A Conversation with Suzanne Revy

Suzanne Revy's work drew my attention when I received a notice about an exhibition of her work at the Camera Club of NY last Fall. While looking through her images, I think of what attracted me to photography in the beginning- capturing good light, moments to mark and enjoy, and the thrill of images appearing on my prints in the developer tray. Her project, Small Wonders, reminds me of summer vacations spent on a lake, diving of the front dock, laying on a rock to gather warmth, and little hands finding treasure in the every day. There is a refreshing and genuine approach to Suzanne's vision.


Spout, 2007 © Suzanne Revy

Nymphoto: Tell us a little about yourself.

Suzanne Revy: I was born and, for the most part, grew up in Los Angeles, California. I spent two years in my early teens, and countless summers in Switzerland as well. My entire adult life, however, has been spent up and down the east coast. I moved to Brooklyn when I was eighteen to study photography at Pratt Institute. I studied with Phil Perkis, Ann Mandelbaum, Judy Linn, Bill Gedney, and Chris Osinski among others. A year or two out of college, as I struggled with “what to do”, I meandered down to the Washington, DC where I found a position at a small photo agency. Eventually, this led to a photo editing position at U.S.News & World Report magazine, and I was there for about eight years. A couple of years after getting married, my husband was offered a job in Massachusetts, so we took the plunge and moved. I worked for a time editing pictures at Yankee magazine while their regular picture editor took a leave of absence, but when that job ended, I was feeling restless with magazine work. I was unsure about the direction I would take. We were struggling with fertility issues so I decided to take a year off to figure it all out. Happily during that time my oldest son arrived, and two years later we had our second son.


Baby Blanket, 2007 © Suzanne Revy

NP: How did you discover photography?

SR: My dad had always been an avid photographer. Mostly snaps of us; he always had that Nikon F at all our events. I think my mom still has that camera!


Mermaid, 2007 © Suzanne Revy

My mother is an artist, and had a studio at our house. At some point, perhaps when I was in 10th or 11th grade, she took a photography class, and built a darkroom in a small closet of her studio. I was in there more than she, especially when I was able to take a course in high school. I went to a very academic girls school, and because I had spent a couple years away in Switzerland, I was behind on my course work for school, so I was unable to take very many or the elective art courses beyond the introductory requirement. Oddly enough, I never felt naturally or instinctively artistic as a child. I was always amazed at those whose drawings and paintings seemed to pour forth from their fingers with little or no effort. To this day, however, it irks me that I had so few art classes in high school. I may have been able to find that voice a little sooner with more artistic direction.

When at last, I took a “mini course” in photography as an after school activity, I took to it immediately. From there, I pursued it in college, and discovered that, in fact, one can learn to draw. I consider it an important asset for photographers; it really hones your observational skills.


Backyard Toad, 2007 © Suzanne Revy

NP: Where do you find inspiration?

SR: For my own pictures, quite simply, I find inspiration in the people and places of that are important in my life.

Additionally, I take a lot of inspiration from photographers who have really looked at their subjects in depth, and created a varied yet consistent body of work; early pioneers Gertrude Käsebier, Chansonetta Stanley Emmons, to mid-century artists such as Helen Levitt and Ralph Eugene Meatyard. I’m also influenced and inspired by more recent artists such as Andrea Modica, Larry Towell, and Chris Killip whose work I only recently discovered, to name a few.

In addition to photography, there are amazing things to be found in the history of art, and I never miss an opportunity to go to museums. I’m drawn to the paintings of Caravaggio, Vermeer, Singer-Sargeant, Homer, Edward Hopper, and several abstract expressionists… Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko. Oh… and I love the paintings and sketches of Jean Francois Millet.


Running in Corn, 2008 © Suzanne Revy

I live a little off the beaten path in a quaint and charming classic New England town. Living and working so far a field of a thriving art community can be difficult, but I have found a lot of inspiration in work I’ve seen on blogs, and on one or two Internet forums. I’m fortunate to have met regularly with another photographer, Ellen Rennard, for coffee over the past two years, and we have pushed each other to do work with greater depth than I might have done on my own. Grassroots community artistic groups… even a group of just two, can be a powerful motivator.


