Griffin Museum of Photography

Amani Willett: The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer

Posted on

Artist Statement
Searching for a place to be at peace in the wilderness, my dad bought seven acres of undeveloped land in central New Hampshire in the late 1970s. It wasn’t until 2010 that I became curious about the story of a man named Joseph Plummer, who we were told lived in the same woods during the late 1700s and 1800s. It was said this local legend left his town of a mere 100 people to be in seclusion. Researching and finding very little concrete information about Joseph has paradoxically heightened his presence in my mind and inspired me to seek out what drove him from his life. I uncovered some of his personal belongings and spent summers tracking down the places where he spent his days. Interviews with local residents told of his hostility to “loafers and spendthrifts” and his “mortal opposition to progress, generally.” But the scant information about Joseph only inspires more questions and feeds his local mythology.

I believe the story of Joseph Plummer parallels my dad’s and now my desire to disappear into the landscape of central New Hampshire. Joseph’s world is an unabashedly romantic view of nature and its sublime power, yet his life and the landscape he inhabited exude the mystery of the unknowable. My dad and I often take long walks in the New Hampshire woods, usually ending up searching for where the hermit lived. While we’ve been to the site of his long-gone home many times, we somehow always get lost along the way – and getting lost seems to be the point. In our modern world when it can be difficult to disconnect, following Joseph’s path into the woods offers a welcome respite. – AW

Bio
Amani Willett is a Brooklyn and Boston-based photographer whose practice is driven by conceptual ideas surrounding family, history, memory, and the social environment. Working primarily with the book form, his two monographs have been published to widespread critical acclaim. Both books, Disquiet (Damiani, 2013) and The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer (Overlapse, 2017), were selected by Photo-Eye as “best books” of the year and have been highlighted in over 50 publications including ​Photograph Magazine, PDN,​ ​Hyperallergic, Lensculture, New York Magazine and 1000 Words​ and recommended by ​Todd Hido,​ ​Elisabeth Biondi (former Visuals Editor of The New Yorker), Vince Aletti and Joerg Colberg (Conscientious), among others.

Amani’s photographs are also featured in the books​ Bystander: A History of Street Photography (2017 edition, Laurence King Publishing), ​Street Photography Now​ (Thames and Hudson), ​New York: In Color​ (Abrams), and have been published widely in places including A​merican Photography,​ Newsweek,​ Harper’s,​ ​The Huffington Post, The New York Times and The New York Review of Books​.​ His work resides in the collections of the Tate Modern, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Oxford University, and Harvard University, among others.

Amani completed an MFA in Photography, Video and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts, NY in 2012 and a BA from Wesleyan University in 1997. In addition to his artistic practice, Amani currently teaches photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston​.

CV
EDUCATION

M.F.A. Photography, Video and Related Media, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, 2012
B.A. American Studies, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, 1997

SELECTED SOLO AND GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2019
Mutable/Multiple: Format Photo Festival, Derby, England
The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer, The Griffin Museum of Photography
The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer, Fordham University
Showing: Working Families: University of Colorado
Winter Pictures, Humble Arts Foundation

2018
Recent Photo Books, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA
Photography Book Show, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
Showing: Working Families: University Art Gallery, California State University

2015
Underground Railroad: Hiding in Place, Adelphi University
Photography Book Show, Athens Photography Festival
In-Public at “Foto Mexico,” Mexico City

2014
Tough Turf: New Directions in Street Photography, Humble Arts Foundation
Camera Club of New York Benefit Auction, New York, NY
Disquiet (solo show), Citibank Cultural Center, Asuncion, Paraguay

2013
Book, Film, Painting – Stuart Pilkington Projects (online)
Family, Detroit Center for Contemporary Photography, Detroit, MI
In Public – In Stockholm, Center for Urban Photography, Stockholm, Sweden
Ideas City Festival, The New Museum, New York, NY
In-Public: On the Street, Bangkok, Thailand

2012
Conscious Things, Picture Space, Bushwick, Brooklyn
The 2nd International Photography Festival, Tel Aviv-Jaffa Port, Israel
School of School of Visual Arts Thesis Exhibition, SVA Gallery, New York, NY
Emerging Artists Auction, Daniel Cooney Fine Art, New York, NY
New York: In Color, Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

