Death/Destruction - Lynsey Addario

Traveling and Capturing with a Purpose - Lynsey Addario

by Ashley Doelger

Addario's website is dark, mimicking the feelings in her images. 

"It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War"

Lynsey Addario was just finding her way as a photographer when September 11th changed the world. One of the few photojournalists with experience in Afghanistan, she gets the call to return and cover the American invasion. Photography becomes a way for her to travel with a purpose - a singular ambition that shapes and drives her.

http://itswhatidobook.com/

“A remarkable journalistic achievement… that crystalizes the last 10 years of global war and strife while candidly portraying the intimate life of a female photojournalist. Told with unflinching candor [Addario] brings an incredible sense of humanity to all the battlefields of her life.  A brutally real and unrelentingly raw memoir that is as inspiring as it is horrific.”—Kirkus (starred review)

Her images offer captions so you're able to get a better understanding of what’s happening. War is confusing and there is a lot going on that we don’t know so a little background helps develop each image. 

‘Hanaa takes a nap under a mosquito net in her tent in the informal tented settlement she lives in with her family after a long morning picking cucumbers from dawn with other Syrian refugees,in the Bekaa Valley, between the city of Zahle and Baalbak, in Lebanon, August 1, 2015.  Hanaa and her family fled Syria in 2011 at the beginning of the Syrian civil war, and moved to this settlement two years ago, along with other Syrian refugees from Hasaka and the surrounding areas. Hanaa and other children in the settlement work for up to ten hours a day in agricultural lands owned by Lebanese in the area, and earn the equivalent of $5. per day.’

Addario captures all aspects of the war; the people fighting and the people and areas affected by war. Many are affected whether directly or indirectly and Addario offers views in all directions.

Her images are raw and real; she doesn't try to hide anything. Although travel and war images are her main focus, she started out shooting street photography.

"Transsexual Prostitutes New York" she gets up close and personal with her subjects.

"Miss India Beauty Pageant 2001"

Death/Destruction/Drama - Ruddy Roye

Ruddy Roye
by Deshawn Brown

Radcliffe Roye is a Brooklyn based documentary photographer specializing in editorial and environmental portraits and photo-journalism photography. Roye was born in  Jamica 1969 . He started photography in 2000 and got his start as a New York assistant Journalist, but soon discovered his passion when he was asked to take over the business Instagram after Hurricane Sandy. He was featured in a documentary film called “Through a Lens Darkly” which was a film about black African American photographers and photography. Roye is currently known as one the 50 greatest street photographers. His series “Black Portraiture” and “I Can’t Breathe” have started numerous racial discussions on Instagram. He has 12–15 years of experience and works across all mediums. He likes to capture the real and gritty lives of those around the world, especially from his homeland, striving to tell the stories of their victories and ills by bringing out their voices.

The background of the website is basic with the white background. I like the good slide show of artworks. There is a short biography, nor artist statements on the site. and Overall, the website is not perfect but the artwork shines. Being the same skin color as the artist, I know how it is having to work harder than those that are white because even thought this world may declare to equal I know that we are not. I applauded Ruddy Roye and will continue follow his example in being a fighting in this messed up world we call America.

Event Review - James Nares: In the City

In Conversation: James Nares

Saturday, January 28, 3:00pm   Lubar Auditorium, Milwaukee Art Museum
in conjunction with  Helen Levitt: In the Street | James Nares: In the City 
January 27 through April 16, 2017

By Rebeka Schmieder

James Nares is a jack of all trades artist. He has sunk is hands into art forms that explore time in different mediums. His work is experimental and expressive. He was born in England and moved to New York to pursue his career as an artist in 1974. Nares work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. 

He is an inventor because most of works required him to create instruments to achieve his vision. His large scale paintings required him to make his own brushes that created a seamless free-forming stroke across the canvas. His most recent work, Street, is confronting and mesmerizing. This slow-motion video focuses on the small moments in time. In his talk he mentioned that his purpose for making this video was to find those small cracks in time where people put their guard down. 

