Monday, October 14, 2024

Ed Kashi EXPOSES How Photography Shapes Our View of the World

 Via Planet of One

October 12, 2024





In this insightful interview, award-winning photojournalist and filmmaker Ed Kashi dives deep into his journey from a first-generation American with Iraqi roots to becoming a globally renowned storyteller through photography. He reflects on the pivotal moments that shaped his career, from discovering his passion for photography at Syracuse University to capturing the raw realities of global conflicts and social issues. Kashi shares his thoughts on the challenges of photojournalism, the emotional toll of documenting human suffering, and the importance of empathy in his work. He also discusses his commitment to highlighting the positive stories that often go untold, particularly in underrepresented communities. This conversation is a powerful look into the life of a photographer who has dedicated his career to chasing narratives, both profound and personal.

Sunday, October 13, 2024

The Long Path Toward Establishing Indigenous People’s Day, a Day to Honor and Recognize the First Peoples of America

 Via Smithsonian Magazine

October 11, 2024

The Long Path Toward Establishing Indigenous People’s Day, a Day to Honor and Recognize the First Peoples of America

Native American Indians are committed to making Indigenous Peoples Day a national holiday in 2024.

This Monday, October 14, many Americans will celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day by recognizing the history and contributions of Native peoples. President Biden’s administration has officially recognized Indigenous Peoples' Day since 2021, but it is not yet a federal holiday. Thus, for the fourth year in a row, the United States will officially observe Indigenous Peoples Day alongside Columbus Day. However, The Indigenous Peoples' Day Act, reintroduced in Congress on October 2, 2023, would potentially designate the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day nationwide. The bill currently has 56 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and 11 cosponsors in the Senate.


“On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor the perseverance and courage of Indigenous peoples, show our gratitude for the myriad contributions they have made to our world, and renew our commitment to respect Tribal sovereignty and self-determination.” President Joseph Biden, 2023 Proclamation on Indigenous People’s Day


Looking back, generations of Native people throughout the Western Hemisphere have protested Columbus Day. In the forefront of their minds is the fact the colonial takeovers of the Americas, starting with Columbus, led to the deaths of millions of Native people and the forced assimilation of survivors. American Indian activists and their allies have long argued that Columbus Day, Columbus statues, and the discovery myth endorse his actions which include enslavement, torture and other atrocities to Native people.


In 1977, participants at the United Nations International Conference on Discrimination against Indigenous Populations in the Americas proposed that Indigenous Peoples’ Day replace Columbus Day as a national holiday. Indigenous Peoples’ Day recognizes that Native people are the first inhabitants of the Americas, including the lands that later became the United States of America. And it urges Americans to rethink history marking a change of course from previous administrations in their proclamations marking Columbus Day, which honors the explorer, Christopher Columbus.

The movement to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day or Native American Day has gained momentum and spread to states, cities, and towns across the United States. The first state to rename Columbus Day was South Dakota, in 1990. Hawai’i has also changed the name of its October 12 holiday to Discoverers’ Day, in honor of the Polynesian navigators who peopled the islands. Berkeley, California, became the first city to make the change in 1992, when the city council renamed Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. In 2015 an estimated 6,000 Native people and their supporters gathered at Randall’s Island, New York, to recognize the survival of the Indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere. The demonstration’s success and the worldwide media attention it attracted planted the seeds for creating an Indigenous Peoples’ Day in New York City. According to the website RenameColumbusDay.org:

Approximate cities:  216
Approximate schools:  83
Approximate counties:  20
Approximate states not observing Columbus Day: 29, plus Washington, D.C., have renamed Columbus Day and adopted Indigenous Peoples' Day

Kentucky now has the most cities of any of the states, who have adopted Indigenous People’s Day, thanks to Indigenous Rights Activist Angela Arnette-Garner. Arnette-Garner said, “As a long-time Indigenous rights activist, I have lobbied city, county, and state governments in Kentucky for the passage of Indigenous Peoples Day proclamations (thus far 32 city, county, and state proclamations passed in Kentucky). This, in an effort to help educate people about Indigenous history and culture, encourage truthful dialogue about genocide, expose the shameful legacy of Christopher Columbus, repudiate the doctrine of discovery, and advocate for the decolonization of education. Yet, my ultimate goal in founding the Indigenous Peoples Day movement of Kentucky, is to demonstrate that if widespread support could be garnered in one of the most staunchly conservative states in the country, then establishment of a federal holiday is truly attainable. I fervently hope that Congress takes a serious look at the Indigenous Peoples Day movement of Kentucky.”

