Monthly Archive for September, 2019

Matt Eich – Say Hello to Everybody, OK?

 

Matt Eich

Say Hello to Everybody, OK?

[ EPF 2019 FINALIST ]

In 2019-2020 I will be commuting from Charlottesville, Virginia to Washington, D.C. via train on a weekly basis. I also intend to walk the train line in intervals, photographing the scenes I encounter on its peripheries. I view the train line as an artery between my home in Charlottesville (where my heart stays), and Washington, DC, the seat of power in the United States. During my days in Washington, DC I will document the dichotomy between the powerful and the powerless. During my days in Charlottesville, I will photograph my own family, and my community. The background for these images are the final days of Trump’s first term in office, and the lead-up to the next Presidential elections. By juxtaposing powerful circles in Washington, DC with the recovering community of Charlottesville, VA, and the largely rural area in between, I will attempt to put my finger on the pulse of our country during this critical time.

 

 

This work will be absorbed into a larger series called “Say Hello to Everybody, OK?”, which looks at America in the years surrounding Trump’s time in office, beginning in 2014. The series will either conclude in 2020 or 2024, likely resulting in a monograph and exhibitions, but my primary intention is to disseminate the work through widely distributed free newsprint publications and pop-up installations in underserved communities. My goal is to find, or create, a connective visual tissue throughout our country during this divided time. With my work I am looking for the threads that connect us as families, as communities, as Americans and as humans. If we are at risk of forgetting too much of our world, and ourselves, photography is an antidote.

 

 

 

Short Bio

Matt Eich is a photographic essayist working on long-form projects related to memory, family, community, and the American condition. Matt’s work has received grant support from an Aaron Siskind Fellowship, a VMFA Fellowship and two Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography. His prints and books are held in the permanent collections of The Portland Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The New York Public Library, Chrysler Museum of Art and others. In 2013 Matt was an Artist-in-Residence at Light Work, and in 2019 he was an Artist-in-Residence at a Robert Rauschenberg Residency. Eich holds a BS in photojournalism from Ohio University and an MFA in Photography from Hartford Art School’s International Limited-Residency Program. His is the author of three monographs, Carry Me Ohio (Sturm & Drang, 2016), I Love You, I’m Leaving, (ceiba editions, 2017), and Sin & Salvation in Baptist Town (Sturm & Drang, 2018). He has two forthcoming monographs with Sturm & Drang scheduled for release in 2019 and 2020. Matt splits his time between Washington, DC and Charlottesville, Virginia, where he resides with his family.

 

Related Links

www.matteichphoto.com

 

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The Emerging Photographer Fund is supported by generous donors to the Magnum Foundation

Magnum Foundation

 

 

Published on September 29, 2019 by burn magazine. comments closed.

Eva O’Leary – Happy Valley

Eva O’Leary

Happy Valley

[ EPF 2019 FINALIST ]

I grew up in a central Pennsylvanian town, nicknamed Happy Valley. It is home to Penn State University, a big ten party school that dominates the culture both economically and geographically. The town is homogeneous, 71% of the inhabitants are between the ages of 18-24 and 83.2% of the population is white. It is made up of two main streets, and prides itself on housing the forth largest stadium in the world. In 2008, it was named the largest party school in America by the Princeton review, and in 2012 it had the highest number of reports of forcible sex offenses on any campus in the nation (partially related to a child sex abuse scandal that made international headlines). My childhood and teen years were spent on the edge of Penn State’s campus, our home was down the street from the stadium and surrounded by student rentals. As a teenager, I had easy access to the campus and local party culture. My first experiences of adulthood were heavily impacted by the normalization of binge drinking, gendered power dynamics, patriotism and hook-up culture. For the last five years, I have been making photographs that reflect on my experiences growing up in this environment. In making this work, I’m referencing a personal archive of journals and documents from my young adult years and using this material as a conceptual map.

 

 

By constructing projects based on this material, I re-stage, re-experience and re-contextualize these events to make sense of them as an adult. Photography has given me permission to reflect on my experiences, and in doing so, study aspects of American culture I can locate within my hometown and my past. This process helps me attempt to understand and navigate larger structural and social systems that continue to perpetuate ideologies of fantasy, power and control.

