Avant-Garde and Matisse

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Yeuk San Shen

Going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art at night was a very different experience. Compare to the rushing crowds going back and forth in the morning, the soothing atmosphere created by the empty museum was, at least in my opinion, more suitable for art viewing—somehow you are willing to stay longer in front of each piece. So although this might sound weird, I was actually glad that my schedule conflict allowed me to go to the MET on my own. I visited the African Art and Matisse section. Let’s start with the African Art.

There was a section named “The Avant Grade”, and the title caught my eyes. I went online

http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ao/web-thumb/1915-07.jpg

and searched for this term. It was in French. Wikipedia said “it is a French term used in English as a noun or adjective to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics”. At the first glance, I didn’t find it different from the rest of the room. How was this supposed to be “innovative”? Then, I realized that it was an art served to provoke others. Picasso was one of these artists that were influenced by these cultural pieces! Then I looked at them again. This time, I could definitely see the similarities.

http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ma/exhibition-medium/DP219638.jpg

African Arts were known for their abstract figures. The art-form proportion varied from the real life proportion; and the faces of figures were always exaggerated with parts being altered. I had never figured out why African Art developed into such a pattern, but it was obviously very distinctive, especially when compared to European arts at the time, which could be one reason that people resisted this culture. There were a series of names that started with “Seated Man”, two were African pieces and one was a pencil drawing by Picasso.

http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ao/web-thumb/1914-06_a.jpg

It was easy to notice the identical scale of the head and body, which was not presented in history until then. With the knowledge that Picasso became famous long before his death, this became a marker in history pointing the shift of people’s willingness to accept and include others.

Another exhibit I visited was the Matisse. It gave me a different chill from the Avant-Garde. The sharp contrast between colors and various styles used to interpret the same view were something nowhere to be found in my previous exhibit. The most amazing part of this was perhaps the numerous interpretations of one single view. The doted style told the shift of colors and strengthened the contrast in between; the plain oil style gave a realistic twist to the painting; a warmer series of color created a mood that couldn’t be seen in a colder

color series. All these angles showed that each time Matisse painted a similar image—he gave a new twist to it. Unlike most artists, he allowed the addition of new frames, even if that would ruin his previous visions. Not only did he allow it, he also admired it. He asked a photographer to document his process of creation, in which one could see the transition of the painting. I didn’t know that the same view meant so many different images to different people (or the same person with different interpretation) until Matisse juxtaposed his visions in front of me. Thank you so much, for allowing me to step into your world of imagination and share a piece of your mind.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/07/Matisse-Luxe.jpg/300px-Matisse-Luxe.jpg

http://www.thecultureconcept.com/circle/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/3._The-Gulf-of-Saint-Tropez_Henri-Matisse.jpg

Posted in MET Exhibit | Leave a comment

Who He Was/She Was Who He Is/She Is

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Professor Bernstein

I know that you are all under great pressure so I am pushing back the deadline for the

Who He Was Project  from Tuesday, December 11th to Thursday, December 13th!

Prof. B.

Posted in Announcements, Who (S)he Was/Is | Leave a comment

More than just a phone

Posted on December 10, 2012 by wesleyyun

It is amazing how far cellphones have come in the last five years. Ever since the launch of the iPhone back in 2007, phones have become more than just a phone. Leading the pack of the smartphone revolution was the iPhone but now things are quickly changing as the Android platform rivals iOS.

Things look similar to the Mac Vs PC days as different computer cultures clashed. Now we have iOS vs Android. In other words, it is essentially Apple Vs Google. Upon watching a video of different phone reviews it seems that people supporting the iPhone are always ranting about Android phones whereas those supporting Android based phones rant about iPhones. It is amazing to me how something as simple as a user-interface can bring so many people out of their shells and argue.

My two cents on the whole iPhone vs Android debate is that it really depends on the user. For those who want a phone with vast features that are easy to use and work based of intuition, the iPhone would be an ideal choice. Whereas, Android’s are typically more advanced in terms of learning curve. They also have many features, more than the iPhone actually has but they require knowledge of how to properly use these features. In the end, I used to have an Android phone but quickly grew tired of the applications it had and decided to switch to an iPhone because it was much more reliable when I needed to use it.

