Author Archive for burn magazine

piotr zbierski – love has to be reinvented

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

Piotr Zbierski

Love Has To Be Reinvented

play this essay

 

When Venasque told me about diaries of Cocteau, I came across this fragment, which deeply affected me:

“And then I realized that the world of my dreams is equally full of memories as my real life, so it is the real being and also richer, deeper, full of episodes, and more precise in many details. It was difficult to properly locate memories in one or the other world. They were extraordinary, complicated, and have become my second life, twice bigger, and twice longer than my own”.

Why? Because you have this gun with cold water when I’m turning into someone unlike.

With or without is trivial difference. Is it not the way to communicate with friends?

We are still here.

I know your deepest secret fear. And you know my deepest secret fear: egoism.

 

Bio

Piotr Zbierski (b. 1987) studied photography at National Film School.

Author of three individual exhibitions (White Elephants, Here, Childhood Dreams), participant in collective exhibitions and publications including Photokina and Lab East. He presented his works in many countries like Poland, Germany, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia. As well as magazines (Shots Magazine, Ninja Mag, Archivo Zine, Die Nacht, Gup Magazine).

In 2012 he won the prestigious prize for young photographer Leica Oscar Barnack Newcomer Award and has been shortlisted in many other prizes (Les Nuits Photographiques 2012, Terry O’Neill Award) for his series “Pass By Me”. His works has been shown at festival in Arles 2012 and are in collection of Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts. He lives and works in Lodz.

 

Related links

Piotr Zbierski

 

THE MAGAZINE of (based on a true story)

giveaway

© Candy Pilar Godoy

shot two days ago at a soccer field in the Cantagalo community in Rio where I had worked prior on the book and for NatGeo

 

I am working now daily in Rio to giveaway the large format large magazine version of the (based on a true story) book that sold out as a collector edition….this is a free copy to anyone in Rio who goes to a giveaway event and who wants one…and we are having several events at photo schools and art classes and just as here random in the favelas and the other night a formal signing at Ateliê da Imagem ….

The whole point of this I have written about prior, but most likely many readers just do not know….The collector version, which was expensive by nature as an art object or an artisan object if you will is gone…I like art and art objects… At the same time I hate to be in any way elitist with my  work…so as a payback to the Rio community we are giving away free half of our 5,ooo press run to anyone who is Brazilian or pretends to be and who comes to an event…

We printed in Italy on the same paper brand as the book and selling the other half for 24 bucks in every place outside of Brazil to pay for the first half or at least almost….This is a super quality object at a super low price. Yes, less expensive yet not cheaper.

For sure the large magazine version is a whole different experience, but mostly we wanted to make it super affordable for those who could not afford the collector book…After all these years of working in various communities around the world, I always wanted to do something like this. Feels good, feels right.

Anyway here it is…

 

THE MAGAZINE of (based on a true story) can now be ordered here:

Add to Cart

Large format version of the book, 15×11 inches, printed on same paper brand as the book. – $24

SHIPPING STARTS ON MAY, 10th, please be patient!

For volume purchases or info please contact Eva: eva@burnmagazine.org

 

irina werning – back to the future 2

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

Irina Werning

Back To The Future 2

play this essay

 

I love old photos. I know I’m a nosy photographer. As soon as I step into someone else’s house, I start sniffing for those old photos. Most of us are fascinated by their retro look but to me it’s imagining how people would feel and look like if they were to reenact them today…  a few years ago, I decided to actually do this. So, with my camera, I started inviting people to go back to their future.

Back to the Future won the Burn Emerging Photographer Fund  2011. The EPF grant allowed Irina Werning to extend and finish the project. For Back to the Future, she shot 250 pictures in 32 countries.

 

Bio

• Born in Buenos Aires

• BA Economics, Universidad de San Andres, Buenos Aires, 1997

• MA History, Universidad Di Tella, Buenos Aires, 1999

• MA Photographic Journalism, Westminster University, London, 2006

• Winner Ian Parry Scholarship 2006

• Gordon Foundation Grant 2006

• Selected for the Joop Swart Masterclass (World Press Photo Organization), 2007

• Flash Forward, The Magenta Foundation, Canada 2011

• Winner Fine Art Portraits, SONY World Photography Awards 2012

 

Related links

Irina Werning

 

 

todd danforth – portrait of a family

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

Todd Danforth

Portrait Of A Family

play this essay

 

I sat on the hospital bed beside my grandfather and watched as he took his dying breaths. Aunt Beth walked into the room and quietly sat next to me. She glanced at her father for a moment and then back to me. “Life is funny, huh?” she said.

