The more eagle-eyed of our readers will be aware that we recently started providing in-depth portfolio review consultations for photographers. In the three years since launch, 1000 Words has grown in both scale of operations and size of audience meaning that the amount of portfolios submitted to the magazine for potential publication has also increased significantly. The sheer volume is staggering. (Upon opening my emails this morning, I realised that there are currently 491 submissions sitting in my inbox from the month of June alone.)
Whilst we do take the time to look at each and every one of these we regret that we can not always respond. However, if you would like to receive specific advice and feedback on your work we have introduced frank and informal review sessions with the view to providing photographers with the following:
-Critique of creative output
-The practical and conceptual vision needed to help attain your goals and develop further photographic projects
-Assistance with self-representation, portfolio presentation and approaches to potential outlets in the editorial, publishing and gallery markets
-Resources to help enhance your work.
Portfolio reviews cost £90 and last one hour. They take place at our offices in East London or at your studio if you have one/if it is more convenient and consist of two one-on-one sessions with 1000 Words’ editors, Tim Clark and Michael Grieve.
To book a portfolio review or for more information contact: portfolio(at)1000wordsmag(dot)com
Friday, 24 June 2011
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Photomonth Krakow 2011 (ALIAS)
You see them here, you see them there, you see them everywhere. In their latest project, the artist team Oliver Chanarin and Adam Broomberg (featured in #11 of 1000 Words) have been blessed with the opportunity of curating an entire photography festival, and in so doing have left an indelible mark on the landscape of such events.
Photomonth Krakow 2011, now in its ninth year, was subject to ALIAS, an unconventional series of conceptual exhibitions, split into two halves that tested the limits of acceptability and has divided audiences and critics alike. The festival is counter-balanced by a series of exhibitions from invited curators called ShowOFF.
The first half of ALIAS features twenty-three writers who were commissioned to construct a fictional story with a main character. A visual artist then inhabited this character and the work exhibited is the result of this symbiosis. Writers included such notables as David Campany, Ekow Eshun, Brad Zellar and Siddhartha Mukherjee taken from the art, literary and medical worlds, and visual artists such as Rut Blees Luxenburg, Alec Soth and David Goldblatt occupied the fictional artists and produced their work. We are wonderfully unaware of who did what, which is the point. This flies in the face of the egotistical and heavily loaded notion of authorship, and so the artists and writers remain anonymous. It can be helpful in the creative process for the artist to create an alter ego, in the guise of a protagonist with a pseudonym or simply to remain unknown, giving license to make work outside the confines of expectation and reveal a greater sense of self. As Chanarin and Broomberg point out in the accompanying catalogue, this conception of artists taking on or dealing with the subject of alternative personalities is nothing new, and the second half of the festival, buried in the aptly named Bunkier Sztuki Gallery, displays the work of artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Gillian Wearing and Sophie Calle. As an example these artists have produced work as the fictional and real people of Rrose Selavy, Jean and Brian Wearing and Maria Turner. One such artist, Brian O'Doherty, as a protest against Bloody Sunday embodied the persona of outsider artist, Patrick Ireland, whose subsequent symbolic death was, as perceived by O'Doherty as the "chance to bury hatred".
Scattered in various galleries around Krakow were stories of humour, tragedy, strangeness and ordinariness - all quite believable though always with a hint of the uncanny. The various exhibitions are too numerous to mention, but one story struck a chord, and finds poignant roots in Poland's dark history. This is the sad tale of a photographer called Dora Fobert (born in 1925) during her time in the Warsaw ghetto. It is a piece of fiction that sounds as authentic as the almost unbelievable story of Oskar Schindler, whose infamous factory in Krakow is now the site of the impressive and newly constructed MOCAK (Museum of Contemporary Art). Fobert's last photographs were hastily printed and chemically unfixed, before being taken by the SS, and can only be shown in daylight behind red glass. The effect is imbued with multiple meanings; the fragility of life, the impossibility of fixing a moment, the frustration of not seeing and how photography is a process. The story also tells of how the Nazis vilified the Jewish woman as a bohemian, free thinking seductress, opposed to the idealisation of Aryan women - dressed in uniform, hair tied back, restrained and orderly. These photographs are the last act of defiance and reveal old and young Jewish women posing nude for Fobert's studio camera in an expression of freedom.