 

 

Short Bio

Eva O’Leary graduated from Yale University’s masters of Fine Art program in 2016 and received a BFA from California College of the Arts in 2012. O’Leary is a recent winner of the Outset Unseen Exhibition Fund, which resulted in an exhibition at Foam, Amsterdam in 2019. She was the recipient of the Hyères Festival Photographie Grand Prix in 2018, The Vontobel Contemporary Photography Prize in 2017, and was named a Foam Talent in 2014. Her work has been featured in a range of publications, including ArtForum, Aperture, 1000 Words and The New Yorker. Her work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows both within the United States and abroad, including the CAFA Art Museum (Beijing), LTD Los Angeles (LA), Villa Noailles (Hyeres, France), l’Atelier Néerlandais (Paris), Benaki Museum (Athens), and Aperture Foundation (New York).​

 

Related Links

www.evaoleary.com

 

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The Emerging Photographer Fund is supported by generous donors to the Magnum Foundation

Magnum Foundation

Published on September 25, 2019 by burn magazine. comments closed.

Pieter Bas Bouwman – Human & Wildlife Conflict

Pieter Bas Bouwman

Human & Wildlife Conflict

[ EPF 2019 FINALIST ]

During my stay in Kenya I witnessed the difficulty of life in various ways that different groups of people and animals daily face. Often people pity the wildlife such as Elephants, Hyenas, Monkeys and Lions for being harmed or killed by locals. However, people forget that Elephants are a large threat to locals. They often see their farms destroyed and crops eaten. As a consequence, families are ripped apart and forced to work in cities. For many of these farmers, taking away the threat is a common solution, meaning wildlife will be harmed or killed. This killing can also be part of tradition. For the Kamba Tribe this is the case. For ages they hunt on bushmeat to provide for their families and honor their tradition. However, due to Western pressure hunting bushmeat is now by law illegal. As a result, you take away long-standing traditions and deny specific cultures from existing. This is perfectly exemplified in America with the Indians, the traditions vanished because of the pressure of western civilization. The same thing will happen in Kenya. You can already see the Maasai slowly disappearing. There are still Kamba Tribesmen hunting on wildlife and on the other side you find the anti-poaching units that are just like the tribes providing for their families and improving their situation. Unfortunately, the improvement of both their situations is conflicting since they both perceive wildlife differently.

 

 

By spending time in Kenya I understand the actions of both the tribesmen and the anti-poaching units. I am not approving these actions, but as an outsider I feel their burden which is partly a result of Western paternalism. The tribesmen haven’t changed their attitude towards wildlife whilst the West has caused damage over the years and tries to resolve that now. The anti-poaching units have the luxury to worry for elements in life which are secondary in nature to survival. This make the perspectives and perceptions completely different and hard to unify.

 

Short Bio

A central theme often explored in Pieter Bas his photos is the balance and imbalance between humans and nature. It often appears in his photographs of animals, destroyed or decayed surroundings and any other traces of human intervention. This strongly relates to the transience and fleeting character of things. More specifically, it grasps a tiny piece of the most fundamental aspects of life, involving the passage of time, of nature and the world as a whole, that is slowly disappearing due to human intervention. Contrasts become more obvious under tense circumstances. By showing the effects on a micro level, the wider imprint feels more present. The transience and fleeting characters are visually translated by a blurry suggestion of movements and dynamics. Confronted with these impressions often goes together with a certain nostalgic and melancholic feeling about everything that’s lost, and for everything that will be lost… His images are slowly and carefully composed. Compositions are attentively considered, using colors and shapes while trusting basic intuition. Although, impressions appear to be seemingly perfect, they never fully are. To Pieter Bas, beauty is to be found in the imperfection of life.

 

Related Links

www.pieterbasbouwman.com

 

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The Emerging Photographer Fund is supported by generous donors to the Magnum Foundation

Magnum Foundation

Published on September 21, 2019 by burn magazine. comments closed.

