Comments on: brian shumway – black girl https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/ burn is an online feature for emerging photographers worldwide. burn is curated by magnum photographer david alan harvey. Wed, 07 Sep 2016 08:29:55 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.4 By: Blurvisions https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-89309 Thu, 21 Apr 2011 22:24:38 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-89309 Talking about being late to the party – how could I have missed this work before? Amazing portraits, very honest photography style, beautiful women. All of that in settings that are so distinctly New York (maybe not for the toursits, but certainly for those of us who live here).

It is interesting to see the mix of a strong political message about black women by means of beautiful, sexy photos of them. Certainly a very different perspective and something to remember and think about.

Excellent work!

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By: brianshumway https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-75876 Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:07:55 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-75876 marco and vicky thanks so much. ruben natal-san miguel gives black girl a nice review on his blog:

http://artmostfierce.blogspot.com/2010/08/brian-shumway-black-girls-series.html

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By: vicky slater https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-75370 Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:54:35 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-75370 David, please do…..and I look forward to it!

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By: david alan harvey https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-75330 Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:36:07 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-75330 VICKY…

i will make sure Brian sees your comment….wait til you see what he is doing next!!

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By: vicky slater https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-75319 Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:13:48 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-75319 Late to the party but…. love the portraits, love the collaborative effort that obviously went into these, love the sexuality of these strong beautiful women, i’d be proud to have been photographed like this 20 (and the rest) years ago. They’re pictures I want to keep looking at.
Not sure that I see the necessity of it being all black women, i think this is more about hopes and identity, but I’m not really seeing their colour, just their strength and individuality.

Stunning work, really.

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By: jenny lynn https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-72827 Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:02:26 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-72827 And appears to be continuing through the way this essay has been concieved and delivered…

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By: jenny lynn https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-72826 Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:01:10 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-72826 CORRECTION:

I’m still trying to understand why I found this essay so upsetting and think it may be connected with living in Tanzania for so long where talk often still revolves around exploitation by ‘the white man’. Although the women in the essay are not Africans, the inequality in social standing between the subject and the photographer, the photographer white and the subject black, is a reminder of that dynamic and that whole period of history is: INEXCUSABLE.

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By: . . .Black & White Fotog Fuckery. . . « Tracy G. M. James https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-72774 Tue, 06 Jul 2010 23:57:12 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-72774 […] in Scrutiny: Brian Shumway’s Black Girl Portrait Series documenting black women in NYC who aspire to be models. Photo Credit: © Brian Shumway Photo […]

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By: Thomas Bregulla https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-72289 Sun, 27 Jun 2010 10:43:51 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-72289 maybe this documentary brings Brian’s work into context:

http://www.nfb.ca/film/colour_of_beauty/

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By: marco https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-72147 Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:28:59 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-72147 sexy and inspiring

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By: shaka https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-71595 Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:27:50 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-71595 Brian:
I appreciate the honesty in the ‘tweaked’ essay. It allows my eyes and mind to view the pictures and go on your journey without feeling as if I am being manipulated along the way.

DAH is correct when he said, we can only hate what we love, and to illicit such anger from me indicates that, even though I ‘hated’ the juxtaposition of the words with the images I ‘loved’ something in the images themselves. You/your images made me care that the text felt incongruent and that alone indicates a job well done.

BURN:
I’d like to formally apologize to both Brian, the models, and the Burn forum for my initial comment. I meant WHAT I said (feeling the text was bullshit) but HOW I said it was mean, combative and shameful. (my words were a mirror to my own ugly)

I truly appreciate what Burn has to offer in both the content of the essays, and the open discussions, and certainly do not want to aide in a fire that would burn BURN into something undesirable. However, the discussion regarding this essay (through bad and good) has caused me to dig deep within my own creative psyche and through the process come to terms with my goals and responsibilities as an image taker and creator- invaluable motivation to get a step closer to answering some pretty big (personal and universal) questions. So in a way all the negativity was used for good, and it appears change took place in many people who got taken by the storm. That said I will do my best to come into this forum without fire on my tongue.