Dora Fobert, from the archive of Adela K. circa 1942
What is ALIAS then, and how should it be remembered? The curators boldly claimed that this concept was to be an experiment and an experiment is a method of testing with the goal of explaining the nature of reality. It is rare to find festivals that proclaim such an experimental and admirable model. Though definitions should matter little, this festival is really an art festival more than it is a photography festival and because of this it has opened up a real Pandora's box. One question it asks is that in a world confused with the ever-mounting proliferation of imagery are we really better informed and especially from photography that reports the ‘truth’? Given Chanarin and Broomberg's trajectory from documentary photographers to constructors of photography this process lends credibility to the concept of ALIAS, in other words it is not being different for the sake of being different, rather it is logical and emotional conclusion. We are perhaps more intellectually astute about the role of photography than ever before and therefore we are better able to deal with conceptual festivals such as ALIAS that suggests that the truth is better understood from the perspective of non- truth.
ALIAS is by no means a festival of easy gratification; it is the antithesis of a spectacular and populist festival since it demands contemplation from the audience, and this, surely, is no bad thing. Those who resist are probably looking for work that is easily digestible and grumble at having to exist outside their comfort zone. But the mischievousness of this festival is highly enjoyable and perhaps raises the thinking behind future happenings even if this is in danger of alienating the local population.
One of the reasons for ShowOFF, than other to simply showcase new Polish photography, was perhaps to address the issue of the difficulties of ALIAS by inviting curators to realise more 'conventional' exhibitions, but no less interesting for that. ShowOFF was curated by Polish photographers and theorists such as Kuba Swircz, Magda Wunsche and Rafat Milach to select and featured the work of Ula Klimek, Karol Kaczorowski and Yulka Wilam to name but a few. The work is young and fresh, with a tendency towards the conceptual, and perhaps points to the future of Polish art photography.
All of this takes place in the wonderful city that is Krakow. With its rich cultural and historical diversity it continues to fascinate and is right on time for a festival such as this. In a sense, Photomonth Krakow is the Arles of the East; everything is within easy walking distance and beyond the photography there is much more to be seen.
Michael Grieve
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Taryn Simon
Yet another fantastic multimedia production from Tate Shots, this piece on American photographer Taryn Simon (see Susan Bright's article in #10 of 1000 Words) focuses on her new exhibition at Tate Modern ‘A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters’. Simon mixes photography and text in a series works that chart family bloodlines. At the heart of each group of photographic portraits, carefully arranged as 18 horizontal family trees, is a compelling story. One set documents the relatives of an Iraqi man who was a body double for Saddam Hussein’s son; another show members of a religious sect in Lebanon who believe in reincarnation; while the exhibition title comes from a work about a living Indian man who was declared dead in official records. From feuding families in Brazil to victims of genocide in Bosnia, Simon forms a collection that maps the relationships between chance, blood and other components of fate.
"Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living." Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852)
Sunday, 5 June 2011
Simon Norfolk
Following on from Val William's exclusive feature on Simon Norfolk & John Burke: Photographs From The War In Afghanistan in #11 of 1000 Words, here is a very well put together short video from Tate Shots wherein he discusses the parallels between the two bodies of work, his outspoken political opinions and his manner of seducing his audience through beauty in order to draw their attention to the real issues he is trying to represent.
Monday, 23 May 2011
Anders and that gut feeling
© Michael Grieve / 1000 Words
The 1000 Words Workshop in Fez, Morocco with the Swedish photographer Anders Petersen finished on 1 May 2011, and was an absolute success.
Anders Petersen is a self-confessed fish; once you think you have him in your grasp he will surprise you and slip away. Paradox is taught on an Anders Petersen workshop as an essential ingredient together with the need to embrace our fears in life and not to be afraid of being afraid. Petersen’s personality, charisma and experience make him one of the most vital teachers of photographic practice to those seeking to unlock an expression of themselves from the heart rather than the mind. Such was the experience in Fez, a location that provides the perfect backdrop, bursting with energy to engage the senses.
Petersen conducted a wonderful workshop, directing his students to shoot from the gut and reach the pinnacle as they go about "sharpening their pyramids".
1000 Words would like to thank Anders Petersen and the vibrant personalities of the participants who, after five intensive days, produced some extraordinary photography,a small snippet of which can be seen below. The concentration of time, perfect location and Petersen’s inspiration conspired to change the attitude and approach of the participants for the rest of their creative lives. They are:
Andre Faccioli (Brazil)
Birgit Vagani (Italy)
Emily Clarke (UK)
Jim Clarke (UK)
Nina Hove (Norway)
Laura Hynd (UK)
Samuele Pellecchia (Italy)
Vanessa Bonnin (Australia)
We would also like to thank Omar Chennafi for his local knowledge and assistance, Vanessa Bonnin for help processing black and white film, and the gracious presence of Stephen di Renza for being the perfect host.
