It’s the Final Countdown!

We are so excited and happy to announce that not one, but both of us, Caleb and Steph, are among the 15 finalists in Boston for grants from Artadia: The Fund for Art and Dialogue. The news came out officially today, and we’re really honored to be included. You can read more below, as both of us are pretty excited beyond words. We’ll each post in the next few days about what this means for us personally and update you on the process. We are now preparing to go through the second round, which involves a studio visit with jurors who will decide which 7 of the 15 finalists to fund.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8, 2009

SHORT-LIST OF 15 FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR ARTADIA AWARDS 2009 BOSTON

New York, NY—The exceptional range of artists living and working in Boston was evident as three internationally prominent jurors selected the 15 Finalists for the second cycle of Artadia Awards 2009 Boston. Jurors Sanford Biggers (artist, New York), Dan Cameron (Founding Director, Chief Curator, Prospect New Orleans), and Randi Hopkins (Associate Curator, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston) named the finalists out of the nearly 600 applications received for the second cycle of Artadia Awards in Boston.

The 15 Finalists for the Artadia Awards 2009 Boston are: Claire Beckett, Cree Bruins, Ambreen Butt, Laura Chasman, Caleb Cole, Margo Cooper, Raul Gonzalez, Eric Gottesman, Wendy Jacob, Erik Levine, Steph Plourde-Simard, Nick Rodrigues, Amie Siegel, Suara Welitoff, and Joe Zane.

Peter Eleey (Visual Arts Curator, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis) and Rita Gonzalez (Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art) will join Randi Hopkins in Boston for the final jury studio visits later this month from Thursday, July 30 through Saturday, August 1, 2009. The jury will then select seven Artadia Awardees for two awards of $15,000 and five awards of $3,000. The list of seven Artadia Awardees will be announced by mid-August.

make some art

This past weekend, during some of my time off, I made this little art project/reminder for myself out of a thrift store picture and some white paint.  It took me a while, but I’m quite pleased with the results.

4th of July

This weekend was fantastic— a whole weekend off of work and time to relax.  It was also my wife’s birthday on the 4th, so we went over to a friend’s house for a bbq/karaoke birthday party.  I’ve removed the incriminating pictures, and what was left was these few.  Ha!  It was a blast.

It’s a party

How did I forget to mention that I have a small show opening on Thursday evening? Oh wait, I know, it’s because I’ve been incredibly busy!

I’m showing images from 2 different series: 6 from Grounded, and 10 from new work so fresh it doesn’t really have a title yet. It all seems to fit nicely with the theme of the store, which sells vintage clothing and accessories, so I chose black and white and platinum/palladium images shot with large format pinhole cameras and Holgas.

The opening is part of Jamaica Plain First Thursdays. There will be punch, and hopefully you as well.

Also, Dame has a blog, and a big thanks Dany for having me! It’s great to show work in my own neighborhood (literally a couple blocks from home), and at an independent,  locally-owned business.

Awesome things from other blogs

This photo by Jack Delano and a link to his archives at the Library of Congress via photographylot

This photo by Nocolai Howalt via the Feature Shoot blog

© Nocolai Howalt

This photo by David Sykes via A Photo Editor

© David Sykes

The photos of Anthony Georgis via A Photography Blog:

© Anthony Georgis

This series and interview with Carrie Will via Nymphoto:

© Carrie Will

This photo by Kate Hutchinson via her blog:

© Kate Hutchinson

This photo by Eriver Hijano via Nihilsentimentalgia:

© Eriver Hijano

This photo by Kristoffer Svenberg via i heart photograph:

© Kristoffer Svenberg

This photo by Daniel Shea via Dreamboats:

© Daniel Shea

John Cage’s “Water Walk” also via Digressions: A Photo Blog

shoes!

While out running some errands on my day off yesterday, I stopped in the Davis Square Goodwill and immediately saw these knee-high boots I had to have:

Another photographer who let me shoot in her apartment for Other People’s Clothes playfully accused me of inventing a project that would allow me to play dress up over and over, and it’s true. I like playing dress up. Maybe I didn’t get enough of it as a kid.

So what will I do with them? I have no idea. But who could pass these up?

back home again

This past weekend I made a very short trip back to Indiana for my sister-in-law’s graduation party.  It felt like we spent more time waiting for planes and on planes than spending time with family, though the time I did spend was spent mostly enjoying the moment instead of thinking of photographing it.  I photographed mostly to fill the in-between moments, so here is some of the little I brought back:

photography and marginalized communities

Is it possible to exploit a marginalized group with your art if you are a member of said marginalized group? This is a question I keep grappling with.

When images of people from marginalized groups (people who are considered “exotic” or “strange” by outsiders) are made by those in positions of power and privilege, these images often reduce these people to their labels or their conditions, make them into specimens to be oogled. Depending on what a viewer knows about a photographer and depending on the way an image is made, photographs of the poor or homeless, disabled, queer, sex workers, drug and alcohol users, carnival acts, indigenous peoples, etc. can read as exploitative. So what happens when you find out that an image you think is f*#$ed up is made by a member of that marginalized group?

Let’s get specific here. I’m particularly sensitive to images made of transpeople. I find that many portraits of gender-transgressive individuals exploit the viewer’s fascination/revulsion/sympathy/pity and as a result make reductive portraits of people whose lives are far more complicated than the labels they use or the surgeries they’ve had or the seeming incongruencies in their appearances. This isn’t to say that it’s impossible to make a series of images of trans/queer people— I think there are some artists who have done a really interesting job. I also think there are artists whose work does nothing exciting visually or intellectually, whose work doesn’t challenge me to rework my notions of anything (other than maybe addressing some Tranny 101 sex/gender distinctions that have been done to death and are boring and borderline cliche at this point). But since trans-themed anything right now is hot (just ask Oprah) the artist who photographs transpeople will surely garner attention— maybe the artist’s motivations aren’t so calculated but I’m bored to death of the same old trans portraits with nothing new to say other than to point to a subject’s trans status. That’s f—ing offensive to me.