Posted in Cultural Encounters | 3 Comments

A Great Puzzle

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Melody Mark

The constant switch between the aftermath of The Great Depression and the stock market crash in 2008 drove a perfectly formulated play into a great mess. Marianne Weems directed House/Divided, a play performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. By juxtaposing the two eras, she wanted to portray the similarities between the struggles of the time. Theoretically, the techniques she used to compare the two satisfied her purpose. However, the play was as confusing as simultaneously reading two different books. In the end, this was a puzzle rather than a play.

House/Divided was inspired by John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, which is a story that focuses on the economic hardships people faced after the Great Depression in 1929. Weems wanted to incorporate scenes from this fictional story to parallel them with interviews of owners who lost their homes to banks. These two stories were projected onto a house on center stage and a white background. Throughout the play, actors shifted parts of the structure to serve other purposes. To me, it was a symbol of the fragile economy. If the shifting of pieces can transform a house and serve another purpose, then what is going to stop investment banks from manipulating stock prices to earn money?

The sound effects and lighting played a crucial role throughout the performance. Without them, I would not have understood when Weems was shifting from one scene to another. Each transition came as a surprise, which made it difficult to grasp when each vignette ended. The use of technology to transform the scene from one setting to another only served as a reminder of the stark differences between the two eras, rather than the similarities. Although the man reeling the projected tape gave off an antiquated vibe, the components of the house that made it so versatile also appeared as too advanced for its time.

Aside from the non-traditional way of telling these two stories, the puzzles were easier to put together when there was dialogue. The actors were full of realistic emotions; there were humorous jokes when stock prices were all increasing, and looked distressed when the market crashed. Simultaneously, the Joad family spoke with an Ohio accent, where the family is from. Understanding the parallelism between the interviews and Joads’ moving was the easiest part of this big puzzle because both stock market crashes had left similar impacts on many families. As the Joad family travelled across barren land, other families many years later are facing foreclosure issues.

The structure suddenly collapsed to serve as a table at the end of the play. An actor playing Alan Greenspan was being interviewed at this table/house. This was the final piece of this difficult puzzle. Greenspan was questioned about deregulation and his approaches at dealing with the current economy. The collapse of the house signifies how one man can lead to the destruction of families and homes. In the end, Weems was able to retell these two stories from different eras, but these vignettes were difficult to string together to form the final puzzle. This confusion portrays the inner emotions of people who struggled to survive after these two stock market crashes. From being confused to seemingly understanding the situation and back to confusion, these thoughts represent how people during these eras strived to survive the aftermath of the difficult conditions.

 

House/divided- credits to: cdn-media.backstage.com

Posted in House/Divided (BAM) | Leave a comment

Art From Around The Globe

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Joseph Maugeri

This past trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art went better than I expected. Something happened that I wasn’t sure would happen; I was interested.

We began our journey into the African Art exhibit. It was amazing abstract art in the exhibit. Apparently African art was unknown to many artists until an exhibit was showcased in the early 1900’s. Then the interest in African Art exploded. In African Art, people aren’t always people. Sometimes they are spoon-like figures. Sometimes they are deformed. Sometimes they are creepy. In my opinion, the creepy ones were the best. Now after the exhibit in the early 1900’s, African abstract art began to influence more modern artists like the famous Pablo Picasso.

I had two favorite pieces from the African exhibit. The first was this piece.

Unidentified Fang artist (Betsi group); Lower Ogooué River Valley, Gabon, Sculptural Element from a Reliquary Ensemble: Head, before 1915, Wood, brass, resin, oil, H. 27 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950 (1950-134-202), © Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Honestly, it’s pretty scary and I like it. The wide jaw and hairline lead me to believe that it is of a man. Now onto the creepy parts. The eyes are big, glossy, and black. They give off a sense of being spaced out. I am not exactly sure. The forehead is large but the part that stands out the most is the jaw. The teeth are thin, long, and spaced out. The lips are pursed, almost as to kiss someone/something. Then the neck is thin and long, disproportionate to the rest of the head. And that’s another thing, the piece is just a head. Maybe the eyes have the spaced out look because the person is dead. Maybe there are no pupils because then it would look too alive. It is very interesting and like I said before, it freaks me out; which is awesome.

