My Interview with Lorna Simpson for Aleim Magazine

photo by George Pitts

You can imagine the level of my nervousness when I was walking towards Lorna Simpson's studio, getting ready to interview her. After years of admiring her work, I was going to meet the Lorna Simpson face to face!

Simpson's cool and calm attitude didn't do much to calm my nerves but I soon found myself talking to her about everything from her first exposure to art as a child, motherhood, being married to another artist and so much more.

I hope you enjoy reading my feature/interview with fine art photographer and artist Lorna Simpson for Aleim Magazine, with beautiful portraits by photographer George Pitts.

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Postcode Criminals Collaboration Explores "Stop & Frisk" in Liverpool, UK and Brooklyn, NY

International Collaboration with Artist Dread Scott, Filmmaker Joan Kushner, and the youth from Liverpool, UK and Brownsville, Brooklyn.

POSTCODE CRIMINALS was inspired by the 1996 exchange between NY police chief William Bratton and his counterpart, Ray Mallon in the UK in concerns of enforcing the "Stop and Frisk" policy within both cities. Just last year, New York police has stopped 686,000 people as part of their zero tolerance strategy. Since then, both the youth in Liverpool and in New York are forced to endure prejudice and the constant fear of being criminalized based on the communities they live in. Over the course of several months, Kushner, Scott and the young adults of Brooklyn and Liverpool collaborated and exchanged their experiences through workshops exploring media including street photographs, video, and collages. The artworks capture how they've endured the inequality of "Stop & Frisk" both personally and as a community. 

The dialogue shared between the youths of both cities echoes the similarities of the two cities despite being oceans apart. Highlighting Stop and Search/Stop and Frisk through art and exhibitions creates a platform for public dialogue.

On view at Rush Arts Gallery through October 20, 2012.

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"Visualizing Emancipation" Exhibit at the Schomburg

"The Old Trace" Portion of the original Natchez Trace followed by troops under
Major General Ulysses S. Grant during their March on Vicksburg, Mississippi.Early May, 1863.Near Grindstone Ford, Claiborne County, MississippiMarch 6, 2012, 1:39-1:41 pmCopyright Matthew Baum

October 11, 2012-March 16, 2013

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

To commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Schomburg presents 80 pre– and post– Civil War era photographs of enslaved and free black women, men, and children. The images record the presence of black soldiers and black workers in the American South and help the 21st century viewer reimagine a landscape of black people's desire to be active in their own emancipation.

Also on view will be contemporary photographs like the triptych landscape above from my friend Matthew Baum. 

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See all photographer interviews on Dodge & Burn.

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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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Portraits for Self Determining Haiti by Régine Romain

"Holding Innocence" from the series
Portraits of Self Determining Haiti
by Regine Romain 

September 30 – November 11, 2012
Artist Reception: Friday, 12 October 2012, 6 – 8 pm ET
Clover’s Fine Art Gallery
338 Atlantic Avenue & Hoyt Street,
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Brooklyn, New York – October 2012 – Régine Romain is pleased to announce Portraits for Self Determining Haiti, is included in the “Photography Works” show at Clover’s Fine Art Gallery. Six portraits are on display from the full traveling exhibition of photographs.

Régine Romain photographs and researches Haiti’s shifting yet distinct presence throughout the world in an ongoing visual diaspora project. Her work is grounded in individual and community portraiture. This exhibition bridges two compelling views: Romain, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, as the composer of portraits on Haitian life rarely seen, and the reality of Haiti as a self-determining nation – a principle historically rooted in the people’s DNA as resurgent hope.

Portraits for Self Determining Haiti is an exhibition of vibrant photographs of Haiti, three weeks after the 7.0 earthquake that killed more than half a million people. Elemental themes of faith, dignity, honor and respect are keenly displayed. The title is inspired by a series of essays published by The Nation in 1920 entitled "Self-Determining Haiti" written by James Weldon Johnson, a journalist, lyricist, and renowned civil rights leader of Haitian heritage.