Last year, we were awed by the launch of Seattle mainstay Photographic Center Northwest's publication Latitude 47, an annual photography magazine showcasing new work from the Pacific Northwest. Editors Michelle Dunn Marsh and Eirik Johnson just launched their second issue, a collection of work that, though divergent in practice shares a similar focus in their relationship to identity, personhood, and place. We're particularly excited for the inclusion of Jenny Riffle and Molly Landreth, some of the first photographers to participate in Humble's early exhibitions. We've included some highlights from the issue below. See more and purchase a copy HERE.

Rodrigo Valenzuela completed a degree in art history at the University of Chile and a BA from the Evergreen State College before completing his MFA at the University of Washington in 2012. Working in photography, video and installation, Valenzuela constructs images and narratives that explore immigration, class, and personal history. Valenzuela has participated in numerous prestigious residencies including a Core Fellowship at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Skowhegan (Maine), and the Center for Photography at Woodstock (New York). His work was featured in a solo exhibition, Future Ruins, at the Frye Art Museum in 2015. Valenzuela is based in Seattle.

Chris Letcher grew up in Detroit, Michigan. He earned a BA from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1996 and received a Certificate of Fine Art Photography from PCNW in 2013. Deeply influenced by the philosophical approaches to art expressed by Martin Heidegger and Walter Benjamin, Letcher’s work engages with photographic abstraction. He was selected for, and attended, Review Santa Fe in 2015. Letcher lives in Seattle.

Jenny Riffle finds subject matter for her deeply personal photographic projects in her community of loved ones. Riffle earned a BA in photography at Bard College in 2001, and received an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2011. Both alumni and faculty at PCNW, Riffle has been awarded the Pilkington Prize (2015), and an Aaron Siskind Photographer’s Fellowship (2013). She was also selected as one of PDN’s 30 Photographers to Watch (2014). Her first monograph, Scavenger: Adventures in Treasure Hunting, was published by Zatara Press in 2015. Riffle was born in, and lives in, Seattle.

Molly Landreth’s intimate large-format portraits address issues of identity, gender, and community. Her long-term project Embodiment: A Portrait of Queer Life in America chronicles the rapidly changing definitions of queerness throughout the United States. Landreth has exhibited and spoken about her work at numerous institutions and festivals internationally. Awards include the Robert Giard Memorial Fellowship, a 4Culture Artist Project Grant, and a Humble Arts Foundation grant. Landreth’s work has been featured in the New York Times Lens Blog, LeMonde, The Guardian, and The Advocate. Landreth was born in, and lives in, Seattle.

Garth Amundson & Pierre Gour have lived together and worked collaboratively for thirty years. Their projects incorporate found and archival imagery, physical and digital manipulation, collage, installation, and their own photographs. Their work has been exhibited internationally, and has been recognized with awards including the Santa Fe Art Institute Residency Award (2015), and an Artist Trust Grant (2011). Amundson and Gour are faculty at Western Washington University; they live in Bellingham.

Based in Seattle since 1979, Tod Gangler’s photographs have been exhibited widely and collected by institutions including the George Eastman House and the Smithsonian Museum. First exposed to the color carbon print during a fellowship to Paris in the 1970s; Gangler has become a master printer of this complicated and unique process, and through his studio Art and Soul he produces his own work, as well as prints for an international array of artist clients. He is the recipient of an Artist Trust GAP grant, and had a solo exhibition at the Nordic Heritage Museum in 2015.

Latitude 47 Highlights Northwest Photography