, writers, poets, and people creating, very free and they were all deep in their work. I would be floating through and taking pictures.”

Read the Full Story at Huck Online

Photo: Police activity, Brooklyn late 60′s. Photography © Constance Hansen / Guzman.

Photo: Crochet girl’s bedroom, late 60′s. Photography © Constance Hansen / Guzman.

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, Art, Brooklyn, Huck, Photography

Bonnie & Clyde: The End

Posted on November 14, 2017

Photo: Anonymous, Bonnie & Clyde, Kissing & Embracing, 1933. Courtesy PDNB Gallery, Dallas, TX.

There is nothing more American than the anti-hero, the fearless, go-for-self radical who rejects all social norms, subverting the system in order to win by breaking the rules. They occupy a space that defies the paradigm of villainy, inspiring a legion of fans and followers to cheer them on to what is very often an unfortunate fate. Though they may be amoral, immoral, and unethical, they tap into the urges of the unchecked id. Let’s call it vicarious living at its most primal state – that which few would do themselves but would gladly enjoy via proxy.

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow embodied this to the fullest extent, adding the added touch of romance to the primordial death wish. During the “Public Enemy Era” of the 1930s, when the nation was reduced to tatters and desperate living, criminals became the new superstar, proudly flouting their ill-gotten. While high profile gangsters like John Dillinger and Al Capone kept the public mesmerized with high profile affairs, a couple of regular folks named Bonnie & Clyde quickly became household names.

They were barely out of their teen years when they met in 1930 in East Dallas. Clyde, already an ex-convict, was re-imprisoned for auto theft. Bonnie got on her game and smuggled a gun into prison so that Clyde could escape and be reunited with the one he loved. After being caught and sent back to jail, he was finally released in 1932 – and that’s where our story begins.

Read the Full Story at Feature Shoot

Anonymous, Clyde Barrow’s Criminal Record, 1934. Courtesy PDNB Gallery, Dallas, TX.

Categories: Art, Feature Shoot, Photography

Gregory Kramer: Drags

Posted on November 14, 2017

Photo: Fllyod. Copyright Gregory Kramer.

After paging through Small Trades, Irving Penn’s portrait series depicting skilled trades people in their work clothes, New York-based fashion photographer Gregory Kramer had an epiphany. “I woke up one morning and was like – that’s it! Let’s document the New York drag scene,” he recalls.

Kramer was inspired by the classic studio photography that Penn had mastered in the early 1950s: a full-length figure set before neutral background and softly lit with gentle lighting. Each subject was portrayed with elegance and dignity so that viewers could see the person who lay beneath the uniforms they wear. This approach resonated with Kramer who understood: underneath the wigs, the make-up, and the costumes are innovative and creative performers greater than the sum of their parts: they are groundbreaking figures whose commitment to the craft of drag has redefined the art.

Kramer called the person he knew best: Linda Simpson, a fixture on New York’s drag scene since the 1980s. Simpson was Kramer’s first subject and his entrée to the scene. Over the next year, Kramer went to work, creating a series of portraits of legends including Charles Busch, Lady Bunny, Duelling Bankheads, Sherry Vine, Flotilla DeBarge, and Tobell Von Cartier. He also made a foray into the Brooklyn scene, photographing the drags who continue to push the envelope, including cover girl Sasha Velour, winner of the latest season of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

The result is Drags (KMW Studio), a sumptuous monograph with 80s black and white portraits that will leave you breathless as you take in the full glamour and glory of New York’s finest. As a way to give back to the city that he loves, Kramer is donating his author royalties to the Ali Forney Center, which assists and protects homeless LGBTQ youth. Kramer speaks with us about his experiences making a book with the city’s groundbreaking drags.

Read the Full Story at Dazed

Photo: Peppermint. Copyright Gregory Kramer.

Photo: Wang Newton. Copyright Gregory Kramer.

Categories: Art, Books, Brooklyn, Dazed, Manhattan, Photography

6 Tips for Aspiring Protest Photographers

Posted on November 13, 2017

“Fuck this Shit”, Photo by Michael A.McCoy. Anti Trump Protest, Washington D.C, 2017.

After completing two tours of duty in Iraq in 2008, U.S. Army combat veteran Michael A. McCoy turned to turned to photography as a therapeutic tool to deal with the horrors of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. With a camera in his hands, McCoy could escape from the memories of being inside a war zone as photography enabled him to be full present in the moment, bare witness, and share his story with the world.