Stretched, 2008 © Suzanne Revy

There are times, however, when I step away from my influences. It can be productive to flounder and work quite alone without a lot of outside “noise” if you will. It’s important to stay true to who you are as an artist, and it can be easier to achieve when working quietly and independently.


Ghosts, 2004 © Suzanne Revy

NP: How did this project come about?

SR: Intuitively. At the beginning, it wasn’t a project as such. As any new mother would, I was simply interested in making some naked baby pictures. I started out shooting a lot of XP2 that I sent to a lab. I became frustrated with the quality of the prints. Eventually, I built a darkroom because I wanted to have beautiful gelatin silver prints to hang on the wall.


Evening Swim, 2008 © Suzanne Revy

As my printing skills came back from their long dormancy, I started to make pictures with a deeper commitment. Not only did I want to make family snapshots, but also I began to explore the world my children occupy that is quite separate from that of the adults with photographs. Memories of my own imaginative places began to resurface as I watched my children play. I wanted to record and to make pictures that were about more than just my children, but that had a feeling and a look that connects to many childhoods.


Swim Lesson, 2007 © Suzanne Revy

NP: What's next?

SR: It’s in the embryonic stage at this point, but I have begun work on a portrait project. Again, I have made a few pictures here and there, and they are starting to feel like a body of work, so I’m beginning to make a deeper commitment to it. I may explore alternative printing processes with this project, but it’s more personal and less universal than the Small Wonders portfolio. I expect the prints to be quite small, and I envision making a series of hand bound books to house the prints. Or… not! We’ll see how the work feels.


Steady Ahead, 2007 © Suzanne Revy

Thank you Suzanne. You can follow Suzanne's thoughts on her work, the images that influence her, and the everyday of being photographer and mother through her blog A Grain of Sand. Her website is suzannerevy.com.

Nymphoto on NPR's Picture Show

Nymphoto's "good old-fashioned girl power" is featured on NPR's Picture Show.

Carolyn Cole at The Annenberg Space for Photography

ed: Please note: Carolyn Cole Lecture Moved to May 28th.

Midday Digital Gallery
12:00 - 2:00PM

Thanks Rob!

from The Annenberg Space for Photography:

“Iris Nights” Lecture Series

Carolyn Cole, PHOTOJOURNALISM: AN INTERNATIONAL APPROACH

As our world becomes increasingly intertwined, photojournalism has an important role in bridging the gap between cultures. International news photographer, Carolyn Cole, has spent the past 15 years traveling to distant places to capture the news and bring it to the readers of the Los Angeles Times. She has covered the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Sudan and Liberia, often focusing on victims caught in the crossfire. Her high impact photography, not only informs, but captures the aesthetics of light, color and composition, often under chaotic circumstances.

Carolyn Cole began working as a newspaper photographer in 1986 after graduating with a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Texas. Since then she has worked for five newspapers and spent two years as a freelance photographer in Mexico City. Her coverage of the civil conflict in Liberia earned her the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. She is also a two-time recipient of the Robert Capa Award for Courage in Photojournalism.

The Annenberg Space for Photography
2000 Avenue of the Stars,
Century City, CA. 90067

Hidemi Takagi @ Chashama Jamaica, Qns

Hidemi Takagi took up a studio residency at Chashama in Jamaica, Queens to build a "blender cart" for her "Blender" series. See more photos from the series on her flickr photostream.


© Hidemi Takagi

Jennifer Williams @ A.I.R. Gallery

from A.I.R. Gallery:


© Jennifer Williams

A.I.R. Gallery
April 29 - May 24, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 30, 2009 6pm to 8pm

