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.

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.