I looked at her and then back to my grandfather. His cheeks were no longer full and his body almost lifeless. A machine beside his recliner supplied oxygen to his lungs and I could not help but imagine myself at age seventy-­‐eight. Will I have his wrinkles too, I thought? His head full of white hair, not a bald spot to be found. And then I began to wonder about our non-­‐physical characteristics and the similarities my aunts and uncles share with my grandparents.I began to think about his memories and accomplishments and what value those hold now that he remains helpless. Who will continue this legacy he began? Who will tell his story after he goes, because afterall, we are the only ones who can.

These family portraits tell the photographic journey that I began in pursuit to understand the emotional struggles that bond my family together. After my Grandmother’s passing in 2004, my Grandfather became the patriarch of the family; but more importantly he was the aging bond that weaved my family’s legacy. As time has it, nothing lasts forever-­‐ his illness worsened, his memory faded, and as I ushered a final farewell to my last semester of college, my Grandfather took his final breath.

This portfolio was created over a four year period from 2009-­‐2013. The subjects of the work are my family and it is photographed in Massachusetts. Some photographs were taken in Florida on a road trip we brought my Grandfather on in 2011. Some of the photographs were featured in a German typography publication Slanted.

 

Bio

Todd Danforth grew up along the West River in the heart of the Blackstone River Valley, the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution.

He was born into quite a large family with an astounding family history. His lineage can be traced back toJudge Thomas Danforth, the Deputy Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1679-­‐1686, who also sat on the Superior Court sessions during the Salem Witch Trials. Todd’s current photographic work focuses primarily on family and the ties that bond these close relationships together.

He currently resides on the South Shore of Boston, Massachusetts and holds his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University.

 

Related links

Todd Danforth

 

 

enri canaj – shadow in greece

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls
ESSAY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT

Enri Canaj

Shadow In Greece

play this essay

 

The centre of Athens, as I first remember it, was full of life.

During the period before the Olympic Games, there was great development. New hotels appeared in order to host the visitors, shops, restaurants and cafes kept sprouting out, it was full of people everywhere. All this happened within a few years. It was as if the city put on new clothes. During the days of the Olympics, the city was clean and well-guarded. You would not see street- merchants, drug-addicts or immigrants, just tourists and people who came in order to have a good time. In my eyes, it looked like another place.

As time passed, the city started deteriorating and gradually recovered its previous character: the everyday life that we all knew, with the junkies, the street-merchants, the the immigrants and the prostitutes.

Time passes fast. The city is now fading. Some people abandon it due to the crisis. Many shops and hotels have shut down, the centre is now almost deserted. People fear they will get ripped-off, they hear that this happens all the time. They no longer feel like going out and wandering about like before. They even fear seeing all the poverty and destitution, they drug-users who will rip you off for their shot, the women prostituting themselves.

But for me, those people were always there. I found them all there when I first arrived as a 9-year old child. They were always there when I was growing up. They are somehow trapped in their lives, subsisting in terrible circumstances, in squalid houses with insufficient hygiene.

The immigrants live in small rooms that they rent, many of them together, without much hope. The women prostitute themselves even in the streets for 5€. You don’t want to run into them in the street. Yet, hanging around with them has been my daily routine. This way, it was easier to approach them. They are sensitive people with a lot of problems, with ruined families behind them. Sometimes they give the impression that no one has cared for them. As if they want someone to talk to, as if they want to get out of the misery they are in. For some of them I had the sense that they were almost looking for someone to open up to and take it all out. Like confessing. What made an impression on me was that they often opened up and talked as if they knew me. Sometimes they talked about difficult things, about what they were experiencing, as if they were talking about someone else. Almost as if they felt better this way.

I would only shoot when I sensed that they were more comfortable, after some time had passed. Sometimes, unexpected things happened, and made me change the plan I had in mind. Other times, things just happened spontaneously, and I was just following along. The images I have selected are stronger for me, because I know the story behind them.

I have been working on this project since 2011. My work is still in progress. When others looks at those pictures I want them to feel respect and dignity for the subjects. Like I do.