The 2014 death of Mike Brown at the hands of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson changed everything. The protests that raged across the city sparked a movement against police brutality and the killing of black men, women, and children at the hands of law enforcement officials. For McCoy, Ferguson was the moment of truth.

“I started photographing protests because I wanted to start documenting history,” he explains. “I realized that I could use my camera as a tool and amplify the issues affecting myself and my community that need to be heard. I could have been Mike Brown, Freddie Gray, Trayvon Martin, or Eric Garner.”

Read the Full Story at Huck Online

‘Untitled’ Photo by Michael A. McCoy. Baltimore Uprising, Baltimore, MD, 2015.

‘Freedom Walk’ Photo by Michael A. McCoy. Black Lives Matter NYC, NYC, 2015

Categories: Art, Huck, Photography

Albert Watson: KAOS

Posted on November 9, 2017

Photo: Road to Nowhere, Las Vegas, 2001 Edition 10 (72 x 42). Photography Albert Watson

Back in 1973, Scottish photographer Albert Watson got the call: Harper’s Bazaar wanted him to photograph the “Master of Suspense” for their holiday issue. The story was titled “Alfred Hitchcock cooks his own goose” and the assignment called for Watson to photograph the portly Brit presenting roast fowl on a serving dish. But Watson demurred and brought his own vision to bear – directing the legendary filmmaker in a series of photos depicting Hitchcock clasping an uncooked goose by the neck and throttling it with morbid elegance.

The photographs were pitch perfect and the world took note, launching Watson into the stratosphere of contemporary photography across every genre: portraiture, fashion, music, celebrity, still life, landscape, architecture, advertising, and fine art. Whether shooting Michael Jackson, Naomi Campbell, or Prince, King Tut’s artefacts, a Las Vegas dominatrix, or inmates at Angola State Prison – Watson deftly combines innovative thinking with a mastery of technique, making his work a visual symphony of rhythm, compositional harmony, and tonal melodies.

In celebration of his illustrious career, Taschen presents KAOS, an XXL collector’s edition of 1,200 signed and numbered copies that come in a clamshell box covered in faux chimpanzee fur – because, why not? Selections from the book are currently on view in an eponymous exhibition at Taschen Gallery, Los Angeles.

Watson’s ingenious approach, which includes a double exposure of Mick Jagger and a cheetah, and Michael Jackson dancing broken down into single frames, has set him apart from his contemporaries. With nearly 100 Vogue covers to his credit, Watson is still going strong at 75. What’s more, he prints all his photographs himself in his Tribeca studio. It is rare to see the hand of the artist in the photograph, but Watson understands that the process continues long after the shutter clicks. He speaks about how to master the art of photography.

Read the Full Story at Dazed

Photo: Sade, London, 1992. Photography Albert Watson

Photo: Tupac Shakur, New York City, 1991. Photography Albert Watson

Categories: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Books, Dazed, Exhibitions, Photography

Christopher Makos: Obey Your Instinct

Posted on November 7, 2017

Photo: Man Ray. Copyright Christopher Makos

In the 1976, Christopher Makos travelled to Fregene, Italy, where he briefly apprenticed for Man Ray. The legendary artist, who took Surrealism and Dada to new heights, was in his later years, yet the octogenarian remained very crisp, lucid, and creative. He imparted upon Makos a key piece of advice, “Obey your instinct,” which the young photographer fully embraced in both art and life.

Knowing that your gut reaction speaks the truth long before your mind has time to process the information, Makos brought this edict to every aspects of his work, from editing photographs to authoring 21 books. Among the tools of his trade was the Polaroid SX-70, the classic instamatic camera that revolutionised the photography world. With just one press of the button, you could take the shot and a print would emerge. It was the perfect embodiment of Man Ray’s faith in the intuitive process for creating art.

Last month, on the 80th anniversary of the Polaroid brand, the company launches Polaroid Originals and debuts with the OneStep 2 camera, along with colour, black-and-white, and special edition film, recapturing the magic of analogue photography in its most immediate form.

In the four decades since May Ray’s death, his words continue to guide Makos in the creation of art. As a member of the Factory from 1976 through 1986, Makos honed his skills alongside some of the greatest talents of the era, capturing them in photographs made for both work and play. He shares his wisdom and insights garnered from a life spent honing his instinct and following his intuition.

Read the Full Story at Dazed

Photo: Randall. Copyright Christopher Makos

Categories: 1970s, Art, Dazed, Photography