CFP: Photography Network Virtual Symposium

Photography’s Frameworks
Photography Network Virtual Symposium
October 12–14, 2023

Photography Network’s third annual symposium will be held virtually and hosted jointly with the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. In honor of the UWC’s New Archival Visions Programme—an initiative to activate the university’s archival holdings through research, fellowships, and curatorial projects—this symposium considers the subject of frameworks in the study of photography.

In recent years, “framing” and “reframing” have become buzzwords for describing new approaches to the study of photography, including the 2018 volume Photography Reframed: New Visions in Photographic Culture, the ReFrame project at the Harvard Art Museums launched in 2021, and the ongoing archival initiative, “Framing the Field: Photography’s Histories in American Institutions.” Projects like the Art Institute of Chicago’s 2023 Field Guide to Photography and Media exhibition and catalogue and the recent Vision & Justice initiative encourage reflection on how histories of photography have been constructed and how certain interventions can be made to create a more equitable field moving forward. Such interventions might also draw on “reframing” projects from the global south that interrogate colonial and metropolitan categories and temporal schemas in the history of global photography, such as the 2020 Kronos special issue on “Other Lives of the Image” and the 2019 publication Ambivalent: Photography and Visibility in African History.

This symposium aims to gather these types of initiatives into one space for shared reflection and future collaboration. Using the construction of a “framework” in reference to both conceptual schema and physical structures, we ask how larger patterns of social, ideological, material, economic, and environmental forces have shaped and continue to shape photographs as objects in circulation and in archival repositories. How have past theoretical, methodological, and institutional frameworks structured, and in many instances limited, the field? What work have these frames performed in the creation and interpretation of photographs and their histories? Which frameworks have been overlooked, and what types of interventions can make the most impactful changes?

While papers should seek to address these questions, our definition of “framework” is capacious and inclusive. Proposals might therefore consider critical approaches to frameworks that include:

• Archival: private art collections, public collections (schools, universities, museums, government agencies), informal private holdings, artist collectives, and activist archives (including national liberation, anti-colonial and anti-apartheid collections)
• Colonial, postcolonial and decolonial: state-sponsored photography, anthropological studies, tourist photography, humanitarian photography, documentary discourses
• Cultural: linguistic, religious, or ethnic practices and beliefs
• Dysfunctional: decay or erasure of contexts, allowing for slippage, appropriation, and reinterpretation of photography
• Ethical: displaying, discussing, and teaching certain images; scientific, anthropological, and legal rationales

Submission Information

Photography Network invites proposals across disciplines and a broad range of subjects that reflect the geographic and thematic diversity of the field. Practitioners and scholars at any stage of their careers are welcome to submit their research. We also welcome international scholars but note that the conference will be in English.

The symposium organizers encourage a variety of presentational styles. In addition to proposals for individual, 20-minute papers, we also seek alternative-format presentations (e.g., workshops and roundtables). We will also host a Lightning Round for new research on any topic from students, curators, academics, and practitioners. Applicants may submit up to 2 proposals, provided that one is in an alternative format; you are welcome to apply only to the Lightning Round. Sessions will be organized around accepted submissions, rather than prescribed themes.

To be considered for a panel or alternative-format presentation, please prepare:
(1) a 250-word abstract with a clear indication of format, and
(2) a three-page resume or CV.

To be considered only for the Lightning Round, please prepare:
(1) a 100-word abstract clearly labeled as a Lightning Round proposal and
(2) a three-page resume or CV.

All files should be named “[LAST NAME]–CV” or “[LAST NAME]–ABSTRACT.”

Email completed materials by June 15 to the Photography Network Symposium organizing committee: Katherine Bussard, Patricia Hayes, Josie Johnson, Caroline Riley, and Jessica Stark at photographynetworksymposium@gmail.com.

Notifications of accepted proposals will be emailed by July 19. The schedule will be announced by August 1 and the symposium will be held October 12–14, 2023.

Note: All are welcome to apply. Accepted presenters must be Photography Network members in good standing at the time of the symposium. We have a sliding scale membership: $20 (student/unaffiliated), $40 (Affiliated), or $100 (Senior). We also have free need-based memberships. Please visit the Photography Network’s membership page (www.photographynetwork.net/memberregistration) for more information on how to join.

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Webinar: Photographers on Bearden on 11/9

Photographers on Bearden: a conversation with Frank Stewart and Chester Higgins Jr. 

Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 6:30 pm ET on Zoom 

Register here

Join renowned photographers Frank Stewart and Chester Higgins, Jr., in a conversation moderated by Dalila Scruggs, Curator of Photography and Prints at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, who will discuss their relationship with the acclaimed African-American artist, Romare Bearden, and their experiences photographing African-American artists and culture over the years. 

This event celebrates the initial release of the Romare Bearden Papers by the Wildenstein Plattner Institute (WPI). The WPI has worked closely with the Romare Bearden Foundation to make the artist’s archival collection accessible to the public in anticipation of the forthcoming Romare Bearden Digital Catalogue Raisonné

The Romare Bearden Papers are accessible to the public on the WPI’s Digital Archives

Frank Stewart shot his first photographs at the 1963 March on Washington and has gone on to make compelling images ever since. Stewart earned a BFA in photography from Cooper Union in 1975 and counts Roy DeCarava, Garry Winogrand, Jack Whitten, and Romare Bearden amongst his mentors. Stewart was the first photographer-in-residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem, where he also taught photography. He has been a member of Kamoinge, Inc. since 1982, and was the lead photographer for Jazz at Lincoln Center almost three decades. Stewart is widely published, has had more than thirty solo exhibitions and is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards. His work is held in the collections of major museums including Bowdoin College Art Museum, Brunswick, Maine, the Detroit Institute of Arts; George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the National Museum of African American Art and Culture, Washington, DC, and the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. Stewart is the subject of an upcoming retrospective titled, Nexus: An American Photographer’s Journey, 1960’s to the Present, that opens at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, in June 2023.

Chester Higgins Jr. is a photographer known for his eloquent images of the life and culture of African Americans and the people of the African Diaspora. He counts P. H. Polk, Arthur Rothstein, Cornell Capa, Gordon Parks and Romare Bearden amongst his mentors. He was a staff photographer for the New York Times from 1975 to 2014. Widely published, his photographs have appeared in magazines including Ebony, Essence, Fortune, LIFE, Look, Newsweek, and TIME, and in several books including Sacred Nile, Echo of the Spirit and Elder Grace. His work has appeared in numerous solo exhibitions, most recently The Indelible Spirit at the Bruce Silverstein Gallery. He has received fellowships and grants  from the International Center of Photography, The Ford Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts and the Rockefeller Foundation. His photographs are included in the following permanent collections: The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, the Library of Congress, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York.

Dalila Scruggs is Curator for Photography and Prints at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. She earned a Ph.D. in Art History from Harvard University, where she focused on African American art. She has held curatorial positions at the Williams College Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum, and served as the Brooklyn Museum’s Museum Education Fellowship Coordinator.


The Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc. (WPI) is a non-profit foundation dedicated to the study of art history and to fostering the accessibility, cataloguing, and digitization of archival materials that support critical research in the field.

Intersecting Photographies — Symposium at Howard University, Oct. 13-15, 2022

Register now!

The symposium, “Intersecting Photographies,” will be held at Howard University in Washington, DC, from October 13-15, 2022. Among the presentations and conversations that will be fostered there are an artist conversation between LaToya Ruby Frazier and Leslie Ureña, a keynote lecture by Tina Campt, a pecha kucha featuring lightning talks, and six panels presenting more in-depth research questions. To view the complete schedule online, which also includes an awards ceremony, receptions, and Saturday workshops hosted at DC-area institutions by local experts, please view our Symposium page

You must be a Photography Network Member to register for the symposium, with annual dues beginning as low as $20. Click on the registration button and follow the instructions to register for the In-Person ($50) or Online ($20) experience. We apologize that our website does not offer the capability of joining or renewing your membership and registering for the symposium in a single transaction. 

Photography Network is a 501(C)3 and College Art Association Affiliated Society whose purpose is to foster discussion, research, and new approaches to the study and practice of photography in its relation to art, culture, society, and history. Through a range of programming, Photography Network (PN) cultivates a spirit of community and exchange with the aim of advancing innovation in the field.

We encourage you to register early for the symposium. We do not have a registration cap, but availability is limited at the three DC-area hotels with whom we have made arrangements for discounted rates. Additionally, three of the four optional Saturday workshops will be collections-focused at area institutions including the Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, and National Museum of American History, where space is necessarily limited; the fourth, with the National Museum of the American Indian, will be held over Zoom to accommodate those participating in the symposium remotely. 

If you encounter any problems during the registration process, please reach out to us at photographynetworksymposium@gmail.com. We thank the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation for their generous support of this program.

SYMP: Intersecting Photographies @ Howard University

Registration is now open for Photography Network’s Second Annual Symposium (October 13-15, 2022) in Washington, DC. Register now!