The second piece that I found interesting and creepy was this one.

This one is called the Maiden Mask. I would assume from the word ‘maiden,’ it is a woman’s mask. Supposedly, these masks were used in some kind of African performances. Which would lead me to believe that people would put this on their faces, which is obvious because of the word ‘mask.’ It is a cool piece, and the elongated face, small beady eyes, sharp teeth, and big mask freak me out. I like this one the best.

After the African exhibit, we visited the Matisse—In Search of True Painting. Matisse also had abstract tendencies, but they did not seem to have African influence. However, if we say that all ‘modern’ art can trace it’s roots to African Art, then maybe Matisse was influenced by the Africans.

Matisse had painted doubles and triples of most of his work. He seemed to be in search of the painter that he was. He was just conflicted. He used different styles, colors, and techniques to create different works of art from the same subject. He did a triplet of Notre Dame. They were all similar, but all different. Here is one of the triplets.

During his later life, Matisse delved into more and more attempts at the same work. He went from doubles and triples to painting the same subject around 15 times. So I guess instead of finding himself as an artist, Matisse got more lost in himself. Either that, or his ‘true’ painting was his love to see the same work differently. He was a confusing man.

 

Posted in Critics' Corner, MET Exhibit | 1 Comment

Apartheid Brought Back To Life.

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Joseph Maugeri

Apartheid was brought back to life in the form of the ICP exhibit, Rise and Fall of Apartheid: Photography and the Bureaucracy of Everyday Life. But the big question was if it ever died.

Apartheid is the legislated racial segregation of blacks. It used to be specifically referring to the actions taken in South Africa but it can be argued that this behavior is not simply limited to the region of South Africa.

Berenice Abbot would be happy with this exhibit. Each and every picture is a slap in the face. Practically shoving painful and desperate reality down your throat. There is a message in each picture, another part of the exhibit that she would be happy with. What is this message? Well, clearly a theme is that Apartheid is absolutely abominable and should be abolished.

However the concept of Apartheid was so strong that in everything from movies to simple newspapers. It, unfortunately, was becoming the essence of society at that point in history. Something powerful enough to be injected into all aspects of society is not easily forgotten, though. Even after the films stopped being produced and the racist newspapers stopped being printed, there was still a presence of apartheid. At first it was de jure apartheid. Laws were passed segregating the dark skinned from the white skinned. Just as the Jim Crow laws here in America were legally binding measures taken by whites.

After many of the laws were repealed, it became de facto apartheid. A photo by Peter Magubane showed the ‘notorious green car: police drove around Soweto taking potshots at innocent passerby. Imagine that, being shot by your own police. The people who are put there to protect you. Another photo shows Antoinette Sithole and Mbuyisa Makhubo carrying Hector Pieterson at a peaceful student demonstration.

By Sam Nzima

He had been shot by the police as well.

Then there is another photo by Peter Magubane which everyone seems to connect with. It is of 5,000+ people at a graveyard after the Sharpeville Massacre. The massacre was because of a peaceful protest. The protestors apparently outnumbered the amount of police present. So they opened fire, killing almost 7o people.

By Peter Magubane

The whole exhibit is powerful and sends a clear message. It did its job well.

Posted in Critics' Corner, ICP Exhibit | 1 Comment

“Fear Turns to Wrath”

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Joseph Maugeri

Walking into the theater, I didn’t know what the unfinished structure in the middle of the stage was. It looked a little like a house, but surely it wasn’t done yet. Were we too early? Was the stage crew still setting up? Show was starting in 10 minutes, so they better kick it into high gear. Seven minutes were left, still no stage crew. Two minutes, still nobody. Then there was no time left, time to see what was happening. The projectors turned on and the house was instantly complete.