Universities and schools across the country are also observing the new commemoration. “Mythology about Columbus and the ‘discovery’ of the Americas continues to be many American children’s first classroom lesson about encountering different cultures, ethnicities, and peoples. Teaching more accurate and complete narratives and differing perspectives is key to our society’s rethinking its history,” stated Renee Gokey (Eastern Shawnee), NMAI Teacher Services Coordinator. In past years, the museum has hosted Indigenous Peoples’ Curriculum Days and teach-ins at the beginning of the school year in Washington DC and New York. Recently a Teach-In for Change was held at the National Museum of the American Indian in the Washington DC to prepare teachers on how to prepare for Indigenous Peoples Day. Links to additional resources are available through these links: National Museum of the American Indian, Native Knowledge 360°, Learning for Justice, and IllumiNative. These resources include curricula, sample lesson plans, books, and videos.

Throughout Indian Country, Indigenous Peoples Day is being observed through prayer vigils, parades, powwows, symposiums, concerts, lectures, rallies, and classrooms, all in an effort to help America rethink American history.


Dennis Zotigh | Dennis W. Zotigh (Kiowa/Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo/Isante Dakota Indian) is a member of the Kiowa Gourd Clan and San Juan Pueblo Winter Clan and a descendant of Sitting Bear and No Retreat, both principal war chiefs of the Kiowas. Dennis works as a writer and cultural specialist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Thursday, October 10, 2024

Nina Berman Guided Tour Through Her Exhibition "We The People" At The Capa Space

Via The Capa Space

October 10, 2024

 

ARTIST TALK - Photographer Nina Berman will do a guided tour through her We The People exhibition for an inside look at the protest photographs she has been taking for over thirty years.  She will talk about what inspired her to turn her lens on protest in America and what she has learned about the people who organize and assert their right to protest. Sunday, October 20th 2024 @ 4pm. Suggested donation $10. 

 Click here to RSVP


WE THE PEOPLE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY NINA BERMAN

We the People brings together more than three decades of work by photographer Nina Berman who has tenaciously documented the public outrages, injustices, protestations and longings of a deeply dissatisfied and increasingly polarized society. What the United States should be, and for whom, are questions at the heart of Nina’s work and the 2024 election. September 8th - November 24th, 2024

Monday, October 7, 2024

At protests, police are increasingly arresting members of the press—especially those with cameras.

 

Via Columbia Journalism Review

October 7, 2024


Since the violence of last October 7—as the conflict between Israel and Palestine has grown deadlier, and spread more widely in the Middle East—it has also been, according to the US Press Freedom Tracker, a nonpartisan database of press freedom violations, a “protest year.” The visual journalists who cover demonstrations across America—photographers, videographers—are at the center of the action. “We have to get creative, go on the floor, shoot through cops’ legs, just to get that visual,” Madison Swart—a photojournalist in New York whose work has been published in Out and Cosmopolitan, among other places—told me. In May, while covering a pro-Palestinian protest, Swart was briefly detained by police officers—one of forty-three journalists who have been arrested in the past year, triple the previous number. According to Stephanie Sugars, a reporter for the US Press Freedom Tracker, “it has felt that the predominant number of incidents, at least since the protests started, are against people who are documenting visually in some capacity.”

--full article here.



Wednesday, October 2, 2024

New Exhibition: The Best Of Us

 Santa Fe, NM

October 2, 2024




“The Best Of Us" is an exhibition of compelling and provocative photographs depicting the ideals and diversity of the human experience which explore the characterization of extraordinary and everyday people who renew our faith that all things are possible and exemplify our ideals.

The phrase “the best of us” is often used idiomatically to refer to brave, courageous, selfless, and audacious people that celebrate the human spirit of drive and determination to make a difference.

“Be certain that you do not die without having done something wonderful for humanity.”

— Maya Angelou


View the exhibition on-line here.

Monday, September 30, 2024

Review of new film about Lee Miller references Tony Vaccaro

 Via truthdig

September 29, 2024

A Photographer’s Legacy, Airbrushed

"It’s surprising that it took this long to give Lee Miller the Hollywood treatment. A former model and eventual frontline World War II photographer, with an eye that rivaled Robert Capa and Tony Vaccaro, she lived a haunted life following the publication of her revelatory Vogue magazine spread depicting the liberation of Dachau. “Lee” arrives in theaters this week as a reminder of both Miller’s work and the need to memorialize the details of genocide. Sadly, the movie does little more than gesture at both."

--full article

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Field of View: The Politic Aesthetic

 Via Field of View

September 28, 2024


Excerpted from "The Politic Aesthetic   Access is gone. Moments are dead. Long live the flash"

(see also the virtual exhibition "The Campaign"


"Few photos exemplify access like this gem by LIFE magazine photographer Hank Walker: Kennedy and his brother Robert deep in conversation in a hotel room during that same convention in 1960. It’s one of my all-time favorite political photographs. Access to an authentic moment like this is a photojournalist’s dream.