(With apologies for cross-posting)

“Intersecting Photographies,” will be held at Howard University in Washington, DC, from October 13-15. We hope that many of you will take an interest in the presentations and conversations that will be fostered there, from an artist conversation between LaToya Ruby Frazier and Leslie Ureña to a keynote by Tina Campt, a pecha kucha featuring lightning talks to six panels presenting more in-depth research questions. To view the complete schedule online, which also includes an awards ceremony, receptions, and Saturday workshops hosted at DC-area institutions by local experts, please view our Symposium page.

You must be a Photography Network Member to register for the symposium, with annual dues beginning as low as $20. Click on the registration button and follow the instructions to register for the In-Person ($50) or Online ($20) experience. We apologize that our website does not offer the capability of joining or renewing your membership and registering for the symposium in a single transaction.

Photography Network is a 501(C)3 and College Art Association Affiliated Society whose purpose is to foster discussion, research, and new approaches to the study and practice of photography in its relation to art, culture, society, and history. Through a range of programming, Photography Network (PN) cultivates a spirit of community and exchange with the aim of advancing innovation in the field.

We encourage you to register early for the symposium. We do not have a registration cap, but availability is limited at the three DC-area hotels with whom we have made arrangements for discounted rates. Additionally, three of the four optional Saturday workshops will be collections-focused at area institutions including the Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, and National Museum of American History, where space is necessarily limited; the fourth, with the National Museum of the American Indian, will be held over Zoom to accommodate those participating in the symposium remotely.

If you encounter any problems during the registration process, please reach out to us at photographynetworksymposium@gmail.com. We thank the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation for their generous support of this program.

Best,
Monica Bravo and Caroline Riley
Photography Network Co-Chairs

Call for Papers: 2022 Photography Network Symposium — apply by June 15

Intersecting Photographies

Photography Network’s 2022 Symposium, October 13-15 

The second symposium of the Photography Network will be hosted jointly by Photography Network and Howard University in Washington, DC. Depending on circumstances, the event will either be hybrid (in-person and virtual) or fully virtual. We will update speakers and attendees by August 15.

The 2022 symposium theme is “Intersecting Photographies.” Scholarship in the history of photography has until recently focused predominantly on its technical capabilities, patronage, and modes of representation. This focus elides the longer histories of colonialism and imperialism that the medium fosters­—and in which it can potentially intervene. Recent scholarship—including Ariella Azoulay’s “Unlearning the Origins of Photography” (2018), Mark Sealy’s Decolonising the Camera: Photography in Racial Time (2019), and Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie’s (Seminole, Muscogee, Diné) “When is a Photograph Worth a Thousand Words?” (1998)—are among many projects reconceptualizing photography as a site of encounter and exchange, fraught with historical inequities brought by colonizing desires.

The symposium contributes to art history’s ongoing interrogation of photography as a colonizing technology, as well as the exploration of the medium’s ability to promote social justice. “Intersecting Photographies” supports thinkers active in disentangling these histories by foregrounding three kinds of intersections: 1) those between peoples (intersubjective or intercultural); 2) those between photography and other media (intermedial); and 3) photographs, photographers, or photographic subjects that foreground multi-layered representations of social groups and self-fashioning, following Kimberlé Crenshaw’s conceptualization of identity’s “intersectionality.” 

Proposals drawing on these interwoven spheres of concern could consider subjects such as:

·      Methodological questions regarding authority to speak on challenging photographs and themes

·      Social formations and power relationships in the “photographic encounter” and contexts of display

·      Displaying history, colonization, and legacies of imperialism in museums and other institutions

·      The application of decolonization studies and/or digital humanities to archival holdings

·      The archive as a critical site of intersectionality 

·      Intercultural albums as documents and objects of self-fashioning 

Photography Network invites proposals for presentations that broach these and other subjects pertinent to “Intersecting Photographies.” We welcome proposals across disciplines and encourage a broad range of subjects that reflect the geographical diversity of the field. Practitioners and scholars at any stage of their career are welcome to submit their research. We also welcome international scholars but note that the conference will be in English. The symposium organizers are also interested in attracting a range of presentational styles. In addition to proposals for individual, 20-minute papers, we also seek alternative-format presentations (e.g., workshops and roundtables). To encourage variety, applicants may submit up to 2 proposals, provided that one is in an alternative format. We will also host a Pecha Kucha for new research on any topic from students, curators, academics, and practitioners. If you would like to be considered for the Pecha Kucha, please note so in your email submission. You are welcome to apply only to the Pecha Kucha. Conference sessions will be organized around accepted submissions, rather than prescribed themes. 

