Lurking in Robert E. Jackson's collection of more than eleven thousand American snapshots are some of the most peculiar photographs of ordinary people posing for the camera in their Halloween "best." Culled from anonymous family photographs found in auctions and other carefully selected archives, Jackson's eye for the curious and absurd remains unrivaled. "I am interested in the dark side of snapshots, " says Jackson, " and what they tell us about our deepest fears and motivations. There is a voyeuristic side to collecting which searching for Halloween photos brings out. It is the hidden which attracts."

So behold 13 of Jackson's unsettling Halloween gems. See more on his Instagram feed, or learn more about his practice in an interview we conducted earlier this year.

PostedOctober 28, 2015

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesPortfolio

TagsRobert E. Jackson, Vernacular Photography, Snapshots, halloween snapshots, snapshot photography, photos of people in halloween costumes, weird photography

Keith, 2015 ©Kris Graves                                                                 … — Keith, 2015 ©Kris Graves Ferratti, 2015 © Kris Graves

Kris Graves’ latest series, The Testament Project uses portraiture, video interviews and anonymously submitted written testimonials to explore the varied experience of contemporary Black masculinity in America. Graves examines various media driven stereotypes in an effort to uncover their deep roots of institutionalized racism. For Graves, and many of the men he’s photographed and interviewed, these ideas transcend class and geography, and are a constant reminder that despite significant progress, our nation has much to overcome.

PostedOctober 22, 2015

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesArtists, Portfolio

TagsKris Graves, Testament Project, Race in America, Video Work, New Portraiture, Larry Ossei-Mensah, Kris Graves Glowan, Kris Graves Testament

© Everything Is Collective // @everythingiscollective

Despite what some people might SAY they're tired of, breaking ones laurels to click away at every proclaimed top-anything lists of Instagram photographers to follow is as American as a Big Mac. If we were writing for SEO points, we might cull this into a shoddy scroll of tips (like "think outside the box..." LOL) to get more traction, but that's not really what Humble Arts Foundation is all about. Or is it? At the end of the day, our goal REALLY IS to get more eyes on photographers who deserve it, so we've continued to invite them to participate in week-long Humble Arts Foundation Instagram residencies to share their chops. Like Ben Alper who spent his residency showcasing his collection of strange vernacular imagery purchased from Ebay, or Erin O'Keefe who used her week to share some of her surprisingly un-retouched studio views. So behold: highlights from the past 13 weeks of Instagram takeovers from some of our favorite photographers today. We encourage you to take your click one step further by following them now.

PostedOctober 16, 2015

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesArtists

TagsInstagram, Ben Alper, Elizabeth Renstrom, Alex Thebez, Erin O' Keefe, Everything Is Collective, Lisa Gonzalez, Anthony Tafuro, Anthony Gerace, Rob Ball, Yael Nov, Megumi Shauna Arai, Sam Logan, Humble Arts Foundation, Virginia Woods Jack

NASA recently released new high-resolution photographs of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, unveiling images its spacecraft New Horizons had uncovered at the solar system's far out regions. As we get closer to understanding worlds beyond, outer space continues to be an abstract mystery, ripe with metaphor and science fiction...and naturally, photographic interpretation. With this move into new frontiers, for Humble Arts Foundation's next online exhibition, we want to see your vision of outer space. Abstraction, appropriation, strange narratives, and if you somehow broke through the atmosphere and "documented" your travels, we'd love to see those too.

Deadline: November 15th, 2015

PostedOctober 7, 2015

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesExhibitions, Open Call

TagsOpen Call, Space Photography, NASA Photography, Space Jams, Call for submissions

Frederick Douglass Hair. Nebraska State Historical Society. Lincoln, NE 2012. ©Wendel White

In the fall of 2008, while photographer and Rochester Institute of Technology visiting faculty member Wendel White was researching images associated with historical sites, he came across an object that would profoundly change his work to come. White discovered a preserved lock of Frederick Douglass’ hair in the Rush Rhees Special collections Library at the University of Rochester, driving him to begin Manifest, a comprehensive ongoing body of work documenting the relics of the United States’ brutal history towards Blacks in America.

PostedOctober 2, 2015

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesArtists

TagsWendel White, Still Life Photography, Large Format Photography, African American History, Black History

Halloween Vernacular: 13 Spooky Snapshots from the Collection of Robert E. Jackson

Kris Graves' Testament Project Sheds Light on Institutionalized Racism

13 Stunningly Innovative and Revolutionarily Click-worthy Photographers to Follow on Instagram

Open Call: Group Show #47: Space Jamz

Wendel White's Still Life Artifacts From Slavery, Segregation and Emancipation