 

Bio:

Enri Canaj was born in Tirana, Albania, in 1980. He spent his early childhood there and moved with his family to Greece in 1991, immediately after the opening of the borders. He is based in Athens and covers stories in Greece and the Balkans.

He studied photography at the Leica Academy in Athens. In 2007 he took part in a British Council project on migration, attending a year-long workshop with Magnum photographer Nikos Economopoulos.

Since 2008, he has been a freelance photographer for major publications such as Time Magazine Lightbox, Newsweek, Le monde Diplomatique (German edition),TO VIMA, TA NEA, Tachydromos and VIMAGAZINO. A sample of his work has been exhibited at the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece in Athens and Salonica, at the Bilgi Santral in Istanbul, the European Parliament in Brussels and the Athens Photo Festival.

He has been working in the Balkans, mainly Kosovo and Albania, as well as Greece, focusing on migration and the recent crisis.

 

Related links:

Enri Canaj

 

martina cirese – asankojo

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

Martina Cirese

Asankojo

play this essay

 

What happens when a circle begins? You know the circle will end. The matter is how is it gonna end. (The matter is, how can you know how is it gonna end?). A photographer meets an subject, not that she thinks he his, but it’s the only thing he deserves to be. And he knows it, and he likes it. Skin is a boundary [then] skin is an opportunity.

I met Asan in Paris. I was caught by his mental universe of anxiety, straying and questioning. With him, I felt immediately messy but complete. I entered his nomadic life and his persistent tension with spaces. I found myself in it. I started to take pictures hanging over him, in every street, light or wall he was leaning in. But he kept asking for more. He was viscerally attracted to me. He was obsessed with me.

For over one year, I denied him but I came back in an endless and tense tango. Following him across Europe and Asia, in a bipolar courtship, I was led into intertwined, overlaid worlds: erratic, liquid cities, revealing then hiding themselves; and Asan, more as an entity than a person, a mentor, a spiritual guide. As we chased each other, he took me away. When I found my own vision and language through our photos, I was already gone from his life, as he from mine.

 

Bio

Martina Cirese was born in Rome in 1988.

From 2008 until 2009, while studying History at “La Sapienza” University of Rome, she also enrolled at the institute of photography “ISFCI”, collaborating at the same time with the “AGF” photojournalistic agency and with the organization “Shoot4Change”. Completed her Bachelor’s degree in 2010, she has moved from Rome to Paris to finish her studies, winning a scholarship to do her thesis abroad and receiving her Master degree in Contemporary History in 2013.

Her first publications have been about the student movement: in 2008 on “PeaceReporter”; in 2011 on the book SpringTime: The New Student Rebellions by Verso Books; in the German magazine “Rosa Luxembourg” and in the Italian newspapers “La Repubblica” and “Alias – Il Manifesto”. In 2012, her first reportage assigned and her first cover were published in the Italian magazine “L’Espresso”, with an inquiry about the power of Taxi’s lobby during the Italian economic crisis.

Between 2011 and 2013 she has been working about the human search of identity: with this project, named “Asankojo”, she has been selected as finalist for the “Emergentes DST 2012 Award” and the “WinePhoto International Contest 2012”. She has won the scholarship for the “MasterClass 2012” held by Enrico Bossan, head of photography department in Fabrica.

This year, she has been selected in the “New York Portfolio Review”; she was among the shortlist of the “Bourse du Talent Reportage” and of the “Prix Pixpalace-Visas de l’Ani”. “Asankojo” was also nominated as “Honorable Mention” in the “Photographic Museum of Humanity Grant 2013”, and awarded with the first prize of the student category in the “Fotoura International Street Photography Awards 2013”.

 

zaida gonzález ríos – primera comunión

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls
ESSAY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT

Zaida González Ríos

Primera Comunión

play this essay

 

My intention is to critique the traditions and social references of Western culture, as well as use irony in questioning certain canons, such as the idealization of the body in advertising and media, the role of gender, and a consumer based existence due to globalization and individualism in an environment that is marked by an increase in the disposable.

I seek to show something different: that which is not well regarded or accepted, an escape from what we have been taught to “behold and admire.” This is manifested with ordinary models, average people who would not otherwise be photographed for an advertising campaign.