Submissions are open for our next workshop in Morocco with Erik Kessels in September 2011. More information and details on how to apply is available here.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
1000 Words Photography Magazine #11
I am delighted to inform you that the third anniversary issue of 1000 Words "Hidden" is now available to view online.
Despite a recent period of frenetic activity during which we have participated in a panel discussion in Oslo, staged our workshop with Anders Petersen in Fez and presented a slideshow at Fotofestiwal, the tenth annual International Festival of Photography in Łódź, Poland, we have still managed to produce this issue in time for Spring.
So without further ado please go to: www.1000wordsmag.com
Keeping things from notice or view is the theme which underpins much of the photography that is featured in the "Hidden" issue.
Writer and curator Val Williams reports back from the Simon Norfolk and John Burke exhibition at Tate Modern, (Photographs from the War in Afghanistan); Photography critic at The Financial Times, Francis Hodgson wrestles with the work of Michael Ackerman in his special book review of Half Life and Daniel Campbell Blight also brings us an extended book review of People in Trouble Laughing Pushed to the Ground from the artist duo Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, an extraordinary social document of a critical moment in the history of Northern Ireland.
Elsewhere, photographer, editor, educator, writer and curator Aaron Schuman lifts the lid on the remarkable story of the late Vivian Maier whose work was discovered at an auction in Chicago by John Maloof; Director at QUAD, Co-founder of FORMAT International Photography Festival and 1000 Words Non-executive director Louise Clements turns her attention to How to Photograph a Black Dog, a witty and irreverent project by legendary Dutch art director, collector and innovator, Erik Kessels and finally Natasha Christia, Manager of photography at Barcelona's Kowasa Gallery, peeks into the portfolio of Martina Hoogland Ivanow, the hugely talented Stockholm-based artist.
In the dedicated books section 1000 Words Deputy editor, Michael Grieve pays his dues to Paul Graham's Beyong Caring and Oliver Whitehead puts Rinko Kawauchi's Murmuration under the scalpel.
At 1000 Words we strive to foreground the subjectivity of documentary photography whilst always exploring the limits and possibilities of the medium. Many thanks to all the artists, writers and advertisers for contributing to this special issue. A big hand must also go to Santiago Taccetti of CCCH Creative Studio Barcelona for his beautifully understated art direction on the project. We would also like to extend our thanks to you, our readers, for helping support 1000 Words throughout this exciting venture.
Despite a recent period of frenetic activity during which we have participated in a panel discussion in Oslo, staged our workshop with Anders Petersen in Fez and presented a slideshow at Fotofestiwal, the tenth annual International Festival of Photography in Łódź, Poland, we have still managed to produce this issue in time for Spring.
So without further ado please go to: www.1000wordsmag.com
Keeping things from notice or view is the theme which underpins much of the photography that is featured in the "Hidden" issue.
Writer and curator Val Williams reports back from the Simon Norfolk and John Burke exhibition at Tate Modern, (Photographs from the War in Afghanistan); Photography critic at The Financial Times, Francis Hodgson wrestles with the work of Michael Ackerman in his special book review of Half Life and Daniel Campbell Blight also brings us an extended book review of People in Trouble Laughing Pushed to the Ground from the artist duo Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, an extraordinary social document of a critical moment in the history of Northern Ireland.
Elsewhere, photographer, editor, educator, writer and curator Aaron Schuman lifts the lid on the remarkable story of the late Vivian Maier whose work was discovered at an auction in Chicago by John Maloof; Director at QUAD, Co-founder of FORMAT International Photography Festival and 1000 Words Non-executive director Louise Clements turns her attention to How to Photograph a Black Dog, a witty and irreverent project by legendary Dutch art director, collector and innovator, Erik Kessels and finally Natasha Christia, Manager of photography at Barcelona's Kowasa Gallery, peeks into the portfolio of Martina Hoogland Ivanow, the hugely talented Stockholm-based artist.
In the dedicated books section 1000 Words Deputy editor, Michael Grieve pays his dues to Paul Graham's Beyong Caring and Oliver Whitehead puts Rinko Kawauchi's Murmuration under the scalpel.
At 1000 Words we strive to foreground the subjectivity of documentary photography whilst always exploring the limits and possibilities of the medium. Many thanks to all the artists, writers and advertisers for contributing to this special issue. A big hand must also go to Santiago Taccetti of CCCH Creative Studio Barcelona for his beautifully understated art direction on the project. We would also like to extend our thanks to you, our readers, for helping support 1000 Words throughout this exciting venture.