First Thursday Reception: Thursday, May 7, 2009 6pm to 8pm

Fellowship Gallery: Jennifer Williams [FLŌ]
2008 -2009 A.I.R. Gallery Fellowship Recipient Jennifer Williams’ work exhibits a “desire to recycle and build,” as well as an interest in “the Rauschenberg sense of exploiting the rectangular frame,” that goes far beyond the more traditional uses of photography. In [FLŌ] Williams focuses her attention on the immediate landscape of the gallery itself. Her installation reminds us that there is substantially more to an exhibition space than a white walled cube. By photographing the ducts, pipes, light fixtures, office equipment, and other necessary but often hidden features of a gallery, Williams deconstructs the space, highlighting the architectural elements that make the building function but often go unnoticed. The viewer is directed to see the space in its entirety instead of imagining the artwork to be separate or unaffected by its context. In this case, rather than returning her large-scale collages to the street, Williams allows the outside to come in. The literal and imagined ductwork, electric lines, sprinkler system and other pipes lead the viewer’s eye around the space, serving as pathways to the building’s exterior and the surrounding urban geography. Williams received her BFA from Cooper Union and her MFA from Goldsmiths College in London. She has exhibited at Silvereye Center for Photography in Pittsburgh, the New Jersey Visual Arts Center, Soho Photo, the Williamsburg Art and Historical Sociey and the Platform Gallery in Seattle.

The A.I.R. Fellowship Program is made possible by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, a state agency, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) through a re-grant from Brooklyn Arts Council, as well as generous support from Louise McCagg, The Bernheim Foundation, The Gifford Foundation, The Timken Foundation, Elizabeth A. Sackler, and The Milton and Sally Avery Foundation.

A.I.R. Gallery
111 Front Street, #228 Brooklyn, NY 11201
Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Sunday 11am - 6pm
212-255-6651
info@airgallery.org
www.airgallery.org

Tomorrow: Lorna Simpson Talk at F.I.T.

from FIT:

Fashion Institute of Technology, Building D, Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
27th Street @ 7th Avenue
2009 Photo Talks lecture series
All events are free and open to the public.

Artist Lorna Simpson will speak on Thursday, April 28th, at 1:00 p.m. in Katie Murphy Amphitheatre. With the African-American woman as a visual point of departure, Simpson use the figure to examine the ways in which gender and culture shape the interactions, relationships and experiences of our lives in contemporary multi-racial America.

On View Now: The Pictures Generation

from The Metropolitan Museum of Art:

The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984
April 21, 2009–August 2, 2009
Joyce and Robert Menschel Hall for Modern Photography and Tisch Galleries, 2nd floor
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10028

This is the first major museum exhibition to focus exclusively on “The Pictures Generation.” Educated in the self-reflexive and critical principles of Minimal and Conceptual art, this tightly knit group of artists brought those lessons to bear on a return to recognizable imagery, exploring how images shape our perceptions of ourselves and the world. Featured are 160 works in all media by thirty artists.

List of artists:

John Baldessari, Ericka Beckman, Dara Birnbaum, Barbara Bloom, Eric Bogosian, Glenn Branca, Troy Brauntuch, James Casebere, Sarah Charlesworth, Rhys Chatham, Charles Clough, Nancy Dwyer, Jack Goldstein, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, Thomas Lawson, Sherrie Levine, Robert Longo, Allan McCollum, Paul McMahon, MICA-TV (Carole Ann Klonarides & Michael Owen), Matt Mullican, Richard Prince, David Salle, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons, Michael Smith, James Welling, and Michael Zwack.

Sophie Calle at Paula Cooper Gallery

French conceptual artist Sophie Calle is also a performance artist of sorts because she takes on different roles, such as working as a maid to photograph strangers' travel possessions and hired a private detective to follow her at her own request. Her latest project, she deals with a lover's breakup via email and uses the traumatic experience to explore issues of intimacy and mass technology. This is Calle's first solo exhibition of "Take Care of Yourself" in America and it's definitely not to miss.

Read a great article from the Guardian UK with Sophie Calle about "Take Care of Yourself."

Paula Cooper Gallery
Sophie Calle, Take Care of Yourself
534 West 21st Street
April 9 - June 6, 2009

Nymphoto Presents @ Sasha Wolf Gallery

The collective is excited to announce

Nymphoto Presents @ Sasha Wolf.

A group show exhibiting a compelling collection of work by contemporary women photographers from across the globe. While diverse in content, these works convey the complexity of the female gaze – the woman behind the camera. The photographs ignite a spirit by addressing a diversity of issues, which inevitably calls into question: what is feminine.