“The brothers talked very quietly, and Jack told Bobby who he was going to choose as Vice President,” Walker said in a 1994 interview. “I only made one picture in there, and then I waited outside for Bobby to come out. When he did, he was furious.”2

Walker’s contact sheet proves he made way more than just one picture—he wasn’t escorted in and hurried out in 30 seconds. Walker was allowed to work it. Notice how at first he’s shooting horizontally (frame 23), then rotates his camera and makes the one (frame 24).




Henri Cartier-Bresson once said that using a flash was “monstrous” and “impolite, like coming to a concert with a pistol in your hand.” Some of the photos from the 2024 conventions were definitely monstrous.

blurry black and white photograph of Presidential candidate Donal Trump with bandage on his era, 2024

Photograph by Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson has been temporarily blinding politicians with his strobe for years. “The flash is like crack to them,” he once said.

color photograph of Nancy Peloisi with eyes closed at the 2024 Democratic Convention holding a "Coack" sign and a cut-out picture of Tim Walz's face

Photograph by Mark Peterson



A regular contributor to The New York Times Opinion section (mostly b&w) and New York magazine (mostly color), Peterson’s flash does more than light the scene—it defines it. It’s his signature look, one he’s refined and mastered. And it’s contagious."  full article here.

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Jimmy Carter at 100

 September 25, 2024


Jimmy Carter holds a newspaper with the eadline "Carter Wins!", 1977
Ken Harkins

Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to offer a special selection of photographs by Ken Hawkins of Jimmy Carter to commemorate his 100th birthday on October 1, 2024.

Ken Hawkins is a photojournalist who has covered politics, disasters, and conflict zones—including Vietnam, Nicaragua, and El Salvador—since 1970, working globally for publications and agencies such as TIME, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, Forbes, Paris Match, Stern, the New York Times, Newsweek, Wired, and the British Broadcasting Corporation. For over two decades, his work was represented by the premier photo agency SYGMA Paris/New York. In 2016, Hawkins authored "Jimmy Carter – Photographs 1970 – 2010", a photographic memoir of his time as a TIME photographer working the Carter campaign and White House.  

Please contact the Gallery for print details.

The Carter Center has invited members of the public to contribute photos of themselves alongside birthday messages for the country's oldest living former president. The images make up a mosaic marking the centennial.


Ken Hawkins




Monday, September 23, 2024

Oklahoma State University Museum of Art Exhibit “How We Rebuild” Includes Gallery Photographer Nina Berman

 Via Oklahoma State University Museum of Art

September 23, 2024


The Oklahoma State University Museum of Art presents “How We Rebuild,” opening Sept. 24, 2024. This selection of photographs examines the aftermath of conflict, focusing on what it takes to recover the heartbeat of humanity.

The exhibition draws from 12 years of work created by grant winners and finalists from The Aftermath Project, a nonprofit organization committed to telling the other half of war stories after the conflicts have ended — what it takes for individuals to rebuild destroyed lives and homes, to restore civil societies, and to address the lingering wounds of war while struggling to create new avenues for peace.

Documentary photographer Sara Terry founded The Aftermath Project to impart the importance of “aftermath photography,” yearning for a society that doesn’t forget the people and places that conflict photography covers.

“The end of war does not mean peace. It is simply the end of death and destruction. Every story of war includes a chapter that almost always goes untold — the story of the aftermath, which day by day becomes a prologue of the future,” Terry said.

The photos selected for “How We Rebuild” center and reflect on the human stories and memories that define us. The assembly of images features moments of hope, agency and resilience.

“These photographs serve as a powerful reminder that rebuilding isn’t just physical — it’s emotional and communal, requiring empathy, patience, and shared understanding,” said Liz Roth, OSU Museum of Art interim director.

This exhibition invites audiences to engage with the visual narratives and reflect on the role of the photographs in helping communities heal. “How We Rebuild” is organized by ExhibitsUSA, a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance.

Artists included in the exhibition are Rodrigo Abd, Juan Arredond, Fatemeh Behboudi, Nina Berman, Pep Bonet, Andrea Bruce, Monika Bulaj, Kathryn Cook, Jeremy Dennis, Gwenn Dubourthoumieu, Michelle Frankfurter, Alessandro Gandolfi, Glenna Gordon, Ron Haviv, Jessica Hines, Olga Ingurazova, Andrew Lichtenstein, Luca Locatelli, Davide Monteleone, Saiful Huq Omi, Javad Parsa, Adam Patterson, Joseph Sywenkyj, Sara Terry and Donald Weber.

“How We Rebuild” is on view Sept. 24 through Dec. 20 at the OSU Museum of Art. Learn more at the website.

For more information about The Aftermath Project, visit theaftermathproject.org.