With the inclusion of dead and deformed babies in the photographs, I intend to rescue people that were abandoned without a proper farewell. I want to dignify them, transporting them into a picture, surrounded by objects and symbolism to leave them history so that they do not go unnoticed or ignored. I confront the viewer with the truth, one that weighs on the conscience of agricultural industries, since the indiscriminate use of toxic pesticides every year cause children to be born with and die from physiological and physical deformities. This fact is hidden from society by companies that have economic power in our country.

With the lighting techniques used in the images (black and white pictures painted by hand) and small format, I intend to create a break between the form and substance, softening and dislodging the message.

 

Bio

1977, San Miguel, Santiago de Chile.

Photographer and veterinarian.

Zaida received her degree in commercial photograhy but has since dedicated herself exclusively to personal projects, exhibiting her work in various group and solo exhibitions in Chile.

Her work has been featured internationally in Colombia, Argentina, USA, Belgium, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela, Spain, France, Portugal and Mexico.

She currently teaches photography in the Escuela de Comunicaciones Alpes and works as a freelance veterinarian.

She has authored 3 books to date: “Las Novias de Antonio” (La Revista, 2009), ” Recuérdame al morir con mi último latido” (2010) and “Zaida Gonzalez De Guarda” (2013). Her last two books were published independently with the help of her brother, designer Marco Gonzalez.

She was the recipient of four photography scholarships from Fondart (2005, 2008, 2009 and 2011) and was a resident of fine art photography for Nelson Garrido in Valparaiso (2010).

In 2007 and 2011 she was nominated for the Altazor award for her work “Conservatorio Celestial” and “Recuérdame al morir con mi último latido,” respectively.

In 2012 she won the Rodrigo Rojas De Negri award and national recognition in emerging photography.

In 2013 she was awarded a grant from the DIRAC for a residency she completed with the NGO (Organización Nelson Garrido) in Caracas, Venezuela.

 

Related links

Zaida González Ríos

 

 

miguel ángel sánchez – ulu pamir

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

Miguel Ángel Sánchez

Ulu Pamir

play this essay

 

Miguel Ángel Sánchez traveled in 2012 with his studio to Ulu Pamir, Turkey, a far place in the middle of Turkish Kurdistan, hidden between mountains with very hard winters and connected by a tortuous path to Van Lake. 30 years ago, this land was the witness of the arrival of a group of unusual people with unusual features.

These people, originally from Kyrgyzstan, came walking from far away, from Pamir, with the promise of a better and safer life hosted by the Turkish government, avoiding the war with USSR.

30 years later, people from this place fight against the government´s abandonment and harassment of the PKK guerrilla warfare.

Miguel Ángel portrayed the inhabitants from this small village and their will to preserve their roots and traditions despite being far away from their original land.

 

Bio

Miguel Ángel Sánchez (Madrid 1977), Spanish photographer based in Cairo since 2009.

For years he combined his development as an artist with his work in a commercial photography studio, until, in 2009, he decided to completely turn over to his creative side and opened his own photography studio in Cairo (Egypt).

His studio in Cairo is the base where he works and prepares projects developed in Egypt for the last four years, but he is also a study itinerant photographer who takes his workspace to any corner of the world: Asia, Middle East or black Africa. The Gaddafi war in Libya, the Ulu Pamir besieged by the PKK in Turkish Kurdistan, the Gaza Strip after Israel bombing and Lebanon after Hariri are some of the ports reached by Studio Al Asbani.

Miguel Ángel Sánchez also combines his work as a studio photographer with photojournalist and cameraman in conflict zones where he covered the war in Libya, the Egyptian revolution and the Gaza Operation Pillar of defense, among others.

His work has been published by national media such as El País, and international as The New York Times, Le Monde, New Yorker, Photo Raw, La Lettre de la Photographie, etc.

 

Related links

Miguel Ángel Sánchez

 

matt blum – the nu project

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls
ESSAY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT

Matt Blum

The Nu Project

play this essay

 

Matt Blum started “The Nu Project” with the idea that women of all shapes and sizes deserve to be photographed beautifully as fine art nudes. His subjects were volunteers through word-of-mouth or Craigslist–they came with their stories, their successes and failures, their scars, their survival of abusive relationships, their tales of triumph over body image–and he photographed them. These days the collection continues to grow; over 150 women (some with their partners) have participated, most in their own homes.