The exhibit features work by:

Jennifer Boomer
Livia Corona
Katrina d'Autremont
Jen Davis
Lizzie Gorfaine
Victoria Hely-Hutchinson
Megan Maloy
Tiana Markova-Gold
Debora Mittelstaedt
Beatrix Reinhardt
Anna Skladmann
Malou van Breevoort
Corinne Vionnet
Sophia Wallace
Susan Worsham


As well as works from Nymphoto members:

Nina Büsing Corvallo
Rona Chang
Candace Gottschalk
Maria Passarotti
Jane Tam

Exhibition opens May 23rd through June 6, 2009.


Please join us for the artist reception May 28, 2009 6-8 p.m. at Sasha Wolf Gallery in New York.

Hiroyo Kaneko wins Center's Santa Fe Prize

News from CENTER:

2009 Santa Fe Prize Juror Charlotte Cotton has named Japan-born, San Francisco-based photographer Hiroyo Kaneko the recipient of the Prize for the series “Sentimental Education“. Cotton’s statement is on the award webpage and posted at the bottom of this page.

Sonja Thomsen also did an interview with Hiroyo over on her blog.

Last Chance: Tema Stauffer & Francesca Romeo @ Daniel Cooney

Johan, Main Street, Binghamton, NY/ 2008/The Ballad of Sad Young Men © Tema Stauffer

Saturday will be the last day to catch the work of Tema Stauffer & Francesca Romeo at Daniel Cooney Fine Art. It's a stimulating show, don't miss it!

A Conversation with Nina Büsing Corvallo

Fauna I (Ghost) © Nina Büsing Corvallo

I first met Nina during the first days of the MA program we attended at NYU/ICP. I was immediately drawn to her as a person, but through the many critiques we endured together, I really became close with her work as well. Knowing the person behind the art has always enhanced my appreciation for the work. Some viewers like to take work at face value - to see if it can stand alone without the crutch of a personality. Knowing Nina has (as I see it) added another dimension to her work. Her images are serene, yet mystical; familiar yet other-worldly. It's the kind of work that envelopes you like a blanket on a cold, rainy day and you never want to get out from underneath it.

Thus, we are extremely excited to present this conversation with Nina Büsing Corvallo, a co-founder of Nymphoto.

Theory of Pink I; Ferro I (Schimmelreiter) © Nina Büsing Corvallo

Nymphoto: Tell us a little about yourself.

Nina Büsing Corvallo: Corvallo is a nom de plume.

I like to record everything. I think in images and I have a slightly photographic memory - which came in handy when studying art history. I originally thought of painting as my medium, but I love the non-preciousness inherent in photography.

NP: How did you discover photography?

NBC: As a true child of the seventies, my first camera was a pocket 110 camera. It was a gift from a neighbor who worked for a European jean company. The camera was swag and had a logo for the jean company on it. I was probably about five when I received that camera, and I have been taking pictures ever since. I still have a soft spot for cheap cameras.


from the 'Fauna' series (moon & sky)© Nina Büsing Corvallo

NP: Where do you find inspiration?

NBC: I can be moved or find beauty in anything. Other artists inspire me, but so can the face of

a horse or the color of grass. I like the mundane and the extraordinary. In terms of what drives my photography, I am not sure I would call it inspiration. It's more about the motivation and the

compulsion to capture something - the need to hold on to a moment or to visualize an experience. I also thrive on exploring opposites and extremes. I live in downtown Manhattan, but when I travel I enjoy being in completely non-urban environments. I love the dynamic of going in and out of different worlds, probably because I grew up in several cultures.



Man & Stag © Nina Büsing Corvallo

NP: How do your projects come about?

NBC: A lot of my work is the distillation of memories and wanting to revisit or share a feeling, truth or an aesthetic. I had a fantastic early childhood that was filled with lots of travel, community, friends and play. My parents left me plenty of room and time for creativity and thinking. I think most of our person is formed in childhood, and my work is certainly informed by my childhood experience. I always have and continue to read a lot: books, newspapers, the Internet, magazines. The information I absorb ends up in my photographs. Sometimes it is very literal: I'll read about an event or see a picture of a landscape, and a couple of weeks later, or sometimes much later, I am on my way to that place. Other times, the process is less linear.

Either way, I like to see things for myself.

from the series' Fauna' (Rest & Leaf) © Nina Büsing Corvallo

NP: You photograph a lot of horses. Why is that?