Paul Guilmoth & Dylan Hausthor – Sleep Creek

Paul Guilmoth and Dylan Hausthor are the recipients of the 2019 Fujilm/Young Talent Award for the essay. This honor recognizes photographers 25 and under, granting them $10,000 from Fujifilm to continue the work.

 

Paul Guilmoth & Dylan Hausthor

Sleep Creek

[ FUJIFILM/YOUNG TALENT AWARD 2019 RECIPIENT – $10,000 ] 

Sleep Creek i​s a landscape filled with trauma and beauty. It’s a place where animals are only seen when they’re being hunted​ and ​humans balance between an unapologetic existence and an abyss of secrecy. These images manipulate a landscape that is simultaneously autobiographical, documentary, and fictional: a weaving of myth and symbol in order to be confronted with the experiential. Following the rituals of those within it, ​​Sleep Creek​​ ​is an obsession between the subject and the photographer—a compulsion to reveal its shrouded nature.

 

Short Bio

Paul Guilmoth and Dylan Hausthor are a collaborative artist duo based in rural New England. Their practice is primarily focused on photographic and bookmaking art; experimenting with the boundaries of both. They co-founded the publication studio Wilt Press in the winter of 2015. Both graduated from Maine College of Art in that same year and together make work that centers around the myth of place and the complexity of image-based narrative. Hausthor and Guilmoth search for the sparkling beauty found in performances given for nothing and nobody amidst the intense silence of snow-covered spruce trees. Their work is simultaneously autobiographical, documentary, and fictional : weaving together staged portraits, manipulated natural and man-made environments, and tradtional photographic documentation.

 

Related Links

www.dylanhausthor.com

www.wilt.press

 

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The Fujifilm/Young Talent Award is supported by Fujifilm

 

FujiFilm_Basic-Black

 

Published on September 17, 2019 by burn magazine. 1 Comment

Azadeh Besharati – Shima & Shiva

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Azadeh Besharati is the recipient of the 2019 Emerging Photographer Fund and has been granted $10,000 for this essay. Burn Magazine revolves around the EPF and it is our most important curatorial contribution to the oftentimes chaotic landscape of photography today. Most importantly, our mission is to give recognition to the finest emerging authors out there and to provide some funding to keep going and to continue making a mark.

 

Azadeh Besharati

Shima & Shiva

EPF 2019 RECIPIENT – $10,000

Shima and Shiva, they fight to have a happy life, though happy life is hard to be achieved. Shima and Shiva are twins. They are 23. They were born in Masal in Guilan province, Iran. When they were one, their convulsions started because of genetic problems. They were unable to walk since then. At the same time, they lost their father in an accident. As they became older, their mother was unable to look after them so they were delivered to a nursing house for elderly and disabled. Shima and Shiva are very welcoming and friendly with the visitors because they need their help to leave the nursing home temporarily as the visitors’ guest and to see more of this world. These twins are not friendly with the staff of the nursing home because they can’t understand one and other. The nurses and the other patients can’t understand these twins because they are always planning to have fun. In addition, these twins don’t neglect their wishes and they try to fulfill them. They don’t understand the rules of the nursing home. They like sleeping late at nights and they believe this is their right to fall in love, travel, swim and ride their wheelchairs around the city in bazaars and streets. Authorities in Iran only pay attention to the basic needs of the handicaps such as food, clothing and shelter. This is the reason why these children and other handicapped babies are reluctant to think about their future. They can’t dream or enjoy their lives. Shima and Shiva are in that critical period of their lives that people become emotionally sensitive and they look for love all the time. They know that living is their obvious right and because they are twins they resist more severely not to let others topple their right. They are a combination of loneliness and togetherness. They are a combination of happiness and sadness…

 

 

Short Bio

Azadeh Besharati is a documentary photographer and poet, living in Rasht, Iran.

 

Related Links

azadehbesharati.com

 

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The Emerging Photographer Fund is supported by generous donors to the Magnum Foundation

Magnum Foundation

Published on September 16, 2019 by burn magazine. 1 Comment

The Emerging Photographer Fund 2019

The Emerging Photographer Fund 2019

 

Azadeh Besharati

Shima & Shiva

EPF 2019 WINNER – $10,000

Shima & Shiva speaks about two twins who suffer from a genetic disorder and are fighting for a happy life in Iran.

