Concept Aware®

In this conversation, Colleen discusses, among other things: Awakening to invisible justice Bodily autonomy Animal spectatorship A practice of attention Distilling process Good obsessions Book as archive Puncturing social individuality Sound is time made flesh Sustaining projects is a puzzle Imagining a kind future

Yemchuk’s second monograph is a form of visual poetry. Her exceedingly tender portraits exude sensuality, emotion, and kinetic energy. Her controlled compositions form a lyrical arrangement with words by Ilya Kaminsky. Together both artists capture the elusive essence of this magical city, beguiling and beyond time. Sign-Up for Email Newsletter for Got Punctum? News and Other Happenings Engage wit...

In this conversation, Nancy and Scott discuss, among other things: Exploring what  a photo can do The importance of story The impact of presentation Dancing around ideas Photo as sculpture  Gendered objects Creative agency Housing fine art work Allowing projects to unfold  RELATIONSHIPS The magic of the art residence Artists’ Resources/Inspiration Organizations Ralston Gallery Newpo...

In this conversation, Karen discusses, among other things: Falling in love with photography (and a photographer) Modernism Media hierarchy moving towards collaborative interdisciplinary exhibits Impacting the breadth of community representation Context & curation Sequencing as the creative act of the curator Consistency of vision within an exhibition Creating critical conversations within an e...

In this conversation, Daniel discusses, among other things: Respect for straight photography Conceptual photography as the Wild West The 3 most important things to look for in an image The impact of the personal book Adaptation Authenticity and being true to yourself The power of print Cutting the noise by using the postal service Building your own ecosystem—not based on algorithms  Shooting...

In this conversation, Jason discusses, among other things: Photography as a tool to explore one’s interpretation of reality Being private investigators of your subject Engaging new book design perspectives Making creative choices that build context Organizational structure’s influence on editing Allowing curiosity to explore one’s feelings Jewish mysticism The power of text How the digital age imp...

In this conversation, Jaina discusses, among other things: Photographing what you can’t see Making space to document what you’re feeling Making a mess Doing insane things Creating a creative team The magic carpet ride of creativity  Trusting yourself Sharing your process The wonders of a shower notepad  Artist Resources/Inspiration Little Weirds by Jenny Slate Swamplandia by Karen Russel...

Using a large format camera with available light, Mandle compiles 40 color images of confessionals within Catholic churches across America. In illuminating spaces containing moments of grace, Reconciliation offers viewers the opportunity to seek, witness, and contemplate experiences of their own. In this conversation, S. Billie Mandle discusses, among other things: Correlations between confessiona...

Over 60 black and white images, many previously unpublished, constitute this erudite book, Signs, a current exhibition and a recent acquisition to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. With candor and respect, Dow provides a living history of human spirit and ingenuity. Senior Curator April M. Watson’s essay, A Sense of Things in Time, places Dow’s 45-year contribution as photographer and professor wit...

A palpable synergy permeates David Campany’s animated sequence of over 140 images and paintings in Anastasia Samoylova, Walker Evans Floridas . A playful interaction that recontextualizes Evans' archive, also illuminates photography’s unique ability to capture paradox, metaphor and oxymoron. Both Samoylova and Evans investigate deeper truths and the mixed feelings generated at the intersection of...

Kuhn reimagines a love relationship referenced in the extensive Schindler archives to create a dreamscape of portraiture, still life and landscape of an unnamed protagonist dwelling within the home and courtyard of Schindlers iconic Kings Road house. Solarization offered the perfect photographic tool for Kuhn to cross time and space while honoring the process of the Surrealists which was innovated...

Jess Dugan utilizes their skilled observation and keen awareness of the dynamics of portraiture to pose questions on love, loss, risk, trust and belonging. Sixty poetic images possessed of affection and agency, are intermixed with poignant and highly personal prose, to create an object of beauty and an accompaniment to the trials and triumphs of a fully lived life.  In this conversation, Jess...

