November Photo Chat Chat | Alanna Airitam, Russell C. Banks, Mary Anne Mitchell, Sam Zalutsky

It’s time again for one of the Griffin’s  popular programs, the Photo Chat Chat.

Join us November 19th at 7pm Eastern in the Griffin Zoom Room for a great conversation with four very different stories of we are bringing the talents of four unique artists Alanna Airitam, Russell C. Banks, Mary Anne Mitchell and Sam Zalutsky

Our Photo Chat Chat is a monthly conversation bringing together four members of the Griffin community to share their work, ideas and creativity with a broader audience. We are thrilled to bring together these four artists who have unique perspectives on creativity and the world they inhabit.

Here is a look at the four artists we are featuring this month.

Alanna Airitam

© Alana Airitam – Moment of Truth N.1

Questioning generalized stereotypes and the lack of fair and equal representation of people of color in art spaces has led artist Alanna Airitam to research critical historical omissions and how those contrived narratives represent and influence succeeding generations. Her photographic series The Golden Age, Crossroads, White Privilege, and individual works such as Take a Look Inside and How to Make a Country ask the viewer to question who they are and how they choose to be seen. Crossroads is currently on exhibit in our Critic’s Pick Virtual Gallery.

Airitam’s portraits and vanitas are photographed in studio with minimal lighting rendering a painterly quality to her photographs. The archival pigment prints from The Golden Age series are hand-varnished while those in the Crossroads, Take a Look Inside and How to Make a Country series are archival prints encased in resin and placed in hand-welded frames. All works are produced by the artist in limited editions.

Alanna is a 2020 San Diego Art Prize winner, 2020 Top 50 Critical Mass Finalist, and recipient of the 2020 Michael Reichmann Project Grant Award. Her photographs have been exhibited at Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago, Quint Gallery in San Diego, San Diego Art Institute, Art Miami with Catherine Edelman, Athenaeum Art Center in San Diego, and Candela Gallery in Richmond, Virginia. Born and raised in Queens, New York, Airitam now resides in Tucson, Arizona.

Russell C. Banks

© Russell C. Banks, Floating World. Dolphin, 2019

Mary Anne Mitchell

© Mary Anne Mitchell, “Hidden Realms 23”

Mary Anne Mitchell is a fine art photographer working primarily with analog processes. Her most recent series Hidden Realms is shot using wet plate collodion. The images depict situations, often mysterious, which evoke her southern roots. She recently was a finalist in the 8th Edition of the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards and has been invited to exhibit some of this series in the 4th Biennial of Photography to be held in Berlin. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across the country and can be found in private and corporate collections across the US, Dubai, Taiwan, and Canada. She lives in Atlanta, GA.

Sam Zalutsky

© Sam Zalutsky, “Meat Rack 11”

As a photographer, Sam Zalutsky won honorable mention with two Meat Rack series photos, #3 and #8, in this year’s SoHo Photo National Competition, curated by Kris Graves. He also presented the series in MANA Contemporary’s Digital Open House. Earlier this year, two images from his Ghost Self Portrait series appeared in shows: “Katherine I,” was selected for the Photographic Center Northwest’s Distinction show, also curated by Kris Graves, and “Nutty with Ghost Self,” was part of “the imperfect lens,” at the A Smith gallery (Johnson City, TX) curated by Michael Kirchoff. Last year, Sam participated in Review Santa Fe and his photo, “Meat Rack 8,” was in the Center for Fine Art Photography’s 2018 Center Forward show (Kris Graves & Hamidah Glasgow, curators).

As a filmmaker, Sam’s new feature, SEASIDE, a revenge thriller with a queer twist, starring Ariana DeBose (Anita, Steven Spielberg’s West SideStory; Alyssa, Ryan Murphy’s The Prom;original Hamiltoncast) won Best Feature Award at the Klamath Film Festival and was a 2019 Gravitas Ventures release. His first feature, YOU BELONG TO ME (Wolfe Releasing), a gay horror story, was shortlisted for the Independent Spirit Award’s Someone to Watch Award and screened at Frameline, Outfest, Palm Springs, San Diego FilmOut (Audience Award, Best First Feature), and NewFest (Honorable Mention). Sam directed on A Crime to Rememberand I, Witness. His short, HOW TO MAKE IT TO THE PROMISED LAND, about a Holocaust role-play game at summer camp, was funded by the Jerome Foundation and premiered on ShortoftheWeek.com. He has created dozens of videos on breast cancer survivors, New York non-profits including Prep for Prep, Reach Prep, and Civic Builders, and campaign videos for New York progressive politicians Biaggi, Jackson, Richardson, and Cabán, with the Creative Resistance. Residencies: MacDowell; VCCA; Fundación Valparaiso. Sam teaches screenwriting in the Spalding University Low Residency MFA in Writing (Louisville), and has taught at NYU, Bennington, and Tec de Monterey (Queretaro). MFA, film, NYU Tisch; BA, Yale.