A new magazine spotlighting Black photographers recently launched its first brick and mortar exhibition.

Last month a new exhibition opened at The Maryland Institute College of Art: Representation in Relation to Race. Curated by Lia Latty, founder of BlackIs Magazine, the show is the first in-real-life extension of the online platform, expanding upon Latty’s mission to champion photographers from the African diaspora.

It’s an exciting and challenging group of photographers, organized into three exhibition of three photographer each week. In celebration of the show and BlackIs’ one year anniversary from launching, I spoke with founder Lia Latty to learn more about the platform, the exhibition and her goals going forward.

Jon Feinstein in conversation with Lia Latty

PostedApril 7, 2022

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesExhibitions, Art News, interviews

TagsBlack Is Magazine, Lia Latty, new photography, contemporary photography, photography and the African diaspora

The artist’s new exhibition Synchronicities, Traditions, and Remembrance at The Prelude Pointe Gallery in Marietta, Georgia attempts to materialize the memory of her father’s death.

When De' De’ Ajavon was just six years old, she lost her father. His passing left a gaping, unrecoverable hole that she's only recently been able to process. Using cyanotypes for their rich, murky blues, Ajavon digs through the emotional and physical reminders that continue to haunt her to this day. “Grief is a life-long, ever-evolving experience,” she writes, “and, because I was so young when he passed, I’ve had to spend my whole adult life trying to heal myself.”

Ajavon's images depict literal and metaphorical haziness, serendipity, and a perpetual void – she describes her work as a response to decades of “deep contemplation regarding time’s ability to distort our memories and how we perceive them.” It's a means to support her perpetual grieving process, act as tangible evidence of loss, and, she writes, “as a subconscious lead to the things we might have already known deep down inside.”
The exhibition is currently on view in Marietta, Georgia at The Prelude Pointe Gallery space through March 2, 2022.

I spoke with Ajavon to wade through it.

Jon Feinstein in conversation with De’ De’ Ajavon

PostedFebruary 4, 2022

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesArtists, Art News, Exhibitions, Galleries, interviews

TagsDe' De' Ajavon, new photography, alt-process photography, photography and memory, photography and healing, art as therapy

Silver Eye launches its second annual list of remarkable photographers.

In 2021, Silver Eye Center for Photography launched a new initiative in collaboration with The Black List and Carnegie Mellon University to showcase a diverse and highly curated snapshot of photography in the eyes of 125 of today’s most esteemed nonprofit photography curators, scholars, publishers and critics.

Innovating on the traditional format and methodology of “best of” lists, the organizers asked a wide swath of the photography community to share up to ten photographers who showed wow or promise over the past year – photographers who are not only creating inspiring or of-the-moment work, but truly believe have career longevity. The final list of 47 "shows the thoughts of a professional community who cares deeply about contemporary photography."

Upon the announcement of the 2022 edition, I spoke with Oresick to learn more about the Silver List, its mission, and this year's selected photographers.

Jon Feinstein in conversation with Silver Eye’s David Oresick

PostedJanuary 6, 2022

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesArt News, interviews

TagsSilver Eye Center For Photography, Silver List, photographers to watch, best photographers of 2021, contemporary photography, David Oresick, The Black List, new photography

Out on the Range, January © Michael Young. From his series *Hidden Glances*.

Michael Young disassembles gay calendars as a metaphor for his closeted years.

Michael Young’s “Hidden Glances” is a series of handmade cutouts from erotic gay calendars spanning the time he hit puberty until the day he came out, collaged and reimagined. Young overlays images to compress time and space – years he sees as a void of hiding in plain sight.

The resulting images (even those rendered in black and white) are bright and colorful, contrastingly balancing joy, fear, and a memorial to time lost. They swell and sweat eroticism and desire, hanging with regret for the time he could not publicly acknowledge his true self.

“When I wanted to look at guys,” Young writes, “I could only risk taking quick glimpses because I was afraid that my gaze would linger too long and expose my homosexuality.”

We're proud to include Young among 10 artists Humble is spotlighting as jurors for Photolucida's 2021 Critical Mass. Roula Seikaly and I selected work we find truly remarkable in vision and concept, and Young is a shining star among many talented artists. For a limited time, Klompching Gallery is offering a super affordable edition of Young's work HERE. Get one before Gagosian snaps him up!

I spoke with Young to learn more about his work, his evolution as an artist, and his use of “reverse collage” as a powerful metaphor.

Jon Feinstein in conversation with Michael Young

PostedDecember 14, 2021

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesGalleries, Artists, interviews

Tags"reverse collage", new photography, photography is magic, post-photography, Michael Young, reverse glances, photography about coming out, art about coming out, process-based photography, Photolucida 2021, photolucida top 50, photolucida critical mass, best photography of 2021, photolucida2021HAFtop10

Ross Mantle's Cryptic New Photobook Keeps Us Looking

There are often photos that elicit creative envy. The kind of photo with the punch and punctum to pull you in at first tug, but with enough grace to keep you looking and looking again. And to wish you’d taken it yourself. This photo above, with its gaping mix of absence and resolution resonates this way for me. It's one small piece of Misplaced Fortunes, Ross Mantle’s new book of photographs that feel like a magically convoluted puzzle.

Published by Sleeper Studio, Mantle’s first monograph is a meandering collection of visual clues with no clear solution. A found sculpture of a golden ear. Various references to holes - both literal and metaphoric. Anonymous gravestones leaning and waiting for repair. Bodies emerging from the woods. Faces obscured by sweatshirts or wisps of hair. Hints to treasures never to be found – riddles we might never decode.

I corresponded with Mantle to learn more about his mysterious new book.

Jon Feinstein in conversation with Ross Mantle

PostedDecember 2, 2021

AuthorJon Feinstein

Categoriesinterviews, Photobooks, Portfolio

TagsRoss Mantle, Sleeper Studio, new photography, contemporary photography, 2021 photobooks, best photobooks of 2021

What Is, Black Is?

De’De' Ajavon’s Cyanotypes Ponder The Hazy Reminder of Loss and Grief

The Silver List: An Annual Photographic Survey Gives a New Take on "Photographers To Watch"

A Photographer Finds His Voice Through Bold "Reverse-Collages" About Coming Out

A Photographic Treasure Hunt With No End In Sight