 

 

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The Fujifilm Young Talent Award 2019

 

Paul Guilmoth & Dylan Hausthor

Sleep Creek

FUJIFILM/YOUNG TALENT AWARD 2019 WINNER – $10,000

Sleep Creek manipulates a landscape that is simultaneously autobiographical, documentary, and fictional. As described by the artists, it “is an obsession between the subject and the photographer—a compulsion to reveal its shrouded nature.”

 

 

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The Emerging Photographer Fund 2019 –  Shortlist

 

Ute Behrend

Azadeh Besharati (winner)

Pieter Bas Bouwman

Andrés Cardona

Turjoy Chowdhury

Matt Eich

Robin Friend

Jaakko Kahilaniemi

Janne Korkko

Daniel Kovalovszky

Eva O’Leary

Lavinia Parlamenti and Manfredi Pantanella

Sathish Kumar

Jansen van Staden

 

The full essays of all winners and shortlisted entries will be published here on BURN magazine.

 

 

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The Fujifilm Young Talent Award 2019 –  Shortlist

 

Chris Donovan

Lila Engelbrecht

Mariia Ermolenko

Lyu Geer

Paul Guilmoth & Dylan Hausthor (winners)

Anniina Joensalo

Eleana Niki Konstantellos André

Jimmy Lee

Ingmar Björn Nolting

Andrea Orejarena & Caleb Stein

Mafalda Rakoš

Ana Zibelnik

 

Their full essays will be published on BURN magazine.

 

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Emerging Photographer Fund 2018 – Judges:

(in alphabetical order)

 

Alfredo De Stéfano | Director of the photography festival Luz del Norte

NayanTara Kakshapati | Curator, co-founder of the Nepal Picture Library and the photography festival Photo Kathmandu

Kosuke Ohara | Photographer

Kathy Ryan | Director of Photography for The New York Times Magazine

Kevin Wy Lee | Photographer, founder of Invisible Photographer Asia (IPA)

 

 

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Previous EPF Winners

 

The 2008 Emerging Photographer Fund grant was awarded to
Sean Gallagher for his essay on the environmental Desertification of China.

The 2009 Emerging Photographer Fund grant was awarded to
Alejandro Chaskielberg for his 8×10 format essay on the Parana River Delta ‘The High Tide’.

The 2010 Emerging Photographer Fund grant was awarded to
Davide Monteleone for his essay ‘Northern Caucasus’.

The 2011 Emerging Photographer Fund grant was awarded to
Irina Werning for her essay ‘Back to the Future’.

In 2012 three Emerging Photographer Fund grants were awarded:
one major to Matt Lutton for his essay ‘Only Unity’ and
two minors to Giovanni Cocco for his essay ‘Monia’ and to Simona Ghizzoni for her essay ‘Afterdark’.

In 2013 four Emerging Photographer Fund grants were awarded:
one major to Diana Markosian for her essay ‘My Father The Stranger’ and
three minors to Iveta Vaivode for her essay ‘Somewhere on Disappearing Path’,
Oksana Yushko for her essay ‘Balklava: The Lost History’ and
Maciej Pisuk for his essay ‘Under The Skin; Photographs From Brzeska Street’.

In 2014 two Emerging Photographer Fund grants were awarded:
one major to Alessandro Penso for his essay ‘Lost Generation’ and
one minor to Birte Kaufmann for her essay ‘The Travelers’.

In 2015 the Emerging Photographer Fund was awarded to Danila Tkachenko for ‘Restricted Areas’, and
the Fujifilm Young Talent Award to Sofia Valiente for ‘Miracle Village’.