But back to my original question, is it possible to exploit one’s own group, even unintentionally? I don’t think that trans photographers looking to make sense of their own lives and their community are seeking to exploit their own, but I do wonder if some aren’t a little too comfortable with being made into a two-dimensional spectacle if it greatly benefits their career.  I’m sure it’s a fine line that’s difficult to navigate.  For starters, how would one know if someone is saying they love your edgy/fascinating work because they really get it or because they’re titillated by seeing the bodies and people you photograph, and are excited by the prospect of presenting a trans-themed exhibition for the “street cred” it would afford them?  At what point are you called to look after your community over your career if your work is being framed/presented in ways that you did not intend?  But on the flip side, what amount of educating is one expected to do, should one have to do, to avoid being treated like an exotic commodity?  And should one refuse benefits ascribed to being a part of a group that in other situations would not only cause the denial of said benefits but might actually bring about harm?

I have far more questions than answers.  And maybe if I fear that fascination with content is winning out over perspective and message and a unique voice, it’s not really about the individual photographers at all.  It’s about the art world and the way that (some) commercial art venues function, the ways that many people approach viewing art, what they expect from art and exhibitions, and ultimately about the dominant culture at large and its views of transpeople, and then how the art world responds to the views of the dominant culture (the prevalence of the shocking and rare/different in contemporary art).   I don’t know where I’m going with this.  But how does one fight back when they feel a little used, and at what point is visability for the invisible a bad thing?  More questions, more questions.

notes from a wedding

Two weekends ago I went to a friend’s wedding at the Brooklyn Bonatical Gardens.  I wasn’t the official photographer but took my camera with me to photograph whatever struck me.

[click to enlarge panorama]

this last one was from the drive home— when I pulled over to get gas, at my feet was a partially-eaten chip in the shape of a heart.

Embodiment

I keep meaning to post about Molly Landreth’s series Embodiment: a Portrait of Queer Life in America, but I want to say something more articulate than “this is awesome”. Really though, it’s pretty awesome. You need to check it out.

There’s something special and intriguing that happens when people document their own community. It doesn’t mean that the photographs are automatically better –of course skill is still a crucial part of image-making– but having the ability to really understand and experience a  subject, to have the foresight and and background and history to know about the nuances, tensions, and issues below the surface, brings a significant advantage to the storytelling.

I looked all over for something I read once that Nan Goldin said, about how you can really only photograph your own people. I couldn’t find it (please comment if you know the quote I’m talking about), but the message is related. I don’t think photographers delve into identity politics very often, but having dedicated my education pre-photography to race, class, gender, and sexuality, I can’t help but notice the strength that exists in work that attempts to portray a community either from within, or as an effort to really, truly honor the subjects.

Images © Molly Landreth

The second print I ever bought

Ron Cowie was an instructor of mine at NESOP. He’s fantastic, and aside from teaching me a lot about alternative processes, he has great ways of introducing the creative process into the classroom. I actually liked his class so much that I took it twice.

Right now Ron is having a very affordable print sale on his website. I just bought the image below and I’m really excited to find a place for it on my new and fairly empty apartment walls.

© Ron Cowie

Momentum

This isn’t an official First to Fifty update, but I did wanted to post about some of the good things that have come my way so far as a result of getting my work out into the world (through the calls for entry and otherwise).

+ Two images from my series Other People’s Clothes were accepted into the New England Photography Biennial at the Danforth Museum of Art.  I’m so excited for the show.

+ Another of my images was accepted into a show called Important Things at The Little Gallery Under the Stairs.  The image was also awarded “Best in Show” and will be used for the show’s promotional materials.

+ I’ve gotten to participate in some cool shows like SFCamerawork’s Ersatz show and the JP Open Studios Small Works show.

+ I will be speaking about my work on Arts Inside Radio in July— more info on that later.

+ As mentioned previously, I’m in the most recent tinytinygroupshow and have an image in the current NESOP Juried Alumni Exhibition.

Now the problem is that once you win something, you have to follow through— this means less time to do more submitting because I’m spending time working on images, printing, framing, and delivering my work!  It’s a good problem to have and I hope to keep the momentum going.

I will say that I’m also working on some exciting and different new projects.  I’m hoping to have them (or at least one of them) in showable shape sometime soon so that I can post them on my website and get them out into the world as well.

John O’Reilly

I’ve only recently really gotten into John O’Reilly’s work.  It appeals to me on lots of levels: the use of his own body and likeness in his work, the connection and reference to art history and queer history, the mix of “sacred” art and “profane” pornography, the cross-genre nature of photography/collage, the thematic issues he deals with…  I love how intimate the work seems, how personal.  I also love its exploratory feel— my favorite work is work that is searching, looking for meaning, looking for a connection.  I plan to hunt down some more reading material on O’Reilly’s work and spend some more time exploring it myself.

Forgive the terrible reproductions I found on the internet, but it’s the best I could find:

© John O’Reilly

© John O’Reilly

© John O’Reilly

© John O’Reilly

If I had the money, I would buy the one remaining John O’Reilly print in the PRC Print Program in a heartbeat:

© John O’Reilly

More info on John O’Reilly:

Article on Queer Arts

Article from Frieze Magazine – Issue 73, March 2003