2011
From Distant Streets, Galerie Hertz. Louisville, KY
Street Photography Now, Fundacja. DOC. Warsaw, Poland
Street Photography Now, London Street Photography Festival
In-Public, Derby Museum, Format International Photography Festival, Derby, England
Street Photography Now, Uno Art Space, Stuttgart
Street Photography Now, Contributed, Berlin

2010
Street Photography Now, Third Floor Gallery, London
In-Public, Photofusion, London, May 28 – July 9, 2010
13th Annual Friends of Friends Photography Show and Auction

2008
Picturing Cuba (solo exhibition), Cuban Art Space, Brooklyn

2006
Crosswalks: Contemporary Street Photography, Oklahoma City Museum
Here Is New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

2003
Life In The City, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

2002
Towards a New Era: Photographs from South Africa, Open Society Institute, Washington DC

2001
Here Is New York, New York, NY
August Art, Raw Space, New York, NY
South Africa, Madiba, Brooklyn, NY
Fort Greene Photo Association, Brooklyn, NY

2000
Fragments, Taranto Gallery, New York, NY

1998
New Photographs, The Park Gallery, New York, NY

MONOGRAPHS

“The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer,” fall 2017, Overlapse, London.
“Disquiet,” spring 2013. Damiani, Italy. Text by Marvin Heiferman.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2019
Fisheye Magazine Photobook Vol. 3

2018
All the Pretty Pictures: Review Presents Review Santa Fe, Pasatiempo

2017
Bystander : A history of Street Photography, 3rd Edition, Phaidon (forthcoming) 

2015
Exchange Edit, Fototazo, March 2015
“Selfie,” Ain’t Bad Magazine, December 2015

2014
Exhibition Essay, Tough Turf, Humble Arts Foundation, February 2014
Ten Minutes with Amani Willett, This is the What, April 2014
Find Your Beach, The New York Review of Books, October 2014
When the Levee Breaks, The Mockingbird, Fall 2014
Gateway to Freedom, Harper’s Magazine, December 2014

2013
Lenscratch, April, 2013
The LPV Show – Episode 10, Spring 2013
How to Start a Project, Fototazo, Spring 2013

2012
LPV Magazine, Issue 5. November, 2012

2011
New York: In Color, Abrams, Fall 2011
Fototazo, The Image, Summer 2011
Fototazo, Portfolio and Interview, Winter, 2011

2010
Street Photography Now, Thames and Hudson, Fall 2010
American Photography 26, November 2010
10ʼ 10 Years of In-Public, Nick Turpin Publishing, Spring 2010

2006
American Photography 23, 2006

2003
Regeneration: Telling Stories From Our Twenties, Tarcher, Spring 2003

2000
Popular Photography, April 2000
The Millennium Photo Project, Smashing Books! 2000

Additional Publication Credits: Adbusters, American Photography, Art in America, BOMB, Popular Photography, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Whitney Museum

SELECTED PRESS

2018
“Yogurt Magazine,” Feature, May
“The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer,” Book Review, Phroom, April
“The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer,” Book Review, Musee Magazine, March
“The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer,” Book Review, Clavoardieno Magazine, March
“Project Spotlight: The Disappearance of Joseph Plumer,” Photo Emphasis, February
“Book Review,” Foto Cult Magazine, January
“Getting Lost in the Woods,” Huck Magazine, January
“The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer,” Book Review, Black and White Magazine, January
“The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer,” Book Review, Conscientious Photo Magazine, January
“Disquiet” feature, This is Paper Magazine, february

2017
“Best Books of 2017,” Photo Eye Books, December
“Best Books of 2017,” Humble Arts Foundation, December
“Best Books of 2017” Elin Spring (Photographic Resource), December
“Moors Magazine,” “The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer” review, December
“Phroom Magazine,” “Disquiet” feature, December
“Don’t Take Pictures,” December
“PH Museum,” Review, December
“Photo Eye – Book of the Day,” December
“Josef Chladek’s Bookshelf,” December
“II Post,” “The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer” Review, December
“II Sole 24 Ore,” The Disapperance of Jospeh Plummer” Review, December
“Photo N Magazine,” December
“PDN Holiday Gift Guide Recommendations” November
“Lenscratch” feature, November
“Phases Magazine” November
“Lifo Magazine” feature, November
“Hyperallergic Interview” November
“Internazionale Magazine” November
“This Isn’t Happiness” November
“Photo Eye” Interview with Adam Bell, October
“Loeil de la Photographie” – Feature, October
“Photo Book Store” Review of “The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer, October
“Le Monde de la Photo” Review of “The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer, October
“The Photo Show” Podcast interview, October
“Creative Boom” Bewitching books for Halloween, October
“Responses Photo” Review of “The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer, October
“Huffington Post” – Interview and portfolio feature, February

