Juror: Melissa Kreider, Founding Editor of Don’t Smile
Melissa Kreider Juror Statement:
Using photography as a tool to spark conversation or trigger change dates back to the early days of the medium. Consider Jacob Riis’s How The Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York (which appeared in book form in 1890), whose photographs uncovered what was previously unseen in a poverty-stricken slum called Mulberry Bend. Or the photographers of the Farm Security Administration (F.S.A. Photography Program, 1935-1944), who visually represented the circumstances faced by farmers who endured the catastrophes brought on by drought and The Great Depression. The F.S.A. photographs were considered truthful documents by some viewers and propaganda by others, but Americans were affected by them nonetheless. Now, these photographs are seen as vital in our understanding of the impact of The Great Depression on rural communities.
Despite living in an age where we understand that imagery can be manipulated, photography is still often perceived as the medium of ultimate truth due to the long history of photography being used for social change. With the expansion of technology and the ability to have hard conversations, images are used to spark conversation and shift perceptions more creatively than ever before. Images being made to serve this purpose range topically from race issues, gender identity, mental health, politics, or the environment.
The images I selected for the exhibition Shift, range from Matjaz Krivic’s documentary-style exploration of lithium batteries and the global supply of power to Joshua Littlefield’s highly manipulated imagery representing those unable to express themselves emotionally. Shift emphasizes how photography is being made now to examine these issues in a myriad of approaches.
Artist Included: Sarah Nesbitt, Anna Rotty, Colin Kenniff, Lisa Guerriero, Wayne Swanson, Dina Oganova, Parvathi Kumar, Melissa Borman, Kristina Syrchikova, Terry LaRue, Tatiana Illina, Frances Bukovsky, June Sanders, Ershova Natali, Karolis Usonis, Tammy Mercure, Robert Gordon, Shannon Star, Leanne Surfleet, Joshua Littlefield, Jesse Koechling, Joey Solomon, Jessica Sharif, Sarah Midkiff, Sophie Barbasch, Rana Young, Francesca Cesari, Megan Jacobs, Sonnie Wooden, James Southard, Dan Farnum, Epiphany Knedler, Alex Djordjevic, Shanna Merola, Annabelle Marcovici, Matjaz Krivic, Fiona Filipidis, Kei Ito, Richard Westerhuis, Sarah Pfohl
Juror: Melissa Kreider, Founding Editor of Don’t Smile
Melissa Kreider Juror Statement:
Using photography as a tool to spark conversation or trigger change dates back to the early days of the medium. Consider Jacob Riis’s How The Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York (which appeared in book form in 1890), whose photographs uncovered what was previously unseen in a poverty-stricken slum called Mulberry Bend. Or the photographers of the Farm Security Administration (F.S.A. Photography Program, 1935-1944), who visually represented the circumstances faced by farmers who endured the catastrophes brought on by drought and The Great Depression. The F.S.A. photographs were considered truthful documents by some viewers and propaganda by others, but Americans were affected by them nonetheless. Now, these photographs are seen as vital in our understanding of the impact of The Great Depression on rural communities.
Despite living in an age where we understand that imagery can be manipulated, photography is still often perceived as the medium of ultimate truth due to the long history of photography being used for social change. With the expansion of technology and the ability to have hard conversations, images are used to spark conversation and shift perceptions more creatively than ever before. Images being made to serve this purpose range topically from race issues, gender identity, mental health, politics, or the environment.
The images I selected for the exhibition Shift, range from Matjaz Krivic’s documentary-style exploration of lithium batteries and the global supply of power to Joshua Littlefield’s highly manipulated imagery representing those unable to express themselves emotionally. Shift emphasizes how photography is being made now to examine these issues in a myriad of approaches.
Artist Included: Sarah Nesbitt, Anna Rotty, Colin Kenniff, Lisa Guerriero, Wayne Swanson, Dina Oganova, Parvathi Kumar, Melissa Borman, Kristina Syrchikova, Terry LaRue, Tatiana Illina, Frances Bukovsky, June Sanders, Ershova Natali, Karolis Usonis, Tammy Mercure, Robert Gordon, Shannon Star, Leanne Surfleet, Joshua Littlefield, Jesse Koechling, Joey Solomon, Jessica Sharif, Sarah Midkiff, Sophie Barbasch, Rana Young, Francesca Cesari, Megan Jacobs, Sonnie Wooden, James Southard, Dan Farnum, Epiphany Knedler, Alex Djordjevic, Shanna Merola, Annabelle Marcovici, Matjaz Krivic, Fiona Filipidis, Kei Ito, Richard Westerhuis, Sarah Pfohl
