Currently Reading "Mixed Blessings: New Art In A Multicultural America"

As you know I'm in the MFA in Advanced Photographic Practice program at ICP-Bard, so since last September I've started (re)using the analytical and critical part of my brain more than I have in 11+ years!

Needless to say I've had to dust the cobwebs off and discard useless information to make room in my brain's memory bank for all the artists names, artworks, art institutions, art shows that we talk about... but I finally feel like I'm getting into a groove.

Now let me tell you about my lists. My free time is ruled by lists of things to see and read - one such list is books about art. (Perhaps I'll publish these lists as future blog posts?) A book I discovered lately is Lucy Lippard's "Mixed Blessings: New Art In A Multicultural America" published in 1990.

In the book's introduction, Lippard makes it clear that this is "not a book 'about' artists of color in the United States." I took this to mean that she's not interested in just doing a survey for the sake of affirmative action in the art world. In stating her mission she says the book "deals with the ways cross-cultural activity is reflected in the visual arts," and very graciously admits that it is a "record of my own still-incomplete learning process."

Although "Mixed Blessings" was published 22 years ago, what an incredible resource it is! Each chapter highlights art that speaks to the complexities of being Black/Brown/Red/Yellow in America: Self-representation, identity, history, family, religion, storytelling, roots, homelands, displacement, miscegenation, colonization, subversion and dreams.

Photographers (or artists who use photography in their practice) mentioned are Carrie Mae Weems, Lorna Simpson, Alfredo Jaar, Tseng Kwong Chi and Albert Chong. Yet what delights me about this book is how Lippard elevates the work that would otherwise be trivialized by the art cognoscenti as "folk art". Quotes from other artists, academics and literary figures featured along the margins of the book reinforce the importance of these works and what they're trying to express.

This book is truly an art lesson you probably won't learn in any university. Now my desire is to contact Lucy Lippard and convince her to publish an updated edition of "Mixed Blessings" with artists from 1990 to today!

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Best Of Dodge & Burn's 2011 Posts

So I started off writing this post thinking that I wouldn't have anything much to link to, but looking back at this year's posts I surprised myself. Despite my new-Mommy lifestyle, enrolling in graduate school for my MFA and a few personal struggles, I managed to keep this blog afloat with some good content.

Here are a few headlines of note:

Bonham's Auction in Dubai Signals Demand for Middle Eastern Photography

Get a wake up call with this guest post by photographer Sinden Collier, Copyright Insurance - Protect Your Work. That said, I'd like to have more! Feel free to contact me with any submissions for guest posts on this blog.

Following his release from prison came the Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983–1993 show at the Asia Society in NYC.

Dawoud Bey, Eli Reed (both African-American) and Nobuyoshi Araki (Japanese) all honored at the 9th Annual Lucie Awards this year.

Global Launch of HistoryPin, powered by Google - this social media site invites you to share your old photographs with the world.

My two "fototazo f100" picks of photographers who deserve more recognition.

This year my interviews broke the photographer mold to get some insight from those on the business side of photography, which I'd like to continue as a new series on the blog. Check out my interview with photography consultant Marc Prüst and gallerist Jennie Ricketts.

2011 Photographer Interviews
As I continue to seek out great photography, I always get in contact with established and emerging artists that support this blog by being interviewed. Check out this year's interview listed below and remember you can always access the archive of all Dodge & Burn photographer interviews.

• Camille Seaman (USA) found herself lost in the Arctic which inspired her to become a photographer.


• Albert Chong (Jamaica/USA) deals with race, identity, multiculturalism and other human interest issues in his elaborate, fine art work.


• DeAndre DaCosta (USA) is a fierce fashion photographer on the rise. Note to VOGUE magazine: DeAndre is one to watch!


• Marcia Michael (UK) a fine art photographer whom I also profiled this year in the Society for Photographic Education's exposure journal.


• Carol Sachs (Brazil/UK) still uses her first film camera (a Pentax K-1000) for editorial assignments.


• Chester Higgins, Jr (USA), a two part interview with the first African-American photographer hired at The New York Times.


• Roxana Marroquin (El Salvador/USA) has developed a personal, dream-like style to her work that memorializes her personal experience as an immigrant.


• André França (Brazil) photographs Barbie dolls frozen in water and they're beautiful!