2016
“American Photography “ magazine, June 2016
“New Books in Photography” New Books Network, December 2016

2015
“Hiding in Place” on Lenscratch, February 2015
Bleek Magazine, August 2015
We Heart Magazine, November 2015
“Underground Railroad,” Selektor Magazine, October 2015
“Hiding in Place” on Lenscratch, February 2015

2014
Harper’s Magazine,  December , 2014
 Possession Box, We Heart It, August 2014
Street, The Tree Mag, August 2014
Disquiet, Books are Nice!, July 2014
Disquiet, The Angry Bat, June, 2014
Disquiet, Joseph Chladek, May 2014
Disquiet Book Review, MutantSpace, February 2014
Disquiet feature, Broken Spine, February 2014
Disquiet, The New Frame, February 2014
Disquiet, Broken Spine, February 2014
Best Books of 2013, Photo-Eye, January 2014
Best Books of 2013, Mark Power, January 2014

2013
Favorite Books of 2013, Conscientious Photo Magazine, December 2013
Best books of 2013, PDN, December 2013
PDN “Exposures,” October, 2013
Photograph Magazine, Vince Aletti review, September 2013
Paper Journal, Disquiet review, August 2013
LensCulture, August 2013
Fan the Fire Magazine, August 2013
Beauty in Photography, August 2013
Disquiet Book Review, Photo Eye, June 2013
Disquiet Review, Conscientious Photo Magazine, June 2013
Disquiet, Le Journal de la Photographie, June 2013
Book of the Day, PhotoEye, May 2nd, 2013
The Real New York, Complex, Spring 2013
Booooooom, Spring 2013
Disquiet, PhotoHab, Spring 2013
Dark Side of the Moon, Spring 2013
Disquiet, Athena Magazine, Spring 2013
Disquiet, Design You Trust, Spring 2013
Hustle and Bustle, It’s Nice That, Spring 2013
Street Masters, DeviantArt, Spring 2013

2012
Photographs on the Brain, December, 2012
Photographs on the Brain, October, 2012
Verve Photo, March, 2012
Design You Trust, February, 2012
Le Journal de La Photographie, “New York: In Color” Review, February, 2012
The Gaurdian, “New York In Color “Review, February 2012

2011
LEO Weekly, “From Distant Streets Review,” November 2011
The Red List, Winter, 2011

2007
The F Blog, December, 2007

TALKS/PANELS

Hampshire College, Amherest, MA 2017
Adelphi University, New York, 2015
Citibank Cultural Center, Asuncion, Paraguay, October 2014
Camera Club of New York, November 2013
Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, September 2013
School of Visual Arts, August 2013
International Center of Photography, November 2012
School of Visual Arts Commencement Speech, May 2012
Making Photographs in Color, Howard Greenberg Gallery, February 2012


AWARDS

Review Santa Fe, 2016
Alice Beck Odette Scholarship Recipient, 2012
American Photography 23 and 26
Eddie Adams Workshop, 2000


PERMANENT COLLECTIONS

The Tate Modern
The Elton John Photography Collection
The British Library (UK)
Duke University Perkins Library (Durham, NC)
Getty Research Institute Library (Los Angeles, CA)
Harvard University Fine Arts Library (Cambridge, MA)
Lesley University College of Art and Design (Cambridge, MA)
Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA)
University of Oxford (UK)

 

Review What Will You Remember

Barbara Diener: Phantom Power

Posted on

Artist Statement
In my previous body of work, Sehnsucht, I photographed in small, rural towns that triggered childhood memories. During that process I met and became fascinated with a woman named Kathy. She owns the diner in her town and lives on her husband’s family farm, which is haunted by his ancestors. Her belief in the spectral sparked my own interest in the unexplained and ties back to my ongoing curiosity about religion, spirituality and the human desire to believe that something else happens after we die and that a part of us-the spirit or soul-continues on.

