Monstanto: A Photographic Investigation, devised by Mathieu Asselin, characterizes a shift towards conceptual documentary photographic practices that have expanded into terrain beyond the conventional documentary tropes of eye-witness testimony and photo-realism. Asselin’s approach is long-term, research based and adopts a number of visual and communication strategies that build the project as a multi-layered archive that … Continued
Gulf of Oman. Nuclear deal. Sanctions. Coronavirus. The contemporary geopolitical entry points into Sheida Soleimani’s practice are expansive. And urgent. Her relentless focus on the petroleum industry, and on the actors and materials that define The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other nebulous international networks, produces bodies of work that are similarly … Continued
The first time I saw Adrian Octavius Walker’s work was at a photography exhibition titled, Green Book at a small photo gallery in San Francisco the summer of 2018. In a room full of photos, his work—three massive, crystal-clear film portraits of Black men in durags—effortlessly commanded. At the time, I did not know Adrian … Continued
For Wendy Red Star, history speaks through clothing and photographs. In her most well-known photographic series Four Seasons (2006) Red Star wears an Apsáalooke (Crow) dress akin to one that she pointed to through glass barriers during an artist talk in the Native American Art Galleries at the Portland Art Museum in 2011. Both are … Continued
Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, resulted in the incarceration of one hundred and ten thousand Japanese Americans in ten concentration camps. The camps were all constructed at uninhabitable isolated terrain sites scattered from Arkansas to California. Two thirds of these prisoners were American Citizens, born, raised, educated, and … Continued
Kate Kraczon Kate Kraczon is the curator at The David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University. Previously, Brown helpd the position of Laporte Associate Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, where she organized over thirty exhibitions. At ICA since 2008, Kraczon championed emerging artists, notably curating Alex Da Corte and Jayson Musson: … Continued
Inspired by the themes presented in Houston Center for Photography’s current exhibition, Tools of Revolution: Fashion Photography and Activism, the Spring 2020 issue of spot presents a series of interviews and essays from artists and curators across the globe on issues of artistic social practice. This particular issue of spot comes at a unique moment … Continued
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