NBC: Everyone who knows me knows that I love horses. Probably one of the first pictures I ever took or drew was of an animal. A lot of my recent work has focused on one particular horse that is retired on my parents-in-law's farm. We named him Mountain. Just like people, horses are distinct and project differently in photographs. Mountain is my muse. I take pictures of everything, but keep coming back to photographing horses. I like how much freer I am in portraying them. The interpretation of the horse is less constricted and dependent on culture,

and thus, ultimately more transcendent.

Ferro II (Schimmelreiter) ; Fauna VI (Flower) © Nina Büsing Corvallo

NP: What's next?

NBC: I recently traveled to the Arctic Circle, and I would like to explore the Arctic further. My husband said that because I dragged him to one of the coldest places on earth, he will take me to one of the hottest. So, I think a trip to Death Valley might be in the near future, or maybe the Namib Desert.

NP: Thank you so much!

To see more of Nina's work, please visit www.ninabuesing.com (for her travel work) and www.ninabuesing.net (for her fine art work) - as well as her insightful blog: www.ninacorvallo.blogspot.com.

inside the photographer's_home: Emily Shur Edition

Forest Whitaker © Emily Shur

The Jackanory visits the home of photographer Emily Shur. Watch it here.
And revisit our conversation with Emily here.

Stacy Mehrfar edition available through Humble

from Humble Arts Foundation:


Magnolia, Texas. April 2006 from This Was What There Was: American Palimpsests © Stacy Arezou Mehrfar

Stacy Arezou Mehrfar Limited Edition Print

Magnolia, Texas. April 2006 #1, 2006

C-print / Paper: 16 x 20 / Image: 15.25 x 19.25 / Signed and numbered / Edition of 5

$425.00 available through Humble Arts Foundation

Stacy was featured on Flak Photo last week. Amy Stein just posted some questions that she had for Stacy about her American Palimpsests project and her new experience of being an ex-pat in Australia on her blog. You can also revisit our Conversation with Stacy right here.

Nymphoto Shows & Book

We at last finished the final revisions to Nymphoto Books: Conversations Vol. 1 and it is off to the presses! We are so excited and labored extensively over this project.
The book will go on sale the day of the opening of the accompanying show at Sasha Wolf Gallery May 6, 2009. See you there!

We have received a lot of inquiries about when we will announce the line-up for the second show. Well, we are almost there! We are putting much thought and great effort in curating the most dynamic and exciting show possible. It's been a great experience and it has been invaluable to have Sasha by our side guiding us in this process and it looks like this will be a really exciting show.

The collective spirit at Nymphoto is high. It has been a tremendous amount of work for us all but it is also very rewarding and it feels very positive to be part of an active artist initiative -- and to create outlets for our work and that of other fellow women artists.

So please stay tuned! More news to follow very soon.

Helen Levitt

Daylight and Orbit Magazine collaborated to create a wonderful celebration of Helen Levitt's work. Watch this video and be sure to go to your local bookstore and browse through Levitt's work.

Tanyth Berkeley @ Danziger Projects

Tanyth Berkeley is showing "Grace" at the new location of Danziger Projects.
534 West 24th Street
New York, New York 10011
Trough April 25, 2009

from Danziger Projects:
. . . Grace Longoria, an albino woman of Mexican descent who Berkeley once described as "a combination of Marilyn Monroe and the moon". Their initial chance encounter set the stage for an ongoing relationship which has now lasted seven years and is the subject of this show – the first exhibition devoted exclusively to Berkeley's pictures of Grace.

Casa No Name

Penelope Green writes about photographer Deborah Turbeville's new book "Casa No Name" for the New York Times, you can find the article by clicking here.

Friday Wrap Up

Beth outside Tallahassee, Florida ©Amy Stein

Amy Stein has posted new images to her website: www.amysteinphoto.com. And you can purchase a print of Amy's a great price via the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

Joanne Ratajczak was highlighted on www.featureshoot.com.

Emily Shur and Liz Kuball had lunch in L.A this week. AndEmily Shur also blogged about the importance of keeping at it and how Stephen Shore continues to inspire her.