The camera is a crucial tool for most paranormal investigators, so it was a natural step for me to become an amateur ghost hunter myself. Photography has been linked to the spirit world since the 1860s with the popularity of spirit photography and post-mortem portraits. Since its invention photography has lent a sense of immortality to its subjects. In recent years the paranormal has received amplified media attention through numerous ‘reality’ television programs that sensationalize any phenomena for the camera. On the contrary my approach is self-reflective and curious. To make the resulting images I have adopted both traditional and contemporary methods of capturing the invisible, as well as employed my own interpretation of the magical and mystical.

Bio
Born in 1982 in Germany Barbara Diener received her Bachelor of Fine Art in photography from the California College of the Arts and Masters in Fine Art in Photography from Columbia College Chicago.

Her work has been exhibited at Alibi Fine Art, Chicago, IL, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL, Hyde Park Art Center, Hyde Park, IL, David Weinberg Gallery, Chicago, IL, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA, Invisible Dog Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Lilllstreet Art Center, Chicago, IL, Riverside Art Center, Chicago, IL. Pingyao Photo Festival, China, The Arcade, Chicago, IL, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA, Darkroom Gallery, Essex Junction, VT and Project Basho, Philadelphia, PA among others. Diener’s photographs are part of several private and institutional collections including the New Mexico Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

In 2013 Diener was selected to participate in several highly ambitious and competitive artist residency programs, the Fields Project in Oregon, IL, ACRE in Steuben, WI, and HATCH Projects through the Chicago Artist Coaltition.

Diener is a winner of Flash Forward 2013, the recipient of a Follett Fellowship at Columbia College Chicago and was awarded the Albert P. Weisman Award in 2012 and 2013. In addition Diener received an Individual Artist Grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Events in 2015 and 2018. She is the Collection Manager in the Department of Photography at the Art Institute of Chicago and teaches photography at the School of the Art Institute.

In June 2018 Daylight Books published Diener’s first book Phantom Power.

Review What Will You Remember

Nearly West

Posted on

Artist Statement
Walker Pickering writes about his project: “As a child, I was fortunate to spend time with my father while he lived in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. This instilled in me a great sense of adventure, where travel has been formative to my work, and caused me to seek out the exotic among the ordinary. My long-term project, Nearly West, is a journey through the land of my childhood, re-imagining places my ancestors lived and experienced.”

Statement by Russell Lord on Nearly West
Looking intensely is an important, but strangely underrated, practice in contemporary photography. As Laughlin reminds us, it is through the act of looking intensely that we can begin to understand ourselves and the world around us. When we are very young, we do almost nothing but look. Consequently, we learn at an incredible rate in the early stages of life. As we age, learning and recognition becomes habitual, and looking becomes a cursory process. We look, we think we know, and we move on.

Walker Pickering (born 1980) is still paying very close attention to the things around him, and in his body of work, Nearly West, he draws our attention to various compelling remnants of human history: a children’s slide in a forest, a solar powered American flag light, building signage, motels, and empty parking lots. In some cases, Pickering presents a distant past (the slide is rusting and the flag light faded) in others, however, it appears that we have stumbled upon a recently—and suddenly—vacated space. All of these pictures embody a haunting and surreal sense of place and history, emphasizing the strangeness of the worlds that we create, populate, and then leave behind. Clarence John Laughlin often went out of his way to manipulate, distort, double, and stretch his subjects in order to impart a kind of psychic energy, to stress the surreal. Pickering, whose images are straight—if beautiful—transcripts of actual places, reminds us that the world is often strange enough as it is.

Russell Lord
Freeman Family Curator of Photographs
New Orleans Museum of Art

Bio
Walker Pickering (born 1980, Odessa, Texas, USA) is an American artist and photographer. Pickering was a 2018 finalist for the Prix HSBC pour la Photography, and winner of the 2013 Clarence John Laughlin Award. His work is widely exhibited both in the US and abroad, and included in private and public collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Since 2014 he has been an Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska, and he lives and works in Lincoln, NE and New York, NY.

 

Review What Will You Remember

Image of Structure

Posted on

Artist Statement
The Stata Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a monumental building, saturated with colors, that juts out in every direction. By capturing the structure in monochrome, I deconstructed this architectural work, flattened it, and transformed it into a graphical form. My aim is to pull the viewer into a surreal, disembodied space, without completely breaking from rational observation. This work was born out of a radical shift in my perception and emotion as I conducted my neuroscientific research at the Institute, where I had a direct view of the Stata Center.