thank you
thank you
thank you

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By: brianshumway https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-71530 Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:05:04 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-71530 hi everyone
i’ve tweaked the statement and posted it on my website, so have a look and lemme know your thoughts.

http://www.brianshumway.com/#/black_girl

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By: kathleen fonseca https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-71498 Thu, 10 Jun 2010 04:26:57 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-71498 Jenny

((hugZ))

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By: jenny lynn walker https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-71493 Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:56:39 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-71493 DAH/ALL: I didn’t intend to write anything more on here but would really like to clarify a few things. It would be great if anyone reads this – if they could please hold off from rude comments if only for the reason that I am one and you are many.

I’m still trying to understand why I found this essay so upsetting and think it may be connected with living in Tanzania for so long where talk often still revolves around exploitation by ‘the white man’. Of course the women in the essay are not Africans – they are Americans – but the inequality in social standing between the subject and the photographer, the photographer white and the subject black, was perhaps a reminder of that dynamic, albeit symbolic. All of this is the way I’m seeing and NOT directly related to Brian so sincerest apologies to him.

I have just returned home from several years away and am processing some radical experiences. I missed many comments, even from DAH (if you are reading this) and sincerely apologise for not responding directly.

DAH: I wish I knew how to talk with you. I always seem to say the wrong thing! It happens every now and then.

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By: Herve https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-71468 Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:47:14 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-71468 Herve wrote that I just wrote some sexist stuff about snow
—————————

All I wrote is that it will not be held against you (to like the girl in the snow).

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By: emcd https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-71448 Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:50:49 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-71448 DAH

Thanks :)

Will be seeing you at Look in a couple of days, right? Am camping at the farm, would love to hear your thoughts more about wanting to see the work of a woman photog shooting the same demographic. It wasn’t clear to me if you meant a black woman photog, photos of models specifically etc. But could be up for the challenge. Can’t find your exact quote, am typing on phone.

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By: Charles Peterson https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-71447 Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:36:31 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-71447 HERVE,

Sorry about that – the quoting on here gets confusing at times. I would love to sign your copy of TMIS. Where are you again? I’ll be sure to check in if I’m ever in your ‘hood.

JENNY,

Once again you bewilder me. What is your hang up about men? Why can’t these women seem sexy/beautiful/intriguing to other women? I have plenty of lesbian friends (my son’s godmother is a black lesbian) who would find these photos hot. And put them in the hands of a female fashion photographer? Jesus, have you ever seen the photos of the likes of Elle Von Unwerth? Makes these look like an advertisement for Ms. magazine.

They are portraits, and portraits can take many different forms. Whether they are successful fashion photos is a moot point (and probably better they aren’t), as it’s the portrait aspect that is important. But they are portraits of women who are attracted/part of the fashion world – so to extract that dimension would be doing both the images and the subjects a disfavor.

Okay, that’s it for me.

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By: jared iorio https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-71436 Wed, 09 Jun 2010 09:31:24 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-71436 Damn. 600+ comments later, it seems to have worked itself out (for the most part). Some of that stuff just smacked of paternalism and sexual repression, but that’s been said way better than me above. If I understood portraiture better I would chime in, but I don’t so I won’t.

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By: david alan harvey https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-71435 Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:52:07 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-71435 ERICA…

so sorry, i had missed a couple of your comments which were very clear and well reasoned as always….

i will be in new york from around the 20th til the end of the month, so i do hope we will have a chance for a gathering of our tribe over at the loft…

cheers, david

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By: Imants https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/06/brian-shumway-black-girl/#comment-71433 Wed, 09 Jun 2010 06:12:44 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6320#comment-71433 Yea Charles Herve wrote that I just wrote some sexist stuff about snow, also wondered if Jenny was a model material etc.

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