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Photography, publishing and the internet
The words "photography" and "publishing" are natural bedfellows, intertwined for as long as anyone can remember. Historically speaking, the printed page was the ultimate venue for viewing a photographer's work but in recent years the internet has profoundly changed the way we look at and think about photography. So who's hogging the duvet now?
In a recent interview, Lesley Martin, publisher of the Aperture Foundation's book programme, ventured the following: "The mystery for me is that the photobook audience has become more educated, more interested, more connected to the idea of the photobook – yet for the most part, sales are not shooting through the roof to a corresponding degree."
Printing photobooks can be very expensive, meaning that print runs are usually small. Publishing online on the other hand is fast, fluid and flexible, costs a fraction of the price but offers an audience infinitely larger choice to boot. Yes, I understand the arguments; Photobooks are collectable. Photobooks offer an intimate and tactile viewing experience. Photobooks are the perfect "lap medium" as the great John Gossage famously said. And yes I am also fully aware that there is a certain stigma attached to the broad access to photography online from some fraternities of the photo world, although thankfully this is gradually fading. Image overload, viewing images on screen and the many things that can ping or pop up at you at once are just some of the common gripes from the digital naysayers. But I'm not arguing for one over the other. Frankly, I'm tired of the analogue versus digital debate. It is as inevitable as it tedious. I prefer to think that we are constantly moving, and that photographic debates and wider creative concerns provide opportunities for us to think on lateral terms, in other words, how can we arrive at a certain point from a different perspective.
What is true is that the sheer volume of images we digest on a daily basis not just on the internet but in the world around us is staggering, something that will only increase at exponential speeds in tandem with developments in technology. Camera phones, social media platforms and the Flickr ecosystem have in effect created a vast sprawling suburb of mediocrity.
So what to make of this slew of imagery? Now, more than ever, when instead of maybe going to galleries and museums we are finding ourselves more frequently viewing websites of photographers as way of discovering new work, there exists a very strong need to expose the meaningful images, promote, curate, share, and, most crucially, review and critique them intelligently.
Tiny Vices, an online gallery and image archive founded in 2005 by one time photo editor at Vice-cum-independent curator and photographer, Tim Barber, was probably the first to do its level best to respond to this challenge, and consequently helped to firmly establish the internet as a legitimate platform for disseminating photography. Offering an eclectic dip into hundreds of portfolios from artists such as Ryan McGinley and Dash Snow to Gus Powell and Craig Mammano, the website quickly become a wildly popular and accessible showcase with its well defined sensibility and thoughtful selection of work. Hundreds of new images were sent in for consideration every month in response to a continuous open call for submissions. By virtue of being web-based, Tiny Vices removed hurdles and facilitated genuine global dialogue and exchange of ideas for people who would never normally have the opportunity to interact in such a way. It fostered a great community. Such was its influence and reach that Barber was invited by Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York to put on a physical exhibition during March, 2006. Reflecting the DIY, punk ethic of the website, it comprised a complex installation of photographs, drawings, and paintings by over sixty of the artists, well known and hitherto unknown, that had been featured online. Tiny Vices is a shining example of how two complimentary modes of production can be incorporated in an interesting and innovative way, whilst at the same time ushering in a radical rethinking of what constitutes a curator. Much could be said, much doubtless will be said about whether bloggers are the curators of the 21st Century.
Another website worthwhile bookmarking or better still saving as your home page is Jason Evans' visual diary, The Daily Nice. Presenting one image per day, his lo-fi website which first went live in 2004 consists of just one page, with just one picture on it. Familiar and spontaneous yet strangely compelling, the images taken by Evans are snapshots of commonplace situations, people, animals, objects, landscapes and the urban environment that convey a fragile, transient beauty. Evans has himself described The Daily Nice as "a retreat – a sheltered harbour, where you can rest for a minute."
Since June 2008 I have been publishing and editing 1000 Words, an independent, opinionated online magazine dedicated to contemporary photography. Released quarterly, each "issue" is loosely based on a theme, and features exhibition and photo book reviews, interviews, essays and multimedia. 1000 Words believes in merit and strives to feature works that represent creative skill, emotion, intelligence and that certain something that cannot be pinned down by words.
Whether we like it or not we are moving in an age where we will always be connected to the internet, and where the smart phone will become someone's digital identity. We are living in a time of accelerated consumption and shortened attention spans. In this information era we are allowed to – and even encouraged to – know very little but there has to be more to it than just an internet sugar rush. 1000 Words abides by the philosophy of the “slow web movement” and therefore requires you to take your time and savour what you consume.
The next issue of 1000 Words - Hidden - will hit the digital shelves 13 May.