As a researcher, I entered the laboratory to create theories about consciousness and to pursue truth through reasoning and scientific evidence. The longer I was at MIT, the more I came to understand the overwhelming, and unattainable, expectation to solve impossible problems and create knowledge that bends the historical arc of science. I witnessed ways that people – friends and colleagues – engaged in self-destructive behavior because of this pressure. As I honed my research skills, I grew disquieted as the secure sense of belief in rational thought and empirical evidence began to unravel. Like many others, I was left dysregulated, fragmented, and without a sense of direction. I intend for these images to represent this dis-ease.

Bio
Joshua Sariñana, PhD, took an interest in photography as his passion in the brain and mind started to develop. As he studied neuroscience at UCLA, MIT and Harvard, Sariñana began to switch his focus to the practice and theoretical study of photography.

He has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Griffin Museum of Photography, Panopticon Gallery, Aperture Gallery and has shown at the Month of Photography Los Angeles, and Photoville.
Sariñana is a two-time Critical Mass Top 200 Finalist. His work has been recognized by the Sony World Photography Awards, American Photography, and LensCulture. Sariñana has published his photography in several periodicals, including PDN, Black & White, Silvershotz, and SHOTS Magazines and has been featured on Time, CNN, and an iPhone commercial. He twice received the Council for the Arts Grant at MIT.

He has published several articles on the intersection of photography and neuroscience for PetaPixel, Don’t Take Pictures, and The Smart View. He has also given talks on neuroscience and photography at Trinity College, Dublin, Northeastern University, Flashpoint Boston, and the Griffin Museum of Photography. Sariñana currently resides in Cambridge, MA.

Rick Wright: The Vessels of Late Petroleum Age

Posted on

Rick Wright practices photography as a malleable and sculptural medium. This Philadelphia photographer  inhabits the persona of a c. 4300 CE archaeologist: a scientist stumbling onto a cache of preserved vessels crafted out of an unknown synthetic material. This Dada series of catalogued “artifacts” explores how a future society might interpret contemporary plastic containers. The project is driven by Wright’s creative lens work; the objects taking on new form, expression, and meaning. There are 27 digital photographs in his whole collection—printed with tri-tone pigment ink on Hahnemühle Bamboo paper at 12” x 18”.

Wright states, “Over the course of a full year, I ventured out into my Philadelphia neighborhood on recycling night. The purpose of my stroll was to dig through the blue bins piled high with plastic containers. The street lamps provided the perfect overhead lighting – akin to that original laundry room bulb – by which to preview the “personality” of each vessel. Wright goes on to say, “Photography suffers the unfortunate condition of looking like reality and it is the first thing to transcend as a photographer.” 

He trained first as an oil painter at Princeton and Columbia Universities (BA and MFA), then later morphed into a photographer with studies at ICP in NY with Nan Goldin, Susan Meiselas, Dorit Cypis, and Danny Lyon. Wright is a Philadelphia-based photographer working as a fine artist, an architectural photographer, and an instructor.

The Vessels of the Late Petroleum Age were featured on the cover of LensWork #144 magazine (Sept.-Oct. 2019); along with a 16-page spread. The work has also appeared online in Float Magazine and garnered a Fleisher Faculty Fellowship Award. Wright is currently working on a book of the series with a professional writer.

Several of his photographs reside in permanent collections: Houston Museum of Fine Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Creon Collection, Johnson & Johnson Collection, and The University of Pennsylvania. Wright keeps his studio in Philadelphia (past 13 years) and teaches photography at Fleisher Art Memorial, Peter’s Valley School of Art & Craft, and The Halide Project.

“Photography is 93% of my life,” says Wright. “The other 7% is occupied by typewriter repair, short story writing, and life model sketching. I chose photography over painting for its speed, joy, and unexpected bends of reality.”

View Rick Wright’s website.

Listen to the Optic’s Interview

Purchase Rick Wright’s Catalog

photo of a vessel catalog

 

Paris Visone: For Real

Posted on

PARIS VISONE RECEPTION CANCELLED TONIGHT. NO RESCHEDULE.

The publication of For Real marks the first time that Visone’s photographs appear in a book, showcasing her incredible work that bridges the gap between commercial photography and fine art. The book consists of 61 images with a foreword by noted photographer Cig Harvey. For Real presents intimate portraits of famous musicians and Visone’s own family, blurring the lines between private life, fame and public persona. In her photographs, Visone portrays her family and friends as rock stars while presenting renowned rock musicians with the intimacy of friends and family. Which one of her subjects is a public figure and which is her sister, cousin or mother? Visone makes it difficult to tell as she treats every subject equally with respect and love. The exhibition For Real, featured at the Griffin’s gallery at The Greater Boston Stage Company in Stoneham, is culled from the book to fit our gallery space.