What: Nude Fine Art Photography–we hope to make a book of the work we’ve done so far, crowd-funded through Kickstarter (here’s the link to our Kickstarter).

Who: Any woman over the age of 21. Matt Blum does the photography and post processing. Matt’s wife, Katy, does editing and art direction.

What: Nude photography in the homes of the participants.

When: Ongoing since 2006.

Where: Minneapolis-based, but whenever we travel we try to set up shoots. In Novemeber we went to Brazil with the purpose of photographing for the Nu Project. It was two weeks and full of amazing participation by the women of Brazil. This fall we’ll head to Spain and Portugal for a couple of weeks to do some project shoots there.

Why: Because before this project it seemed like everyone who was photographing women in the nude was using either beautiful models and doing it beautifully or using non-model women and making them look extremely average. Matt figured there was a way to treat non-models like models and photograph them beautifully. We continue it because it is fun work and the response from the women who participate is overwhelmingly positive. As an added bonus, we hear from people (especially women) that it is changing the way they see themselves.

 

Bio

Matt Blum (born 1982) is a photographer based in Minneapolis, MN, USA. Matt is a self-taught photographer and entrepreneur. He and his wife, Katy, own and operate a photography studio where they specialize in lifestyle images and luxury domestic and international weddings.

 

Related links

Matt Blum

The Nu Project

 

allison o keefe – one goal

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

Allison Davis O’Keefe

One Goal

play this essay

 

Grand Forks, North Dakota. Winter. It’s so cold you can barely breathe, and 12,000 people don’t care.

They brave the wind, snow, and negative temperatures to watch their beloved University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux hockey team, and they expect a win — because they don’t hang second place banners in their hundred million dollar arena.

In this town children proudly wear the jerseys of 19-year-old superstars; wait hours to collect the signature of those who are college kids one minute and professionals the next. Families plan their lives around hockey – weddings, vacations, honeymoons – and the most common outfit in Christmas photos is the latest Sioux hockey gear.

Over the course of documenting the team’s 2010-2011 season, I discovered an intrinsic need for people to come together around a common goal – the fans, who support their team with passion, the individual, who commits himself, body and soul, to be a member of the team, and the coach who is a mentor, disciplinarian, and leader.

The goal of every team is to win, but this season the Fighting Sioux seemed destined for glory. They had one goal – to win the national championship. And when, just two games from that goal, they ultimately lost to the University of Michigan at the 2011 Frozen Four tournament, there was shock in their locker room.

It was well past midnight and players couldn’t bring themselves to remove their jerseys or pack up their gear. It was then that I realized this was so much more than a game.

It is about skill, focus, and determination, but also, as I learned, camaraderie, sacrifice, elation, struggle, and, ultimately, a twist of fate, a bounce of the puck.

It is also about relationships, like the one between a father and daughter who never missed a game, even if it meant watching from a hospital bed. Or the relationship between friends who have played together, lived together, and fought together.

This work was published by Burn Magazine as a book entitled One Goal in November 2012.

“(…) One of the most interesting aspects of the book is the look into the otherwise-closed-off life of [Coach] Hakstol. Hakstol is stoic and reserved on the bench and for the media, rarely causing controversy anywhere. But his emotional side exudes throughout, as pictures of him with his fists in the air celebrating a win, or embracing his wife or looking after his kids show a personable side that undoubtedly exists, even if television cameras or column inches in a newspaper don’t show it. And that curiosity perhaps makes Hakstol’s presence in the book an interesting twist” – from Timothy Borger’s review on USCHO.com

“As a Minnesotan I’ve spent many hours watching hockey. My University of Minnesota hockey experiences run from ushering at games as a Boy Scout to photographing the Hockey Gophers when I was at the Minneapolis Tribune. I find the book not only gives an intimate and revealing look at the sport, but also does a great job of communicating the cold and bleakness of winter in North Dakota. Nothing is colder than a windy, snowy, dark night on the prairie. ” – Kent Kobersteen, Former Director of Photography, National Geographic Magazine

 

Bio

Allison Davis O’Keefe is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College and the International Center of Photography. Her photography has captured the U.S. landscape in portraits of a cross-country journey, the 2004 & 2008 U.S. presidential campaigns, the apex of power on Capitol Hill, and, most recently, the curiosities of life and sports through the lens of a college hockey team’s season. For nine years, Allison worked for CBS News in New York and Washington, and as part of the team was honored with an Emmy Award for coverage of 9/11 Allison attended the Eddie Adams Workshop in its 25th anniversary year.