This article was originally published by Raconteur Media and appeared in The Times, Saturday 23 April, 2011.
In a recent interview, Lesley Martin, publisher of the Aperture Foundation's book programme, ventured the following: "The mystery for me is that the photobook audience has become more educated, more interested, more connected to the idea of the photobook – yet for the most part, sales are not shooting through the roof to a corresponding degree."
Printing photobooks can be very expensive, meaning that print runs are usually small. Publishing online on the other hand is fast, fluid and flexible, costs a fraction of the price but offers an audience infinitely larger choice to boot. Yes, I understand the arguments; Photobooks are collectable. Photobooks offer an intimate and tactile viewing experience. Photobooks are the perfect "lap medium" as the great John Gossage famously said. And yes I am also fully aware that there is a certain stigma attached to the broad access to photography online from some fraternities of the photo world, although thankfully this is gradually fading. Image overload, viewing images on screen and the many things that can ping or pop up at you at once are just some of the common gripes from the digital naysayers. But I'm not arguing for one over the other. Frankly, I'm tired of the analogue versus digital debate. It is as inevitable as it tedious. I prefer to think that we are constantly moving, and that photographic debates and wider creative concerns provide opportunities for us to think on lateral terms, in other words, how can we arrive at a certain point from a different perspective.
What is true is that the sheer volume of images we digest on a daily basis not just on the internet but in the world around us is staggering, something that will only increase at exponential speeds in tandem with developments in technology. Camera phones, social media platforms and the Flickr ecosystem have in effect created a vast sprawling suburb of mediocrity.
So what to make of this slew of imagery? Now, more than ever, when instead of maybe going to galleries and museums we are finding ourselves more frequently viewing websites of photographers as way of discovering new work, there exists a very strong need to expose the meaningful images, promote, curate, share, and, most crucially, review and critique them intelligently.
Tiny Vices, an online gallery and image archive founded in 2005 by one time photo editor at Vice-cum-independent curator and photographer, Tim Barber, was probably the first to do its level best to respond to this challenge, and consequently helped to firmly establish the internet as a legitimate platform for disseminating photography. Offering an eclectic dip into hundreds of portfolios from artists such as Ryan McGinley and Dash Snow to Gus Powell and Craig Mammano, the website quickly become a wildly popular and accessible showcase with its well defined sensibility and thoughtful selection of work. Hundreds of new images were sent in for consideration every month in response to a continuous open call for submissions. By virtue of being web-based, Tiny Vices removed hurdles and facilitated genuine global dialogue and exchange of ideas for people who would never normally have the opportunity to interact in such a way. It fostered a great community. Such was its influence and reach that Barber was invited by Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York to put on a physical exhibition during March, 2006. Reflecting the DIY, punk ethic of the website, it comprised a complex installation of photographs, drawings, and paintings by over sixty of the artists, well known and hitherto unknown, that had been featured online. Tiny Vices is a shining example of how two complimentary modes of production can be incorporated in an interesting and innovative way, whilst at the same time ushering in a radical rethinking of what constitutes a curator. Much could be said, much doubtless will be said about whether bloggers are the curators of the 21st Century.
Another website worthwhile bookmarking or better still saving as your home page is Jason Evans' visual diary, The Daily Nice. Presenting one image per day, his lo-fi website which first went live in 2004 consists of just one page, with just one picture on it. Familiar and spontaneous yet strangely compelling, the images taken by Evans are snapshots of commonplace situations, people, animals, objects, landscapes and the urban environment that convey a fragile, transient beauty. Evans has himself described The Daily Nice as "a retreat – a sheltered harbour, where you can rest for a minute."
Since June 2008 I have been publishing and editing 1000 Words, an independent, opinionated online magazine dedicated to contemporary photography. Released quarterly, each "issue" is loosely based on a theme, and features exhibition and photo book reviews, interviews, essays and multimedia. 1000 Words believes in merit and strives to feature works that represent creative skill, emotion, intelligence and that certain something that cannot be pinned down by words.
Whether we like it or not we are moving in an age where we will always be connected to the internet, and where the smart phone will become someone's digital identity. We are living in a time of accelerated consumption and shortened attention spans. In this information era we are allowed to – and even encouraged to – know very little but there has to be more to it than just an internet sugar rush. 1000 Words abides by the philosophy of the “slow web movement” and therefore requires you to take your time and savour what you consume.
The next issue of 1000 Words - Hidden - will hit the digital shelves 13 May.
This article was originally published by Raconteur Media and appeared in The Times, Saturday 23 April, 2011.
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