• Mambu Badu Collective (USA), bold soul sisters who are doing it for themselves by publishing an online magazine featuring women photographers of African descent. Submit to their 2nd issue by January 5th, 2012.


• Nadirah Zakariya (Malaysia/USA) takes photographs of children that look like their frozen in water.


• Ayana V Jackson (USA/South Africa) graciously shares her account as both an artist exhibiting at and visiting the 2011 Paris Photo festival.

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!
This new year is already chock full for me - juggling classes every day, an internship, freelance writing, my own daily artistic practice and of course my more humbling roles at home.

Happy New Year to you all and thanks for being such wonderful readers... I wish you a very inspiring, productive and creative 2012.

Much LOVE,
Qiana Mestrich

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Get updates on new photographer interviews plus news on contests, art shows and informed commentary on what's happening with diversity in photography. Subscribe to Dodge & Burn Photography Blog: Diversity in Photography by Email.

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Photographer Interview Ayana V Jackson

It's rare that the Black experience in Latin American culture is acknowledged, let a lone documented via photography. In her series African by Legacy, Mexican by Birth, photographer Ayana V Jackson's commitment to showing this part of the African Diaspora that has been shoved under the rug, is what drew me to her work. Ayana's work is opinionated and steeped in the scars left from colonial history without being didactic. Read on to learn more about her journey to becoming a working fine art photographer and her recent experience at Paris Photo 2011.

D&B: Where are you from?
AVJ: I was born in New Jersey, USA however I live between Johannesburg and New York.

D&B: What kind of photography do you shoot and how did you get started - any "formal" training?
AVJ: My practice is quite diverse. I began with reportage/documentary in 2001 with projects centered around Contemporary Africa and African Diaspora identity. Via portraiture I created several bodies of work aimed at exposing the complexity of black identity worldwide. From hip hop artists in West Africa to African descendents in Latin America I sought to uncover narratives that are rarely associated with people in the regions I worked in.

Recently I began creating self portraits. This transition marked the beginning of my studio practice. "Leapfrog (a bit of the other) Grand Matron Army" was the first of that series. In it I present my body in the form of 9 female archetypes from the precolonial to afrochic. The reason for this shift was that I wanted to have a more specific conversation with my work. Maintaining my body as a constant allows my audience to consider my concept and intentionality rather than examine my portraiture via an ethnographic point of view.

Regarding "formal" training: it is limited to an introductory class during undergrad and a more concentrated study during summer term under Katharina Sieverding at the Universitat der Kunst in Berlin. The latter was quite formative as it was during that time that I learned large format analogue printing and began to study photographic theory. 

Grid view of Grand Matron Army series 2010, Copyright Ayana V Jackson
(Click to view larger)

D&B: What cameras or techniques do you use?
AVJ: I use a YashikaMAT 124G and a Canon 5D.

Recontres de Bamako and Paris Photo 2011

From "The Ancestors Land" series by Malala Andrialavidrazana

November 10-13, 2011, a week after the opening of the 9th edition of Bamako Encounters (running from November 1, 2011 to January 1, 2012), the Paris Photo show is celebrating its 15th edition at the Grand Palais. African photography, from Bamako to Cape Town, is the theme this year. Learn more about this event at Paris Photo 2011.

Interview with Gallerist Jennie Ricketts

D&B: How did you get your start in the photography industry?
JR: I started working on the picture desk for the Observer colour supplement in the latter half of the 1980'a after meeting then picture editor June Stanier. But I had actually been working with photography in an advertising context for a few years before that.

June Stanier was looking for an assistant on her desk and had heard of me from a past colleague of mine at the ad agency. We met for lunch one day and I agreed to go work as her picture desk assistant.

The move to the picture desk really marked a graduation from the "applied" photography used in advertising to the more profound work of photojournalism and art photography that existed in colour supplements at the time, and that lead to my deeper interest in fine art photography.

African-American Photographers Honored at 9th Annual Lucie Awards

The Lucie Awards is the annual gala ceremony that celebrates master photographers and their contributions to the field of photography. Honorees are determined each year by the Lucie Awards Advisory Board, and pre-announced.

So basically, the Lucie Awards is like the Academy Awards for the photography industry.

