Easily one of my favorite magazines, Blind Spot has been doing great things for photography for over 15 years now. A nice way to say “thanks” to them and get something back in return is to bid on some fantastic photographs (including one of my own!) in their 2009 Benefit Auction. The auction ends on Tuesday, December 15th with a live event in NYC.
You can preview the works online and tickets for the event can be purchased here.
Two framed photographs of mine along with hundreds of works (by students, other alumni and affiliated artists such as Doug and Mike Starn, Nan Goldin, Robert Rauschenberg and Ellsworth Kelly) are on display and available to purchase at the Museum School’s annual InsideOut Sale. A percentage of every sale supports student scholarships. And there’s plenty to see, even if you’re not buying.
Those of you in Boston should stop in to check it out before November 22nd.
More info here.
[from "Ladies and Gentlemen"]
© Shane Lavalette
From November 2nd through the 29th, 2009, my found photo project Ladies and Gentlemen will be displayed in the photography cases of the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard University (curated by VES faculty Chris Killip).
From the Carpenter Center’s website:
“Ladies and Gentlemen” consists of a selection of found studio portrait cards – 12 women and 12 men, each measuring approximately 4.5 x 6.5 in. – as collected by photographer Shane Lavalette. The cards were produced in the late 19th Century by various photographic studios around New England, many in Vermont where Lavalette is originally from. The images often depict subjects gazing out of the frame, frozen and lost in thought. Brought together, the photographs ask us to consider the personalities and roles of these individuals as well the blurred line of femininity/masculinity that exists on their surface.
In his text titled Out of the Ordinary, Martin Parr puts forward a case for taking more seriously such everyday objects: “Spend some time looking,” he begs, “…At their design, their shape, their individual characteristics. Think ahead and imagine their significance…” It seems that Lavalette, too, understands the notion of taking these objects more seriously and believes in the potential (and indeed pleasure) of viewing them in splendid isolation.
More info here or see the entire project on my website.
Some time ago the collaborative photography space Mus-Mus (perhaps you’ve seen their project @600?) got in touch with me about contributing to their @Paris project, which was later juried by photographers Stephen Shore and Gil Blank along with Denise Wolff (Editor, Book Program at Aperture). Since I was at the time traveling in France, I was excited about the opportunity and was sure to send them my contribution after leaving Paris.
The project launched earlier this month and is now available to view in its entirety online. Included are images by a selection of fantastic photographers (such good company!):
Alec Soth, Bertien van Manen, Beth Dow, Corinne Vionnet, David LaSpina, Georg Parthen, Gil Blank, Gus Powell, Hin Chua, Jason Fulford, Louis Porter, Lucas Blalock, Mark Steinmetz, Matthew Spiegelman, Michael David Murphy, Mike Slack, Paul Schiek, Richard Renaldi, Shane Lavalette, Simon Roberts, Stephen Shore, Thobias Fäldt and many, many more.
Here’s a screenshot of my contribution:
Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, Paris, France, 2009
Photograph © Shane Lavalette
Along with the photographs, Mus-Mus published two interesting texts: Abdu’l-Baha in Paris by Darius Himes and Paris and Photography as the Promise of Possibility by Ulrich Baer – both worth a read.
View the @Paris project here.
A photograph of mine can be found in today’s New York Times Magazine, accompanying David Leonhardt’s piece “The College Calculation” (p. 13). If you have a chance, pick up a copy of the paper and take a look!
Have a great Sunday.
I’m very pleased to announce that I’ll have work in the inaugural PRC Juried Publication, juried this year by Dana Faconti (Publisher/Editor, Blindspot Magazine). The publication will be circulated this September along with their seasonal newsletter in the loupe, which you can receive in the mail simply by becoming a member of the Photographic Resource Center.
Included in the publication are photographs by a wonderful selection of photographers, a few of which are friends and many of which are living and working in the Boston area:
Ri Anderson, Clint Baclawski, Gideon Barnett, Chris Bentley, Deborah Bright, Christopher Churchill, Annie Claflin, Maureen Drennan, Jess T. Dugan, Matthew Gamber, Gigi Gatewood, Erik Gould, Phil Jung, Susan Lakin, Shane Lavalette, Rania Matar, Brad Moore, Blake D. Ogden, Lydia Panas, Jeremias Paul, Peter Riesett, Christopher Sims, Mickey Smith, Laura Swanson, Millee Tibbs, Phil Underdown and Johanna Warwick
More info about the PRC Juried Publication can be found here.
installation shot of “Simply the Best”, on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
© Shane Lavalette
A selection of photographs from my project Slí na Boirne are on display in the Courtyard Gallery at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston through October 18th, 2009. Titled “Simply the Best,” the exhibition presents selected work by students at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston who received special recognition during the last academic year. For my photographs in the show, I was awarded the Yousuf Karsh Prize in Photography back in February.
More info about the exhibition can be found here.
[from "Chimère"]
found by Shane Lavalette
Now that I’ve returned from France and have begun to settle into things here, this blog is officially back in session and I’m back to working on a few new projects which I hope will materialize this fall. In celebration of the new, I’ve decided to start a section on my website for some of my projects involving found material. The first to be put online actually comes from my trip, discovered when I was in Paris: a collection of postcards depicting various Chimère (Chimera/Gargoyle) figures perched atop Paris’ infamous Notre-Dame cathedral.
Take a look if you please!
I’m off to France! Destination upon arrival: Pont-Aven. I’m not sure how much computer or internet access I’ll have in the countryside, so the blog will likely be quiet until I return in August. If anyone has any recommendations of parts of France to visit, restaurants to eat at or anything at all, please leave a comment!
And, yes, I do plan to check out the Les Rencontres d’Arles. If anyone’s going, let me know and perhaps we can meet there.
L to R: Pirelli Work, Here Comes Everybody and In Flagrante by Chris Killip
I went to visit Chris Killip in his studio today and had a great chat with him about his life and photography – eventually to be a published interview, stay tuned for that! – and thought I’d take a brief moment now to mention a few of his books while I’m on the topic of fine publications that live on my bookshelf.
Pictured above are the titles of his that I own: Pirelli Work (Steidl/Eskildsen, 2006), which includes commissioned photographs from the Pirelli tire factory, In Flagrante (Errata Editions, 2008 – originally published by Secker and Warburg, 1988), photographs of communities in Northern England, and Here Comes Everybody (Thames & Hudson, 2009), images of a religious pilgrimage in the west of Ireland. Both Pirelli Work and the recently released Here Comes Everybody are fantastic but any photographer who has not had a chance to experience In Flagrante has not lived. The book is in my opinion one of the most beautifully sequenced and photographed in the history of photography and it’s a wonder that I haven’t mentioned it already.
It’s nearly impossible and wildly expensive to own the original of In Flagrante, so the Errata Editions “Books on Books” version came at a nice time for myself and others who have long desired a copy. Despite the small size of the pages within the book and absolute fetishization of the original (which makes it harder to experience the images themselves), it is a great way to view an object which is otherwise rather difficult to find.
Some sample spreads:
spread from In Flagrante (Errata Editions, 2008)
spread from In Flagrante (Errata Editions, 2008)
spread from In Flagrante (Errata Editions, 2008)
spread from In Flagrante (Errata Editions, 2008)
spread from In Flagrante (Errata Editions, 2008)
To readers, I highly recommend either picking up a copy of this book or, better yet, setting aside some time soon to go track down and sit with the 1988 copy. You will not be disappointed.
And to Chris, thanks again for a thoroughly inspiring morning… my congratulations on the release of Here Comes Everybody!
Here Comes Everybody, signed by Chris Killip