Street James Nares

What I found in most of his works was Nares interest in how time effects different things. I notice this more in his films than his paintings. I connected with Street because street photography has always been one of my "back burner" interests. When I sat down in the viewing space, I got fully immersed into the film. I saw what would be in real time split seconds, as the cracks in time that Nares was talking about in his lecture. I also enjoyed the music that accompanied the film. This simple guitar acoustics made me think more about individuals in the video. Nares said that movement is music, so he made the choice music based on this notion. I think that when I took street photos I didn't pay attention to so much the little moments, but the overall picture so to speak. There is so much life in the city and to zoom in on the so called cracks in time would give more clarity and meaning to my street photography. 

Identity -- Memory - Molly Lamb

Molly Lamb 
By Raven Mrozek

Molly Lamb's work is absolutely beautiful truly inspires me. I love the way she interprets a memory. When I think of a memory and photograph a memory, I approach it by looking at a specific person. However, for Lamb its not about the person, its about the environment or the object. Two bodies of work  in particular cover the object and the landscape.

The first series that impacted the way I think about memory as an artist was Ghost Stepping. Which is a "meditation on the fragments and layers that shape personal landscape, its erosion, and its transformation". Lamb inherited belongings. The action of her packing and unpacking these heirlooms sparked a personal conversation with herself based on memories left behind.

The second series that inspired me was Let It Go. This series was created in response to Ghost Stepping. Instead of concentrating on memories through inheritance and the process of packing and unpacking, Lamb honed in on what was left behind due to loss and trauma. How does this residue, "ephemera", soak into the background of a landscape.

 I thoroughly enjoyed her website is clean and simply designed. This allowed me to concentrate on her photographs and resonate with them. Lamb's site is easily  to navigate. Everything is straightforward and she includes all essential information. I appreciate Molly Lamb's work which gave me some ideas and techniques to try in my own practice.

Identity - Gender: David Wojnarowicz

Mariah Fox
Wojnarowicz was born in 1954 in Red Bank New Jersey. He had a difficult childhood, his family life was filled with abuse, as well as coming into his own and defining himself and accepting his homosexuality. At the age of 16 he dropped out of high school and started living on the streets, he hitchhiked around the USA and even went to Paris for a couple of months. In 1978, Wojnarowicz finally settled in the East Village of NYC. Sadly in the late 80's he was diagnosed with AIDS. He passed away in 1992 at the age of 37.

His work is greatly influenced by his life past, present and even future. From tackling his abusive past, into coming into his own in the East Village, to the idea of battling his mortality after his AIDS diagnosis. He uses a variety of different mediums to discuss the issues he is working with. I found Wojnarowicz's work is fearless and powerful. In his life with his work he fought as a political activist for the rights of the arts community, as well as the LGBTQ community. His work focuses mainly on his sexual identity and how that shaped his life. As well as the voices of others who were deemed outcasts by society.

The Weight of the Earth, Part I & II (1998) - Is a series of black and white photographs that incorporated the voices of people he met on his travels, while hitchhiking that had been ostracised by or labeled as outcasts by society. I feel this links to his main themes of sexual identity because at the time homosexuality was still taboo and shunned in most minds and households, even though it was becoming more prominent in the world. It feels like almost a collaboration between Wojnarowicz and the people he met. (Which I found to be interesting and a nice avenue to take when thinking about making work. It allows more than one voice to be incorporated which I think is important especially for the issues Wojnoarowicz is discussing in his work. He speaks for the "underdogs" of the time, specifically the LGBTQ community. So while he himself is a first hand experiencer of the situation at the time, there are most voices and different perspectives that can add to his work. This shows a unity in the people society shuns and helps illustrate the community.)

I found this quote from visualaids.org that said, "he had, in his own words, 'started developing ideas of making and preserving an authentic version of history in the form of images/writing/objects that would contest state-supported forms of 'history.' " He was constantly battling with the opposing side of things through out his career.

Another quote I found from him was from interviewmagazine.com on how he handled a rejection from a gallery/exhibition, "I'm in the throes of facing my own mortality and in attempting to communicate what I'm expressing or learning in order to try and help others I am effectively silenced. I am angry." This links to this contemporary example of how even today his work is cause for controversy.

In 2010 his art came back into the limelight with the controversial video A Fire in My Belly where Mexican fire ants were crawling around and over a crucifix. It was promptly removed from the Smithsonian after the protests by the Catholic League. I thought it was interesting how even today his work is still causing an uproar to people who don't understand his work.