At this year's 9th Annual Lucie Awards held on October 24th in NYC, it was great to see two African-American photographers honored. The 2011 honorees of note are:

Dawoud Bey for Achievement in Portraiture

Eli Reed for Achievement in Documentary Photography Award

Also honored was the Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki for Achievement in Fine Art.

Congratulations!

DISCOVER TALENT
See all photographer interviews on Dodge & Burn.

STAY IN TOUCH
Get updates on new photographer interviews plus news on contests, art shows and informed commentary on what's happening with diversity in photography. Subscribe to Dodge & Burn Photography Blog: Diversity in Photography by Email.

Follow me on Twitter @mestrich for more on photography and Like Dodge & Burn Blog on Facebook.

Giving Away 2 Free Copies of the Fall 2011 Issue of SPE's Exposure Journal

To celebrate the publication of my portfolio profile on UK photographer Marcia Michael in the Fall 2011 issue of exposure (the journal of the Society for Photographic Education) I'm giving away 2 free copies to the first 2 readers who contact me via Twitter.

This issue also features:

• Todd Hido and Elaine O'Neil in conversation
• Interview with artist Ann Hamilton
• A review of The Mexican Suitcase: The Rediscovered Spanish Civil War Negatives of Capa, Chim and Taro
• Nine Audio Photo Assignments by Gregory Halpern and Jason Fulford
• and more...

Come and get them!


DISCOVER TALENT
See all photographer interviews on Dodge & Burn.  

STAY IN TOUCH
Get updates on new photographer interviews plus news on contests, art shows and informed commentary on what's happening with diversity in photography. Subscribe to Dodge & Burn Photography Blog: Diversity in Photography by Email.

Follow me on Twitter @mestrich for more on photography and Like Dodge & Burn Blog on Facebook.

24th Carroll Harris Simms Black Art Competition and Exhibit

The African American Museum is the only one of its kind in the Southwestern Region devoted to the preservation and display of African American artistic, cultural and historical materials. It has one of the largest African American Folk Art collections in the United States.

Black artists across the nation compete for awards in the categories of Painting, Drawing, Printmaking, Photography and Mixed Media. Winning artwork entries in the various categories have become part of the African American Museum's permanent collection.

The Competition is named in recognition of Mr. Simms' outstanding contribution to art and art education. He joined the faculty of Texas Southern University (formerly Texas State University for Negro's) in 1950 and was co-founder of the art department. Professor Simms served on the faculty until 1987.

Simms developed a unique program of ceramics and sculpture at the University. The body of Terra Cotta Shrine sculptures created by Professor Simms' students represents a distinct contribution to the evolution of Twentieth Century African American sculpture.

Deadline October 22, 2011 - get more info and download the entry from the African American Museum website.

Read Caroll Harris Simms' obituary in the Houston Chronicle for more info about this artist, author, professor and key figure in African American Art History.  

DISCOVER TALENT
See all photographer interviews on Dodge & Burn.  

STAY IN TOUCH
Get updates on new photographer interviews plus news on contests, art shows and informed commentary on what's happening with diversity in photography. Subscribe to Dodge & Burn Photography Blog: Diversity in Photography by Email.

Follow me on Twitter @mestrich for more on photography and Like Dodge & Burn Blog on Facebook.

Mambu Badu's Second Annual Call for Entries

Check out the recent Dodge & Burn interview with the founding women of the Mambu Badu collective. I also urge any women photographers of African descent to submit your work - see details below:

Mambu Badu, a photography collective founded in 2010 with a mission to find, expose and nurture women artists of African descent, is seeking work for our second annual publication. Our first issue, Memory, garnered positive reviews for the photographers featured: Nikita Gale, Sheree Swann, Tonika Johnson, Jen Everett, Yodith Dammlash and Nkechi Ebubedike.

We are officially a year old and we invite you to submit your work for our second publication. There is no planned theme for this issue; we're looking for collage, conceptual, documentary and all work in between.

Please submit the following by December 20, 2011: A complete body of work (8-14 images), in either jpg or gif format.

Australian Aboriginal Artist Fiona Foley

From the series HHH (Hedonistic Honky Haters) by Fiona Foley

Photography is just one of the mediums in which indigenous Australian artist Fiona Foley explores themes of sex, race and history and their various manifestations within her own life and Aboriginal culture.