Please send: (1) a 250-word abstract, (2) a clear indication of preferred format, and (3) a three-page resume or CV by June 15 to the Photography Network Symposium organizing committee: Monica Bravo (University of Southern California), Melanee Harvey (Howard University),Caroline Riley (University of California, Davis), Leslie Ureña (National Portrait Gallery), and Andrés Zervigón (Rutgers University), at photographynetworksymposium@gmail.com. To be considered only for the Pecha Kucha, please email us a 100-word abstract and a short, three-page resume or CV. Notifications of accepted proposals will be sent by email by July 19. The symposium will be held October 13, 14, and 15, 2022. The schedule will be announced by August 1 and will be determined after reviewing the abstracts and finalizing the conference format. Final papers from speakers are required by September 15.

 It is our hope that “Intersecting Photographies” will be live-streamed for those unable to attend because of geographic, financial, or other logistical barriers. ASL interpretation and enabling closed captioning for the live stream will make the symposium further available for those with language barriers.

Note: All are welcome to apply. Accepted presenters must be Photography Network members in good standing at the time of the symposium. Annual membership is $20 (student/unaffiliated), $40 (Affiliated), or $100 (Sustaining Member). Please visit Photography Network’s website (https://www.photographynetwork.net/memberregistration) for more information on how to join. 

JOB: Tenure track, Photography at Carleton College

Carleton College invites applications for a tenure-track position in photography to begin September 1, 2021. This position will typically include teaching five courses per year over three 10-week terms.

About the Position:
We seek a colleague who will lead our course offerings in various photographic processes and media. In addition to offering courses in both digital and darkroom techniques, the ideal candidate will be able to clearly articulate connections between theory and practice and will embrace links between photography and other disciplines. The successful candidate will be well-versed in emergent post-photographic technologies and conversant in the contemporary discourse about image reproduction strategies. Candidates must be dedicated to teaching in a small, liberal arts college; committed to working closely with colleagues in the combined Art and Art History Department; and intent on forging collaborative relationships across disciplines.

Candidates are expected to maintain an active artistic or research agenda that buttresses their teaching in productive ways. While their teaching will focus on the production of still images, we welcome candidates whose own studio practice might emphasize new media explorations, including video and other time-based media in photography’s expanded field.

It is expected that candidates will hold a terminal degree in their field. We seek individuals with a demonstrated ability to work with students from a wide range of social and cultural backgrounds. Additionally, we welcome candidates whose professional work—in the classroom, in the studio, or in their service to the field—aligns with our commitment to examining systems of privilege and oppression.

About the Department of Art and Art History:
The Art and Art History Department at Carleton offers two separate majors (in Studio Art and Art History) as well as one minor (in Art History). The core mission of the Studio Art program is to introduce students to the tools and processes of artmaking, and help them develop their own creative abilities. We share a commitment to the value of traditional manual skills while encouraging experimentation and an expansive and expanding idea about art’s role in the broader culture. The Department is housed in Boliou Memorial Hall and features studios devoted to photography, ceramics, metalsmithing, painting and drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and woodworking. The department also maintains studio space in the Weitz Center for Creativity, Carleton’s state-of-the-art, multidisciplinary center for the arts, which also houses the Perlman Teaching Museum and multiple uniquely flexible work and performance spaces. The mission of the Weitz is to serve as a working laboratory for creativity not only within the arts, but across the entire curriculum.

About Carleton College:
Carleton is a highly selective liberal arts college that is home to a close-knit community of teacher/scholars devoted to the teaching and mentoring of approximately 2,000 highly motivated students chosen from a diverse pool of national and international applicants. The College is located in Northfield, Minnesota, a historic town 45 miles south of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul, a vibrant cultural center containing world-class artistic and educational institutions.

Carleton College is committed to developing its faculty to better reflect the diversity of our student body and American society. Women and members of groups historically underrepresented in academia are strongly encouraged to apply. Carleton College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, veteran status, actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, status with regard to public assistance, disability, or age in providing employment or access to its educational facilities and activities.

How to Apply:
To apply, please visit the Carleton College Web site at https://jobs.carleton.edu and submit an online application, including: a letter of application; CV; a statement outlining your philosophy of teaching visual art in a liberal arts environment; and statement outlining your artistic or research agenda. You should also upload samples of your creative work as well as contact information for three letters of reference written specifically for this position. DEADLINE: Applications will be evaluated starting November 15, 2020 and will continue until the position is filled.