His work is powerful and inspiring. His use of many mediums is wonderful to see, because I can relate. I too enjoy working with different mediums and so even though my works doesn't relate directly to his I still feel I can connect to him with his use of different mediums.

Website:
Because he died in 1992 his website is not his own. He doesn't even truly seem to have a website that is the entirety of his whole works. However the PPOW gallery has created an Estate of the highlights of his works along with a detailed breakdown of his accomplishments and exhibitions. It is a clean and crisp layout that focuses it's attention on his work. There are no frivolous bells and whistles to the site which is nice to see. I enjoyed that the biography section gives a detailed list of his career. The past exhibitions of his work in a contemporary setting. I also found to be successful, each photo you clicked went to a different page giving you more information about the exhibit he was featured in. As well as some images that were featured in the exhibits.

I do wish that the website had more of his work to show, but the google images search allowed for more images of his work. That however, I found to be frustrating. I like when I can see all of the artists work all at once on one website. Sadly, since Wojnarowicz didn't make his own website that's out of everyone control.

The google search did a good job of creating sub-search categories breaking up his work into photography, painting, etc. Which was a nice way to navigate through his work.

My questions:
Do you feel that the controversial works of artists (past and present) should still be subject to censorship in this day and age?
Do you yourself incorporate different mediums into your work?

I also wanted to add the video of The Fire in my Belly that was removed from the Smithsonian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHRCwQeKCuo

Event Review - James Nares at MAM

In Conversation: James Nares

Saturday, January 28, 3:00pm   Lubar Auditorium, Milwaukee Art Museum
in conjunction with  Helen Levitt: In the Street | James Nares: In the City 
January 27 through April 16, 2017

by Kathryn

James Nares spoke about his work at Milwaukee Art museum His film, Streets, is currently being shown at the MAM until April 16th.

James Nares is a British artist that is currently lives and works in New York City. Nares works in may media and is best know as a contemporary painter. The painting that he is known for are paintings that are made with one single stroke of the paint brush. He also makes short films and videos that focuses on a wide variety of different concepts, such as movement, repetition and rhythm. Nares is more known for this paintings and films than his photography.

Nares has three different ways he makes his painting. One of the ways is, he makes a single swipe of a brush across a surface. If he does not like what he did he will ease it and redo the stroke over and over again until he is happy with the final product. These painting are done with brushes that he personally designs, so he can record the movement onto the canvas they way he wants it

The series, “ Road Paint”, is created with the use of a mechanical road striper.This is another way Nares paints. He used the road striper to spread a viscous white paint across the black canvas

One more way Nares created his painting is, by wrapping sheets of paper around a steel drum. Then takes a paint brush attached to a homemade ink dispenser, and, barely moving his hand, forms strings of color

    

Nares is known for his video called “Streets”. He recorded sixteen hours of people on the streets of Manhattan from a moving car. He slowed his videos down and edited it to one hour.

Identity - Human Condition - James Nares

By Kathryn Fiorita

James Nares is a British artist who currently lives and works in New York City. Nares makes many kinds of art work, but he is best known as a contemporary painter. The paintings that he is best known for, are paintings that are made with a single stroke of the paint brush. Nares also makes short films and videos that focuses on a wide variety of different concepts; such as movement, repetition and rhythm. Nares is more known for this paintings and films than his photography.

Nares made a photographic series called Portraits. This is his first body of video work since he made Streets, a film that is footage of people on the streets of Manhattan from a moving car using ultra high speed film. When viewed, the people seem to be moving in slow motion.

This Portraits is Nares’ second series of moving images. He changed his role from street photographer to portraits photographer capturing moving images. This work is displayed on a screen within a frame. The films are displayed on close to life size monitors, projecting hundreds of frames per second. and The length of the films are between three and twenty minutes long. This is unclear, are you discussing one or two films?Portraits is not a traditional photo series because Nares filmed several hundred frames per second. Each video is at least eleven to twenty-three minutes long. Because he wants the viewers to connect with his feelings, the effect of this video is, a recording of every movement, thought, and emotion that the model is doing. experiencing.

embed the link to each film in the title on the film

This link is to a video that show one film from the PORTRAIT series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q43G7wc4n0w