Commerce and Economics - Jesse Burke

Jesse Burke
Commerce and Economics

by David Kieckhefer

Jesse Burke divides his time between personal art projects and commissioned work. His work deals with themes related to vulnerability and identity, as well as human's complicated relationship with nature. Burke received his MFA from Rhode Island School of Design, where he is a faculty member. Burke's work is held in private/public collections including the Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the North Carolina Museum of Art, and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. He was recently named one of Time Magazine’s top 50 US photographers to follow on Instagram.

Buy Wild & Precious here for $50

Burke's Wild & Precious is work from a series of road trips traveled over 5 years with his daughter Clover to explore the natural world. Each image is named after a song that Johnny Cash wrote or recorded. His music and lyrics were a big part of their collective experience while on the road. The goal of Wild & Precious is to encourage parents and children to spend time together connecting with the natural world.

Watch a film on Wild & Precious here.

Intertidal

Intertidal is an investigation into the delicate balance that exists between the heroic idea of masculinity and the true reality of men. It explores the presence of vulnerability and sensitivity that act as forces against the mythology of male dominance and power.

Father

Gladiator

Open Country

Flannel

Blind

Blind explores the complexities of the awkward, beautiful, and romantic relationship we share with nature. It looks at concepts such as death and power, fragility and vulnerability, identity, mutability and camouflage through the lens of hunting.

Hidden

Shell

Drake

Jack

Low

Low explores the world of inner demons and displaced persons.

"Beautiful light is born of darkness, so the faith the springs from conflict is often strongest and the best." 

- Robert Turnbull Life Pictures: From a Pastor's Notebook 1857

Maxim Montagno

Clarence Momolu

Steve Tsang

Yannick Jolin

Commerce / Economics - Matt Black

Matt Black

By Mandy Litwin

Photographer Matt Black's work portrays issues concerning poverty, migration, and the environment. Some may compare the work he does today to the photographs that were made by Dorothea Lange for the FSA program in the 1930's. Born and raised in California, Black has seen first-hand the issues of migration and poverty.

His project, The Geography of Poverty, requires him to travel – 48,000 miles across 44 states – to various cities in which the poverty exceeds 20% per the population. His images are visually dramatic, using black and white photo-journalistic style. They are hauntingly beautiful when placed next to stark captions such as below:

Keep yourself updated on the current progress of this project is at http://www.geographyofpoverty.com/ which presents his most recent postings of images in his journey. Black is also trying to utilize the geo tagging feature in social media to give recognition to poverty stricken locations and give them the attention needed to help create solutions to the poverty affecting these areas.

MSNBC article [ here ] describes his documentation as “the struggle and triumphs of the people at the heart of these communities”.

Question:  Do you think projects like this have actual potential to make an impact on making the changes necessary to lower poverty rates and help this suffering communities? 

Commerce/Economics - Guerrilla Girls

Guerrilla Girls 
Lainey Koch 

Who ever said anger can't also have a sense of humor? The Guerrilla Girls brought together a passionate activism and a clever sarcasm to their work, which has traveled with them worldwide. Starting in 1985, the Guerrilla Girls have had over 55 different members dedicated to exposing gender and racial bias within art, politics, and music. 

Members of the Guerrilla Girls wear gorilla masks when presenting in public or giving interviews about their work, using the names of deceased women artists as their pseudonyms. They state that the issues they fight against are more important than their own identities, which is why they cover their faces with the masks. 

The Guerrilla Girls are intersectional feminists and use exhibitions and public spaces, such as billboards, to speak out against the unequal and unfair representation of both women and people of color within art and politics. Pairing bold imagery with facts and statistics, this group of women have provided voices to those who have been spoken over throughout history. 

As a woman in art myself, it's empowering to see women speak up against the lack of representation that women and people of color face, not just in art, but also in politics. I find their use of statistics to be concise and effective when delivering an argument on the issue of gender inequality.