Have a great weekend everyone! And see you next week when we hope to announce the line-up for the Nymphoto Presents @ Sasha Wolf show!

Opening Tonight: Amie Postic

from Amie Postic:

A Conversation with Lottie Davies

from the 'Syria" series ©Lottie Davies


The first time I came across an image of Lottie Davies' was on a blog or website. It was an image from her series "Memories & Nightmares" and it intrigued me. Upon researching Lottie I was impressed by her incredible range, attention to detail and general picture making.
And I was deeply moved by her portraiture and the accompanying stories.
I am incredibly delighted that Lottie took the time out of her busy schedule for this conversation.


from the 'Syria" series ©Lottie Davies


Nymphoto: Tell us a little about yourself.

Lottie Davies: Well, I was born in Guildford (southern England) in 1971, which makes me a grand old 37 at the last count! I had a fairly conventional childhood in Surrey with my parents and two younger brothers, and studied philosophy at St Andrews University in Scotland which I absolutely loved, but a career as a professional philosopher was not for me, so I moved back to England to learn the photographic trade as an assistant in London, where I have been based for the past fourteen years. I live in North London with my cat Friday and a growing collection of useless objects I find on my travels which includes a wooden flying horse, a plastic ‘Nunzilla’, a couple of pieces of volanic rock, 4 carved elephants, a black bath duck and a miniature coffee pot.


White Lady Lodge, Namibia & from "Bushmen of the Kalahari" ©Lottie Davies


NP: How did you discover photography?

LD: My father bought a basic darkroom kit for my brother when I was about fourteen, and being completely competitive I had to learn how to use it as well! As a result I was the only student at my university who knew how to print photographs and I ended up being the unofficial student theatre photographer, which was great – I cut my teeth on black and white posters which were stuck up all over town, usually made from photocopies of cut-up newspaper print and my prints stuck down with sellotape. I loved the theatre and I directed a production of Sartre’s ‘Dirty Hands’ (a dark play about politics, assassination and existentialism, perfect philosophy student material...), which was a fantastic challenge and enormous fun.


from the "Thai/Burma Border" series ©Lottie Davies


NP: Where do you find inspiration?

LD: I guess from lots of different places – I love stories; film, theatre, literature, and the everyday stories we all have. In my journalistic work I began to realise that I was collecting life-stories from the people I was photographing, to illustrate the situations they were living in and to bring the pieces to life, to add context to the images themselves. So my latest project, ‘Memories and Nightmares’ is something of an extension of that idea. Practically, I wanted to do something based in the UK which I could spend longer working on than my trips abroad (which are usually only a couple of weeks), and I also wanted to try a different approach, by creating images from an idea in someone’s head, rather than the ‘found’ images I often shoot. This project is about the tales and myths which we use to tell our own lives; memories, life-stories, beliefs. In many ways, stories and memories are a uniquely human experience; we have used them for generations to illustrate our lives, record ourselves for the future, and to make sense of the past. I’ve consciously used classical painting, film and illustrations to influence the look of the images, with the intention of tapping into subconscious looking habits – which might not work out of context of the UK, as of course I have a very British sensibility in such things! For instance, I’m not sure that anyone outside of the UK will get the ‘Fuzzy Felt’ reference in ‘Katherine’, but I hope most people will understand the filmic look of ‘The Blue Bedroom’ and the classical influence in ‘Quints’.



from "Asylum Seekers" ©Lottie Davies

NP: How do your projects come about?

LD: I’m not sure, to be honest. The journalistic projects often arise from hearing about a certain situation in the media or via friends working in different fields – a friend of mine works as a legal adviser to asylum seekers in the UK, which led to my interest in their stories. My trips to Botswana and Guatemala were as a result of contacting NGOs working there and a desire to get some publicity for their campaigns. My more personal work seems to have arisen by itself – I had the idea of memories from my own early memory (The Day My Brother Was Born) and grew from there. I think we are influenced more than we realise by images all over the place – advertising posters, tv, film, just moving around in the world – I’m sure all my ideas have been sparked by things I’ve seen and only half-recognised.


from "Memories & Nightmares" ©Lottie Davies

NP: What's next?