 

New resource about artist Maud Sulter (1960-2008)

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Maud Sulter. Les Bijoux (The Jewels), 2002. Large-format, colour Polaroid photograph. Source here and discussed here.
There is a newly published website about the late, Scottish-Ghanaian artist and writer Maud Sulter:
The publishers of the site make this request:
“Please have a look round the site, there are lots of embedded links leading to more information on Maud’s exhibitions, publications and what’s happened in the past few years.
We need your help in circulating the website.  Please click, like and share the link with everyone who would be interested.”

JOB: Asst Prof, Photo @ Spelman

The Department of Art & Visual Culture at Spelman College invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Photography to begin August 2019.

The appointment requires a 3/3 teaching load, including introductory and advanced level of photography courses. Applicants should demonstrate skills in digital imaging/print-related technologies as well as the ability to teach Digital 2D Foundations (Adobe Creative Suite). The ideal candidate should have the ability to teach History of Photography as a part of the new Atlanta University Center Collective for Art History & Curatorial Studies and assist with building the new Photography program.

Responsibilities include teaching and mentoring undergraduate students in both the art and photography program, maintaining a well-articulated creative research/scholarship, service to the department and the college, and contributions to the overall mission of Spelman College.

The Department of Art & Visual Culture is part of ARTS@Spelman, which also includes the departments of Theater & Performance, Dance Performance & Choreography, Music, the Digital Moving Image Salon, the Museum of Fine Art and the Spelman College Innovation Lab. The College is planning a new innovation and arts building, which will be an interdisciplinary environment that supports and advances experimentation, collaboration, active play, research and the imaginative use of digital technologies.

https://spelman.peopleadmin.com/postings/1980

PUB: E-Catalogue for Daylight Come… Picturing Dunkley’s Jamaica — National Gallery of Jamaica Blog

For our latest exhibition Daylight Come… Picturing Dunkley’s Jamaica (May 27 – July 29 2018) the National Gallery of Jamaica introduces it’s first e-catalogue. E-Catalogues will be created for select exhibitions and, while not as extensive as our print catalogues, will provide notable insight and information on their respective exhibitions, while being easily accessible to […]

via E-Catalogue for Daylight Come… Picturing Dunkley’s Jamaica — National Gallery of Jamaica Blog

Roma and African Americans share a common struggle, say Cornel West and Margarete Matache

Cornel West has co-authored an article with Margareta Matache, a Roma rights activist and scholar: it was published in The Guardian last Tuesday. As is always the case with Guardian comments, these are as illuminating to read as the article itself. So are the silences of removed and presumably wack comments: there must be at least a half dozen iterations of “This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our community standards.”

It’s been 25 years since West’s Race Matters was first published in 1998; a new edition with a forward by West. In a new introduction for this anniversary edition, West writes: “Race matters in the twenty-first century are part of a moral and spiritual war over resources, power, souls, and sensibilities.” The introductory chapter focuses on US history–distant and past–and the shout outs are issued mostly to US-based academics and activists. Yet as he has for the last decades, West makes his target imperialism which is phenomenon worked out in a number of national varieties. It’s no doubt useful to call out imperialism in the name of anti-racism: West writes that “[r]ace matters are an integral part–though not sole part–of empire matters” and that “imperial democracy has its own structures of domination.”

A decisive turn to critical race art history in Europe was evident in Saturday’s College Art Association conference panel, “Critical Race Art Histories in German, Scandinavia, and Central Europe,” sponsored by the Historian of German, Scandinavian, and Central European Art and Architecture, which, like ACRAH, is a CAA Affiliated Society.

 

Screen Shot 2018-02-25 at 4.41.46 PM

A page from Herman Lundborg’s The Swedish Nation and Racial Types (1921), posted at Anthroscape.

This constellation of images is interesting not only because of the project to illustrate perceived mixed race and mixed ethnic appearances, Casta painting-like, but also because some subjects were presented frontally and in profile while others are not. Is “gipsy-ness” obvious enough in the top right frontal portrait? We can head back to Allan Sekula’s “The Body and the Archive” , an examination of the taxonomic photo. Yet, there was something else happening in the many nineteenth- and twetienth-century drawings and prints. (A Google Image search will yield a good number of these representations.) Seems like many Western artists chose the 3/4 profile view to demonstrate ethno-racial particularity. Why? One ear tells all? The shadow on one cheek is more than enough?

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