 

Related links

Allison Davis O’Keefe

One Goal

 

jagath dheerasekara – manuwangku, under the nuclear cloud

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

Jagath Dheerasekara

Manuwangku, Under the Nuclear Cloud

play this essay

 

In 2005, in the wake of a defeated nuclear waste dump plan in South Australia, the Australian government named three Department of Defence areas in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia as potential sites for the first purpose built national nuclear waste storage facility.

There was no consultation with the Traditional Owners of the land or the NT Government. Then Minister for Education, Science and Training Dr. Brendan Nelson remarked, “Why on earth can’t people in the middle of nowhere have low-level and intermediate-level waste?” while his successor Minister Julie Bishop later described proposed sites as “far from any form of civilization”.

In 2007, the Northern Land Council contentiously nominated Muckaty (Manuwangku), 120km north of Tennant Creek, as another site to be assessed for nuclear waste storage. The compensation funding received if this site were selected would likely be tied to essential services and infrastructure such as education, housing and roads.

With the change of federal government, the Department of Defence sites were taken off the list leaving Muckaty as the only site under assessment. Called Manuwangku by Warlmanpa and Warumungu Traditional Owners, this place is far from the ‘middle of nowhere’. They maintain a deep spiritual and cultural connection to the area. Supported by people across the NT and Australia, the community has engaged in protests and launched legal action in the Federal Court to defend their right to live in a clean and safe environment, free of hazardous waste.

At present, the majority of Australia’s long-lived intermediate radioactive waste (the highest level produced in Australia) is stored at the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor complex near Sydney. If the proposed storage plan goes ahead, 3,820 cubic metres of low-level radioactive waste growing at the rate of 35 cubic metres per annum and 435 cubic metres of long-lived intermediate level radioactive waste growing at the rate of 3,5 cubic metres per annum will be transported from Lucas Heights to the site nominated in Manuwangku.

The pursuit of Manuwangku as a potential nuclear waste storage site contravenes many articles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UN-DRIP), which requires “States shall take effective measures to ensure that no storage or disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent.” Aboriginal communities around Manuwangku have been opposed to the nomination of their country as a site for radioactive waste since its initial proposal.

Time and again, the traditional land, the way of life and culture of the Aboriginal communities have come under immense pressure. In this backdrop the activities of daily life of the Aboriginal owners of this land is a powerful reminder of their continuing coexistential relationship with the land. Bush trips for bush tucker gathering, kangaroo and wild turkey hunting, cooking in ovens dug into earth, the need to sleep outside under the stars. Their connection to land both physically and spiritually is undeniable.

Painting bush tucker, when the very land it grows on is to go under a nuclear waste dump, is for me, a poignant protest of ‘middle of nowhere’. Then there were the more overt expressions of protest. Aboriginal colours decorating homes or cars, stickers reading ‘no to nuclear waste dump’ or a young rapper singing ‘don’t waste the Territory, this land means a lot to me.’

It was a privilege to have the opportunity to live among the community and to be welcomed in to their public and private spaces and to be told of the more recent social history of the community.

The photographic narrative ‘Manuwangku, Under the Nuclear Cloud’ is a portrayal of this community’s resilience in the face of an overwhelming conflict, and an attempt to capture the determination of a people bound together through a common struggle, to keep their traditional land free and safe.

Photographer Jagath Dheerasekara received the Amnesty International Human Rights Innovation Fund grant in 2010 to begin the work. “Manuwangku, Under the Nuclear Cloud” is a collaborative effort of Jagath Dheerasekara, Manuwangku Aboriginal elders and community, Amnesty International and Beyond Nuclear Initiative.

 

Bio

Jagath Dheerasekara is an Amnesty International Human Rights Innovation Fund Grant recipient.

He is a human rights activist and his second spell of photography began in the mid 90s with his return to Sri Lanka with the regime change.

During university life, Jagath was a key member of Students for Human Rights which resulted in his detention and torture in 1989.  He was also a key activist in Mothers’ Front.  This activism finally led to his exile in France as a political refugee and he moved to Australia with his family in 2008.