Good question! I’ve yet to finish ‘Memories and Nightmares’, and the last few images are pretty complicated – I need a boat on a river with weeping willows, a bathroom full of sparrows and a gigantic cartoon kangaroo, so I’m working on getting those completed before moving on – but I do have a few ideas waiting in the wings – watch this space.....!

NP: Thank you so much!


from "Memories & Nightmares" ©Lottie Davies

To see more of Lottie Davies' work please visit www.lottiedavies.com. Her site also provides samples of her writing and background information about her sitters.

Tomorrow: Alessandra Sanguinetti Lecture at PRC

Alessandra Sanguinetti Lecture
Thursday, April 16, 7pm
Boston Univerrsity's College of Communications, Com 101
640 Commonwealth Avenue
(BU East Stop)
$10 Members/$15 Non-Members/$5 Full-time Students/Free for Students of Institutional Members

For more information, go to Photographic Resource Center at Boston University.

Kelli Connell on WIPNYC

Kelli Connell's images question sexual identity, relationships, and gender roles. It's a beautiful series that draws you into its inner workings.

from WIPNYC:

Tomorrow: Jacqueline Hassink Talk and Book Signing at Aperture

via Aperture:

Car Girls, Jacqueline Hassink
Artist's Talk and Book Signing

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
6:30 pm

FREE

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street
New York, New York
(212) 505-5555

Join Dutch artist Jacqueline Hassink as she discusses her latest book, Car Girls (Aperture, April 2009), in the context of her other critically acclaimed books and exhibitions that deal conceptually with issues of power and social relations. Car Girls is a body of work that Hassink created over five years, photographing "car girls" during major car shows in seven different cities on three continents. As she describes it, Hassink uses these sites to reflect on "differing cultural values with regard to their ideal images of beauty and women. The series captures the moments during the women's performances when they become more like dolls or tools than individuals."

Margot Quan Knight @ Seattle Media Arts Center

If you are in Seattle do not miss Nymphoto's Margot Quan Knight!

Sur face

(a show of video works by Margot Quan Knight)

911 Seattle Media Arts Center

402 9th Ave N. Seattle, WA 98109

April 16- May 30

Opening Thursday April 16, 6-9pm - Artist Talk @ 7pm

You can revisit our conversation with Margot by clicking here.

1000 Words Photography Magazine #4

1000 Words Photography Magazine issue #4 online now, featuring portfolios from Zoe Strauss, Walter Martin & Paloma Muñoz, Martin Schoeller, Mark Power, Izima Karou, and Alice Myers.

There are also book reviews of:
Welcome to the Garden by Frank Darius
Pitch Blackness by Hank Willis Thomas
The Birthday Party by Vee Speers
The Meadowlands by Joshua Lutz

Kristen Ashburn @ powerHouse Arena

from I AM BECAUSE WE ARE, photographs by Kristen Ashburn, published by powerHouse Books

Do not miss Kristen Ashburn's exhibit at powerHouse Arena in Dumbo, Brooklyn.

THE POWERHOUSE ARENA
37 Main Street
Dumbo, Brooklyn
-through April 27, 2009

Opening Tomorrow: Anthology of Trends

Anthology of Trends
work by Tarrah Krajnak & Wilka Roig

The photographs created by the collaborative team of artists Tarrah Krajnak and Wilka Roig investigate trends in the photographic representation of the female. Tarrah and Wilka place themselves in their own images as they perform and catalog representations of the female throughout decades and eras in photography, creating an archive of the trends, stereotypes, and classifications.

Reception: Saturday January 24., 2009 from 5-7pm.
An Artist Talk with Tarrah & Wilka will begin at 6pm

On view: April 11 - May 24, 2009.
Center for Photography at Woodstock
59 Tinker Street, Woodstock NY 12498

A Conversation with Cristina Fraire

from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

Cristina Fraire's photography is other worldly, focusing on the rural and segregated communities in the hillsides of Argentina. Like many of the artists I have interviewed for the Nymphoto conversation series, I met Cristina during her residency at Light Work. Even though we had some language barriers to cross, we still bonded through photographs and some of her home-cooked food. Her work is incredibly thoughtful, showing the landscape, the the people, and the emotion. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1997 and I'm incredibly honored to share this conversation with you. She does not have a website yet so I hope you can enjoy the images and words here.


from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

Nymphoto: Tell us a little about yourself.