The book was designed by award-winning photo book designer Ashly Stohl and published by Peanut Press. The book will be available at the Griffin Museum in Winchester and at Paris’ reception.

Paris Visone is a documentary photographer based in Boston. She graduated from The Art Institute of Boston where she was a faculty member. Her acclaimed series “Gender Roles and Appearance” received the Getty Images Editorial Photography Grant, and her work has been shown internationally in solo and group exhibitions. Visone has traveled the globe with numerous musical icons including Marilyn Manson, Blondie, Toto, Godsmack, New Found Glory and Limp Bizkit. Bringing her unique style on the road, she captures a personal side of these musicians through her photographs that is rarely seen. She has also been featured in numerous publications such as Rolling Stone, Spin, Alternative Press, Zoom Magazine, Rangefinder, Real Simple, and GEO Magazine. She is represented for photographic syndication by Redux Pictures and is sponsored by Canon.

Primary Source

Posted on

Primary Sources are documents that were created by witnesses or first recorders of events. We’ve come to expect that photographs are reliable and reveal the truth about moments in time. It has been said that photographs do not lie, however we all know they can. But so can a written record. A photograph can be altered through manual and digital means. The validity of a photo can also be changed to communicate a photographer’s point of view rather than the reality of the situation. A subject in a photograph may have alternative motives for being photographed. Photographs taken for marketing purposes are meant to influence public opinion and behavior rather than truth-tell.

This exhibition was meant to depict the photograph as document or as proof to phenomena or  happenings. The photographer was meant to be seen as witness. I asked the submitters to interpret that instruction fluidly. Was I only  interested in documentary photography? That was one way to answer this call. I asked them, however, to use their imaginations to come up with answers to my query. It is your responsibility, dear viewer, to determine fact or fiction in these 67 primary source materials.

The 67 photo chroniclers are:
Mildred Alpern
David Anderson
Roger Archibald
Jan Arrigo
Anne-Laure Autin
Carson Barnes
Karen Bell
Meg Birnbaum
Edward Boches
Sally Bousquet
Valerie Burke
Joy Bush
Erin Carey
Davida Carta
Bill Chapman
Sally Chapman
Annie Claflin
Dawn Colsia
Lee Cott
Allison Dinner
Alex Djordjevic
Richard Dweck
Diane Fenster
Kev Filmore
Carole Glauber
Steven Gentile
Scott Gordon
Lauren Grabelle
Michal Greenboim
Law Hamilton
Silke Hase
Sandy Hill
Yoko Ishii
Leslie Jean-Bart
Jamie Johnson
Marcy Juran
Amy Kanka Valadarsky
Ken Kartes
Gioia Kuss
Bree Lamb
James Lattanzio
Sunjoo Lee
Susan Lirakis
Marcia Lloyd
Joni Lohr
Bruce Magnuson
Vicki Margulies
Olga Merrill
Yvette Meltzer
Judith Montminy
Ruth Nelson
Nancy Nichols
Jane Paradise
Katherine Richmond
Tony Schwartz
Sam Scoggins
Sara Silks
Zachary Stephens
Vicky Stromee
Neelakantan Sunder
Donna  Tramontozzi
Inna Valin
Dianne Yudelson
Mara Zaslove
Joanne Zeis
Mike Zeis
Charlyn Zlotnik

American Mosaic

Posted on

Statement

My American Mosaic series honors America’s rich multicultural heritage through diverse portraits. The ‘melting pot’ metaphor is being replaced by new metaphors like ‘mosaic’ which suggest an integration that blends yet preserves each culture’s unique qualities rather than promoting one homogenous culture. The photographs illustrate the beauty of a heterogeneous society and celebrate both the similarities and differences between its people. I have attended many multicultural celebrations and festivals to find the individuals in this series, all of whom are proudly wearing their own traditional dress. I believe America is a young country that can benefit from the wisdom of myriad cultures and ancient traditions passed down through the generations. In an age of increasing intolerance, my series encourages cross cultural understanding, intercultural dialogue and harmony.