Seeing Being Seen is a synthesis of Dunn’s multi-decade career of leadership roles in design, publishing, arts administration and academia told in part through images by 36 photographers she has known, worked with or collected. A central theme is the ever-evolving journey of learning and understanding how we see. Included is a Primer, an accessible and portable teaching tool on how to read a photo...

Abandoned Moments is a book, an approach, a tool and a philosophy. Kashi reconsiders his deep and expansive photographic archive shot in 100 countries over the past four decades to set them free of their original context. These fluid and engaging images vibrate with the chaos, wonder and complexity of the human experience. In this conversation, Ed Kashi discusses, among other things: Shooting from...

Golden Apple of the Sun animates the quotidian elements of Cole’s kitchen countertop in unposed meditations of color and form captured during a perilous 5-week period. This tapestry of image and text exposes the power of everyday objects to reflect the prismatic spaces we hold during our brief and precious life.    In this conversation, Teju Cole discusses, among other things: Still life...

Using an 8x10 large format camera, an iPad, images sourced from internet searches, social media and text messages, Surface Tension animates our layered relationship with technology. In thirty six high gloss images she reveals, reflects and ponders the complex layers between real life and our virtual one.  In this conversation, Tabitha Soren discusses, among other things: Creating images that...

Black Diamonds seamlessly blends typographic, street photography, portraiture, and pictorial landscapes into a lyrical composition honoring the people and places of the misrepresented coal mining communities of Appalachia. Facun celebrates the strength of this diverse community in 63 square color images within a beautifully muted palette.  In this conversation, Rich-Joseph Facun discusses, am...

My education and professional experience is layered with multiple roles in seemingly unrelated fields, social work, fashion, design, and photography. The common denominator, which links these fields together is my passion, the exploration to uncover and understand the relationship between meaning self-expression and culture. As a curator consultant and educator for over the past decade, my work is...

The Certainty of Nothing continues her intrepid investigation into the limits of the photographic medium. Her palpable agency and precise command belie her playful and organic methodology. With a replete tool kit of mediums and materials, Fifield transforms encounter and experience to illuminate meaning and connectivity across cultures and time.  In this book group, Sandi Haber Fifield discus...

Grundberg presents a personal reflection of his on-the-ground immersion in the world of contemporary art during the conceptual hayday of the NYC downtown scene in the 70’s and 80’s. In this scholarly tour-de-force he chronicles over 100 artists as photography became a means to deconstruct and make contemporary art approachable.  In this book group, Andy Grundberg discusses, among other things...

See/Saw compiles observational musings on over 40 photographers plus reflections on the writings of Roland Barthes and John Berger. Erudite, entertaining and thought-provoking this book is a veritable library of looking. It introduces unheralded imagemakers that capture imagination while sending readers into deep research on the plethora of historical and contemporary references evoked.  In t...

A master weaver intersecting the past with the future, Brea Souders constructs visual analogies that expose the layered intermediaries of communication. Positing centuries-old existential questions, Souders discovers her own lexicon, creating a language built on correlation, random chance and fleeting reaction.   In this book group, Brea Souders, discusses, among other things: How we exp...

A manual on female dairy cows provides a portal for Odette England to unearth the latent truths of her girlhood, formed in the deeply gendered community of family-run dairy farming. Sequencing hauntingly mysterious images with succinctly insightful text, England explores conventions, offering an expansive and empowering response in their place.  In this book group, Odette England discusses, a...

Cig Harvey’s fourth monograph celebrates the sacred and the profane in lush, glossy, saturated color. In a hefty book of french-fold pages chronicles in image and text, Harvey’s courageous exploration of visual storytelling in form and narrative. Utilizing the medium of photography to illuminate the quotidian, Harvey reflects our human paradox, the unbearable lightness of being. In this book group...

Multi-media artist Stacy Mehrfar presents a collision of sensory experience in an actualization of the emotional terrain of migration. Portraits, landscapes, and still life images are purposely devoid of signifiers to place, time and space, inviting a collective encounter of dislocation.  In this book group, Stacy Mehrfar discusses, among other things: Picturing emotion The purpose of a portr...