Cristina Fraire: I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Eldest daughter of a home full of contradictions. From my parents I absorbed the more transgressive and romantic aspects: an openness of spirit and a sense of self criticism, dreams of liberty and authenticity, thirst for research.

My mother took care of passing on her love for the visual arts, my father a certain exaltation of the senses and a love for nature. Both, an artistic insight.



from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

NP: How did you discover photography?

CF: Up to the age of thirty three, I went through several universities, fighting a battle between the powerful necessity of finding my own identity and that of answering the paternal mandate of the "professional daughter". My father's death and at the same time my encounter with photography put an end to my studies in psychology, placing me at the very door of my own desires.

Driven by this newly discovered passion I decided to look for a job as a photographer. Then came an unexpected battle for work: I was surprised to find so much discrimination and prejudice. I had never imagined such irrationality towards the feminine condition existed, and far less so in the field of journalism. I worked in all kinds of publications.



from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

NP: Where do you find inspiration?

CF: Together with my own professional development grew the urge for self-expression and creating my own photographic stories. At the beginning of 1989, I participated in a workshop coordinated by influential national and foreign photographers and editors. It was a one week intensive workshop with Marc Bussell, Fred Ritchin, Sebastiao Salgado, Susan Meiselas, Abbas, Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, and Robert Pledge. The experience from the workshop was a landmark for many who participated. It allowed one to produce work with the pleasure of research with a community. The desire of a personal path in photography was reaffirmed and confirmed as possible. I completed a photographic essay on "Medecins Du Monde" and the sanitary conditions of marginal people in the outskirts of Buenos Aires.


from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

NP: How do your projects come about?

CF: At the end of 1989, I came across another landmark; a place appealing to my obsessions of isolated communities. An isolated and desolate landscape of the Pampa of Achala was a traditional community where people live and transform their landscape. From this space, I felt a mandate to go back and make photographs. The following year I would start there my photographic essay: An Austere Life, Shepherds at the End of the Millennium, which is based on the life of a shepherd's community that live on the Altas Cumbres in the province of Córdoba (Argentina).

I have developed four documentary photography series about various social groups who are victims of exclusion policies. My concern about social exclusion, prejudice, and identity has encouraged my choice and approach to topics. One of my aims in developing these essays has been trespassing the prejudice barrier, bringing light to the identities of the outcast, rescuing their humanity, culture, skills, art, and showing the “delicate balances” and extreme conditions under which they survive and struggle.


from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

1989: My first documentary story, Atención Primaria [Primary Care] about the sanitary conditions in the neighborhoods on the outskirts of Buenos Aires and the task developed by Medecins du Monde.

1990: I start to work on La vida austera (An Austere Life), which is based on the life of a shepherd's community that live on the Altas Cumbres [heights] in the province of Córdoba (Argentina).

2001: Donde la ciudad se interrumpe [Where the City is Interrupted] deals with the housing conditions in shantytowns in Buenos Aires.

2002: Pequeños equilibrios [Delicate Balances] about the life of La Boca dwellers. This neighborhood is very close to the Casa Rosada (government house) and the financial and banking district of Buenos Aires. This neighborhood has the highest percentage of homes with unsatisfied basic needs. I was hired by the Escuela de Capacitación Docente (CePA), sort of teacher training school, and developed the chapter called Niños que habitan las escuelas [Children Inhabiting Schools], a story made up of 30 photos about the lives of the children that live in La Boca to be used in training teachers of state-owned schools in Buenos Aires.

These essays have been exhibited in Argentina and abroad. Besides, they have been awarded prizes by the Guggenheim Foundation and the Fondo Nacional de las Artes (Argentina).



from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

NP: What's next?

CF: Nowadays I am returning to the highlands, I began the second part of An Austere Life, trying to mix between the past and the present in new pictures, looking for the present of those that I photographed in the past and shooting them again beside their images taken in the past.

My jobs: I am working in the National Library as Photography curator and in a cultural center related to human rights which is located in a place where - during the last dictatorship- a concentration camp of the army was located.

from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

NP: Thank you very much, Cristina!