In 2016 the Emerging Photographer Fund was awarded to Annie Flanagan for ‘Deafening Sound’, and
the Fujifilm Young Talent Award to Aleksander Raczynski for ‘Views’

In 2017 the Emerging Photographer Fund was awarded to Antoine Bruy for ‘Outback Mythologies’, and
the Fujifilm Young Talent Award to Aleksey Kondratyev for ‘Ice Fishers’

In 2018 the Emerging Photographer Fund was awarded to Shadman Shahid for ‘No Quarter’, and
the Fujifilm Young Talent Award to Tabitha Barnard for ‘Cult of Womanhood’

 

 

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Editor’s note:

 

I cannot express my thanks enough to Alfredo, Nayantara, Kosuke, Kathy and Kevin. They worked together to finely tune their choices, looked at the finalists from every angle and awarded the EPF grants to the photographers they felt most deserving. Of course, once it got down to the finalists, choices became extremely difficult, but that is a given… and they did an admirable job. Thank you.
 
A heartfelt thank you also to Fujifilm for making it possible for the EPF to keep the focus on the future generations, the young ones, the ones with a vision already making a mark now… and just might make another jump soon.

 

FujiFilm_Basic-Black

 

Burn Magazine revolves around the EPF. Our most important curatorial contribution to the oftentimes chaotic landscape of photography today. By choosing a jury whose lifetimes have been spent in looking at photographs and making photographs, we try to give our Burn readers a distilled version of the best work of all that flows before their eyes every day.

 

Most importantly our mission is to give recognition to the finest emerging authors out there and to provide some funding to at least a few to keep going and to continue making a mark. Our previous winners prove this is not in vain.

 

Many thanks especially to my EPF team Anton Kusters, Diego Orlando, and Mallory Bracken. First off, they must deal with me!! Never easy. In all seriousness, they all show amazing dedication to the spirit of doing something which just feels good. To provide a platform for the up and coming.
 

 
Special thanks to Susan Meiselas of the Magnum Foundation. Nobody on the planet is more dedicated to allowing new talent to develop.
 
Special thanks also to Michael Loyd Young, EPF funder and BURN Magazine board member.

 

-dah-
 

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The Emerging Photographer Fund was created and is directed by David Alan Harvey,
curated and produced by Anton Kusters & Diego Orlando.

 

Published on September 15, 2019 by burn magazine. comments closed.

Oskar Alvarado – Where Fireflies Unfold

Oskar Alvarado

Where Fireflies Unfold

The majority of those born in the cities resulting from rural emigration in the 60s and 70s have a common place that unites us: our parents’ village. Deleitosa is my village.It is located in the province of Cáceres, in the region of Extremadura in Spain. Here my parents, grandparents, great grandparents and other ancestors were, going back through centuries of family genealogy. Deleitosa was the village that Eugene Smith chose to realize his photographic essay “Spanish Village” that was published in the American magazine Life on April 9, 1951.

 

 

Far from showing the perceptible appearance of Deleitosa or some of the visual references linked to what was a photographic icon of the social and economic backwardness in Spanish rural society, my gaze has some subjective nuances linked to a series of experiences, places and memories. Reminiscences that have endured as apparitions in my memory. Images that intermingle episodes that float in the collective imagination with the new realities that coexist in the village.

 

 

There is an emotional need to reflect on the territory of which we are part. To explore our identity in the echo of the places that still speak to us, or in the absence-presence of the people and beings that inhabit them. To form a visual interpretation that evokes the mystery that manifests itself in everyday rhythms, in the poetic condition that underlies the strange.

 

 

Short Bio

Born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, Alvarado currently resides in Barcelona where he combines his work as a Photography teacher with the production of personal works. He holds a Bachelor ́s Degree in Fine Arts of the Basque Country University, from which he received a grant to develop the photographic project Conexiones in an artist residence in Arteleku Art Center in San Sebastián. Later he moved to Barcelona to study photography and a MA on Curatorial and Cultural Practices in Art and New at Media Center d’Art i Disseny MECAD, ESDI. He was one of the winners of the Helsinki Photo Festival 2018 (Finland) and his work has been selected in different international festivals such as the Voies Off Awards in Arles (France), Solar Foto Festival in Fortaleza (Brazil) and the Addis Foto Fest in Addis Abeba (Ethiopia).

 

Related Links

oskaralvarado.com

 

Published on September 6, 2019 by burn magazine. comments closed.