He chiefly works on Aboriginal, gender, social and environment themes in the framework of vulnerability and conflict. Jagath has presented his work in a number of solo exhibitions, selected group exhibitions and photo festivals. They are also featured in the Indigenous Australians permanent exhibition/installation at the Australian Museum and in several private collections.

 

Related links

Jagath Dheerasekara

Jagath Dheerasekara was a student in the Sydney 2012 workshop. 

 

sofía lópez mañán – anonymous

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls
ESSAY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT

Sofía López Mañán

Anonymous

play this essay

 

In “Anonymous” I used stand-ins for self portraits and this allowed me to step outside of my self.

The nameless women silently speak for me. They become me in a universal sense. I think it might be easier to reveal our deeper truths anonymously. I am anonymously directing the emotional expression of universal characters. In essence these photographs are emotion portraits, and by stepping away from my individuality, I feel it invites the viewer to engage themselves in the mystery of their own truths, or to contemplate how the emotions depicted resonate in their own lives.

“Anonymous” was published in the last year in Al Limite Magazine, Eyemazing and Mono by Gomma Books.

 

Bio

Sofía López Mañan was born in 1982 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has a B.A degree in fine arts by the Instituto Universitario Nacional de las Artes. She also studied advertising, photography and art direction in film.

In 2012 was awarded by Mono open call for emerging photographers and was also nominated to attend the Joops Master class. She also received in 2011 a scholarship to attend the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop and participated in Buenos Aires PhotoWorkshop.

Her work as been exhibit in Argentina, Spain and in various international art fairs.

She currently works as freelance photojournalist working in various national media and at the same time makes documentary projects independently.

 

Related links

Sofía López Mañán

 

 

sean schmidt – an american matter

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

Sean Schimdt

An American Matter

play this essay

 

These photographs are part of a on-going project titled ‘An American Matter’.

It is a personal project which explores the contemporary American landscape as I encounter it in my life. I am an American born salesman living under the pressures of upward mobility; loans, credit, and, to borrow a phrase, “the terror of knowing what this world is about.”

I am a proud American, and passionate about my life; the intention of this project is to photograph my country as beautiful, troubled, and enigmatic. ‘An American Matter’ is a project to confront a personal tension I feel in our uncertain times; to make the best of situations not fully understood. It considers animate and inanimate objects with equal care, voicing both the bold and soft-spoken landscapes of my life.

 

Bio

My name is Sean Schmidt and I live and work in the suburbs of Chicago, IL.

I am a self-taught photographer passionate about middle America and the working class. I admire responsibility, determination, and discipline. My creative influences include Bob Dylan, David James Duncan, and Ludwig Wittgenstein.

My current projects include ‘An American Matter’ and a volunteer project for DuPage County volunteer board titled ‘The Faces of Volunteerism’.

 

Related links

Sean Schimdt

 

giuseppe moccia – a third landscape?

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

Giuseppe Moccia

A Third Landscape?

play this essay

 

The Alps form both a natural and a cultural landscape, place of a diversity which is not only biological but also cultural.

Back in the 60′s and 70′s, a widespread wealth along with the exploits of a group of Italian athletes, known as the “Italian Landslide”, set the basis for an economic development model which revealed it’s unsustainability.

Ski-oriented tourism was introduced as the unique solution to the depopulation and impoverishment process that took place around the alps. This model led to the construction of hundreds of facilities, many of which, for various reasons, are nowadays abandoned.

“A Third Landscape?” is a photo-essay on the region and on the consequences of the mono-culture of ski-tourism.
Beyond the direct journalistic value – related to the localization of these remote sites and the collection of their history – the approach and the synthesis of this research would suggest an open-mindedness between different points of view.On one side, the idealistic views of the contemporary citizen, re-educated to the principles of the green-economy, and, on the other side, the secularized views of the mountaineer who interacts with his environment in a natural resource-threat dynamic.

Within this confrontation Clement’s vision opens a third way, full of questioning, to an understanding of the forces which shape our landscape.

 

Bio

Giuseppe Moccia was born in Naples in 1978. He grew up in Rome and completed his studies in Milan with a Master Degree in International Economics.

Giuseppe started as a freelance photographer collaborating with some of the main international press agencies like Associated Press and EPA among the others.