Bio

After many years in New York City working as a professional documentary and portrait photographer for newspapers and magazines, Melissa now lives in Denver, Colorado where she continues to pursue her artistic passions as a fine art photographer. Her current projects explore heritage, identity, and multiculturalism. Melissa’s photographs have been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries in the United States and around the world including two recent exhibitions in China and the Barcelona Foto Biennale in Spain.

CV
Solo and Small Group Shows:

American Mosaic, Colorado State Capitol Building, Denver, CO, May 2019

American Mosaic, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA September – January, 2019

Group Shows:

She, A Smith Gallery, Juror Joyce Tenneson, Johnson City, TX, 2019

The Big Picture, Street Art, Curator Mark Sink, Denver, CO, 2019

13th Yixian Photography Festival, Xidi Ancient Village, Curator Guo Jing, Yixian, Anhui, China 2018

2nd Lang Jingshan Cup China New Pictorial Photography Biennale, Huai’an International Photography Museum, Curator Guo Jing, Huai’an, Jiangsu, China 2018

–Barcelona Foto Biennale, Space Nau Bostik, Curator Julio Hirsch-Hardy, Barcelona, Spain 2018

–American Splendour, ILON Gallery, Jurors Jon Feinstein, David Rosenberg, Hannah Frieser, Loni Efron, and Ruben Natal-San Miguel, New York, NY 2018

–Annual Members’ Show, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Juror Paula Tognarelli, Denver, CO 2018

-Celebrating Women (Honorable Mention), Photoplace Gallery, Juror Joyce Tenneson, Middlebury, VT  2018

-Lens 2018 (Best in Show Award), Perspective Gallery, Juror Paula Tognarelli, Evanston, IL 2018

-1st Annual Members Exhibition, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Juror Brian Paul Clamp, Fort Collins, CO 2018

-Identity, The Curated Fridge, Gallery Kayafas, Flashpoint Festival, Juror Brian Paul Clamp, Boston, MA 2017

-Intimate Portrait, The SE Center for Photography, Juror Joyce Tenneson, Greenville, SC 2017

-3rd Annual Group Show, Davis Orton Gallery, Juror Paula Tognarelli, Hudson, NY, 2017

-Intimate Portrait, Photoplace Gallery, Juror Joyce Tenneson, Middlebury, VT 2017

-Art of Resistance/ Art of Resilience, Feral Factory/The Crash, Jurors Tracy Weil, Louise Martorano, Martha Weidmann, Denver, CO 2017

-Radical Heterogeneity in the City, Feral Factory/The Crash, Denver, CO 2017

-Shutter Relief: Social Awareness Through the Lens, Dona Laurita Gallery, Louisville, CO 2017

-Peace Through the Lens…An American Story,(Best of Show) Chicano Humanities & Arts Council, Denver, CO 2017

-Representing the West: A New Frontier, Juror Don Stinson, Sangre De Cristo Arts Center, Pueblo, CO, 2017

-The Big Picture, Street Art, Juror Mark Sink, Denver, CO 2017

-America, Light Leaked, Juror Roger May, Online Exhibition, 2016

-2nd Annual Group Show,Davis Orton Gallery, Juror Paula Tognarelli, Hudson, NY, 2016

-Point of View: Contemporary Photography, Site: Brooklyn, Juror Mitra Abbaspour, Brooklyn, NY, 2016

-Real American (Honorable Mention),117 Gallery, Juror Peter Baker, Ann Arbor, MI, 2016

-Louisville National Juried Photography Show (First Place), Louisville Center for the Arts, Juror Dona Laurita, Louisville, CO 2016

-RAW, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art (LACDA), Curator Rex Bruce, Los Angeles, CA 2016

-Portraits, Center for Fine Art Photography, Juror Martha Schneider, Fort Collins, CO, 2016

-Art Through the Lens, Yeiser Art Center, Juror Sarah Sudhoff, Paducah, KY, 2015

-Travelers 5 (Best of Show), TBell Photographic Gallery, Juror Susan Froyd, Denver, CO 2015

-Denver Collage Club,Robert Anderson Gallery, Denver, CO 2015

-Truth and Perception, ACAD Gallery, Denver, CO 2015

-Focus, Spark Gallery, Juror Mark Sink, Denver, CO 2015

-The Big Picture, Street Art, Juror Mark Sink, Denver, CO 2015

-Electron Salon,Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Curator Rex Bruce, Los Angeles, CA 2014