In 2007 he started a personal project on people affected by down syndrome which received international recognitions such as the “Photoespana-Ojodepez Human Value Award” and the “Flashforward” for Emerging Photographers of the Magenta Foundation (Canada). “I Love too Much”, which followed up the photo-essay “The Wednesday Kid”, is his first attempt with cinematography. Giuseppe is now working on a  project on the changes of the anthropic landscape in Italy.

 

Best Photography Book

photo-52

Hey we friggin won..again!
Sorry but i say so humbly..promise. But we just won Best Book POYi for (based on a true story).. and on the eve of our Burn meeting and Book Publishing workshop in New York. I am just happy for my team for this book was a collaboration if ever there was one. Here Candy Pilar Godoy, Diego Orlando, Eva-Maria Kunz and me in the mirror (of course) check it out.. POYi Best Photography Book

nicola taylor – tales from the moors country

Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls

Nicola Taylor

“Tales from the Moors Country”

play this essay

 

I have always loved being told a story and my series “Tales from the Moors Country” takes inspiration from tales and folklore of the North Yorkshire Moors, told to me as a child.

Those stories of witches and ghosts, spirits and fairies, lost loves and obscure protagonists are part of a rich tradition of exploring our relationship to place through the stories we tell, a tradition that informs my work.

My images use the environment and the character to suggest a narrative but they are deliberately ambiguous because I want the viewer to explore their own relationship to stories. I want them to notice the stories they create within their imagination.

 

Bio

Nicola Taylor is a photographic artist from rural North Yorkshire.

Her career began at the age of 33 when she took a course at the London College of Communication, after leaving her job as a stockbroker. She uses herself as a model and captures her images with a remote control.

Nicola has received international recognition and her work has been sold in Europe and the USA. She appeared in Series Two of the BBC2 television programme, “Show Me the Monet” and is featured in a short film on creativity in the UK, shot by BAFTA award winning filmmaker Martin Smith for Stolichnaya Vodka.

 

myrto papadopoulos – the attendants

VIDEO CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT

Myrto Papadopoulos

The Attendants

 

At the beginning my natural necessity was to enter the world of the sex industry and talk to the women that are involved in it. It has taken me a really long time and effort to reach out to some of these women, to gain their trust and get finally the access today to document their lives. Also my intensive research (i.e. approaching NGO’s, doctors and expertise from the ministry of foreign affairs) has helped me to understand more the issues and the difference between prostitution and trafficking. Throughout the year I will be working voluntarily with the ”Salvation Army”, in Greece, in order to provide support to these women. I will also be teaching photography lessons in one of the new “safe houses” that will be opening in Athens, within the next year.

YOUR SUPPORT:

Your support will enable me not only to continue this project but mostly it will help me gain more insight into the understanding of how and why prostitution is constantly evolving. My deep personal interest in these women, make me want to record their struggle but also their strive in search of a better life. It is also one of my fondest heart’s desires, to be able to share with these women my experiences through photography, because I believe photography can be an effective tool of building self-esteem.

The financial support will provide me the time and tools that I need to be able to accomplish and document this very difficult topic.

 

You can support the project on Emphas.is.

 

Bio

Myrto Papadopoulos (b. 1978, Athens) finished her studies in 2003 after completing a five-year Fine Arts degree in painting and photography. In 2006, she applied for a photojournalism degree at the ICP (International Centre of Photography) in NYC where she was granted a scholarship. In 2007 she participated at the Eddie Adams workshop in NYC.

She has won various awards and nominations and has taken part in several exhibitions including the Mois Off de la Photo 08 in Paris, the PHOTOQUAI 2em Biennal du Monde 09 at the Museé Quai Branly in Paris the New York Photo Festival 09, the Biennale of young artists of Europe XIV bjcem 09, the LOOK3 Between Festival 2010, the DUMBO Arts Festival 2011 in Brooklyn NY, the Athens Photo Festival 2011, 2012 and more. Today she works as a freelance photographer and filmmaker and is represented by Redux pictures in NY.

Her clients include TIME Magazine, Le Monde, GEO, Corriere della sera, EL Mundo, La Stampa, Neue Zuger Zeitung, Vision Magazine, DAS Magazine, Diario magazine, National Geographic Magazine (Greece), K magazine (Kathimerini), among others.

 

Related links

Myrto Papadopoulos

The New Plastic Road