-Member’s Juried Group Show, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Juror Mark Sink, Denver, CO 2014

-Wondrous Indeed,Center for Fine Art Photography, Juror Phillip Toledano, Fort Collins, CO 2014

-The Story of the Creative,See Me Exhibition Space, Long Island City, NY 2013

-The Big Picture,Street Art, Juror Mark Sink, Denver, CO 2013

-Wow,Core New Art Gallery, Denver, CO 2013

-From Analog to Digital,Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Curator Rex Bruce, Los Angeles, CA 2011

-Scapes, Brooklyn Artist Gym, Brooklyn, NY 2011

-Look See: Photographs on Reflections, Brooklyn Artist Gym, Brooklyn, NY 2009

-American Society of Media Photographers Juried Show,Center for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, CO 2008

-Roles, Rites, & Rituals: Customs, Relationships, and Body Image, Pen and Brush, NY, NY 2007

Blogs and Photography Websites:

My photography has been seen on Lenscratch, aCurator, and Photo District News blogs.

Honors and Awards:

Photolucida Critical Mass Top 200 Finalist 2018

11th Pollux Awards: Portrait category, Winner 2018

11th Pollux Awards: People category, Honorable mention 2018

11th Pollux Awards: Culture and Daily Life category, Finalist 2018

Le Prix de la Photographie de Paris ( PX3 ), Portraiture / Culture, Honorable Mention 2018

Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA), Fine Art-Portrait category, Honorable Mention 2017

One of the 100 Photographers selected for Review Santa Fe at CENTER, 2017

Work Experience:
My photography clients have included: The New York Times, The Financial Times, NY Daily News, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Columbia University, Treasury and Risk Magazine, Robb Report Magazine, Showboats International Magazine, The New Times, among others.

Website

The Griffin Museum Secondary School Photography Exhibit 2020

Posted on

The Griffin Museum brings a Juried Secondary School Photography Exhibition to the Carney Gallery/ Regis College Fine Arts Center at 235 Wellesley Street, Weston, MA 02493

January 5 – 12, 2020
Reception and Awards Ceremony January 5, 2020 from 1 – 3 PM

There are 26 schools participating in the exhibit.

Public schools:

Arlington High, Bedford High, Burlington High, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, Concord-Carlisle Regional High, Framingham High, Lexington High, Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High, Marblehead High, Norwood High, Somerset Berkley Regional High, Stoughton High, Weston High and Winchester High.
Independent schools:
Beaver Country Day School, Brooks School, Buckingham Browne and Nichols School, Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall School, Concord Academy, Dana Hall School, Governor’s Academy, Middlesex School, Milton Academy, Pingree School, The Rivers School and The Winsor School.
This exhibition is made possible by The Gertler Clark Foundation.

City Streets

Posted on

I am a street photographer because street has a special cinematic character that I love, combining elements of photojournalism, documentary and pure surprise to catch unguarded moments in a way that lets viewers relate on a humanistic level. And because there are few things more interesting than human nature in action.

I look for the “click point” in a simple, evocative situation — the visceral second that speaks to the heart with the humor, sadness, beauty or irony of daily life. People’s eyes, dress, body language, relationships to inanimate objects and each other — all can convey story lines that resonate.

Whether shot indoors or out, my photos are candid, intuitive, spontaneous; none are staged or manipulated. I shoot film because I like its distinctive look and the fact that it forces me to pay close attention. And I prefer black and white as it reduces visual complexity, focuses the eye and stimulates imagination.

I have been published in Black & White magazine, and had solo exhibitions at Umbrella Arts Gallery in New York, In An Instant Gallery in Florida, and Dartmouth College. I have also been in over forty  juried exhibitions, including the Salmagundi Art Club of New York; Your Daily Photograph; Center for Fine Art Photography; New York Center for Photographic Art; Black Box Gallery; Greg Moon Art Gallery; WPGA Pollux (“Photographer of the Year”), Charles Dodgson and Jacob Riis Awards; Cape Cod Art Association; Texas National Art Competition; Camera USA National Photography Award; Minneapolis Photo Center; Colorado Photographic Arts Center; and the Boca Raton Museum of Art. Three of my photos are in the permanent collection of the Municipal Museum in Malaga, Spain. – JL

Jim is a New Hampshire resident.

All photographs are available as Silver Gelatin prints.

MENU