What trickery was this? Well whatever it was, I was instantly interested. (Photos courtesy of BAM)

They say history repeats itself. And I’d say that the producers at BAM would agree. The appropriately named production of House/Divided fused together the past and the present. Taking parts of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath to illustrate their point. What does Steinbeck’s classic and the current financial state have in common? More that you’d think. Let’s take Rosasharn’s baby for example. A stillbirth. Why though? Is it a symbol that new life cannot be supported in these desperate times? If it is then why did House/Divided put it in their play? Are they trying to tell us something?

Back to the set. A symbol in itself. Throughout the play, pieces of the house are broken off and tossed away. Is the house itself a symbol? It must have been important enough to be put in the title. A House/Divided, yes there is a house on set. And it is being divided, but what other house do we know of? Is it in our government, or perhaps the economy itself? The symbolism is everywhere. If the production gets you to think (which it did for me) then it did its job. If the house is the economy itself, then then the play is illustrating its eventual demise. The Grapes of Wrath was a perfect juxtaposition with today. However it was not a juxtaposition of current events, but time itself. Time is one of the only factors that was different. Shown with the folk music, different music and lighting. The struggle, sadness, and sorrow is apparent in both eras.

But who is to blame? At the end of the play, the house topples to a elongated table. At the end of it sits Alan Greenspan (well, an actor playing him.) Mr. Greenspan was the head of the Fed when the current recession began. According to the play, he was a force in the current economic situation. As well as the banking system in general. Have we, as a nation, become too dependent on banks and the government? Is there a need for reform? Do we need to regulate or deregulate? Many questions are raised after viewing the play. And only the individual can answer them because this society will never agree.

History repeats itself unless we learn from it. Will we—as a nation—ever learn?

Posted in Critics' Corner, House/Divided (BAM) | 1 Comment

Styling Personality

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Gen Hua Tan

Often times we overlook the amazing hairstyles people have until we see that wacky one with all his hair gel straight up into multiple spikes or that one with so many highlights that the person’s head looks like a rainbow. But those are only a small plethora of unique hairstyles. I wasn’t at all interested in people’s hairstyles (or my own for that matter) until last year. From watching anime, looking at cosplayers, and seeing my friend’s hairstyle, I suddenly wanted to do something with my hair (which is why I kept it long).

liberty Mohawk hairstyles for women style-image2

Hair gel up into long spikes (faux-hawk). Photo credits to http://fashionchoice.org/mohawk-hairstyles-for-women-on-christmas/

Multi-color highlights. Photo credits to nainlove.com

I started thinking about styling my hair around the time of last year’s New York Anime Festival. My friends who were going with me talked about what kinds of cosplay we should do so that we could play with our hairstyles to fit the character. In the end, we got lazy and argued among ourselves that we wouldn’t have the money to do it anyway. That wasn’t the morale of the story but it did get me thinking about what I want to do with my hair in the future.

I began noticing the hairstyles of the people around me. However, just seeing didn’t help me style my hair. Not to mention that it was just too short to do anything with. But then I realized that amongst my friends, there was one who had much experience in styling his hair because sometimes he would cosplay. He would layer, shape, trim, and dye his hair if he found one that he thinks is cool and would fit him. He usually maintains a medium length hairstyle that is layered on the hair (top medium length, middle short, bottom medium again for a spiky hair effect) and dyed blonde. And so, I asked him for advice on how to style my hair, especially those with layered spikes like ones I usually see in anime and great cosplayers.

One of the many styles of layering and spiking hair. Character is Tokiya Ichinose from the anime series “Uta no Prince-sama.”
Cosplayer: Will at Worldcosplay.net. Photo credits to 春

That was last year. I couldn’t do much other than talk and contemplate on what and how I would style my hair because it was less than an inch long. After my mother forced me to get a haircut in January before Chinese New Year (it’s a tradition to cut hair before Chinese New Year to symbolize a fresh start – however, cutting hair during Chinese New Year would mean cursing your uncle), it was even tougher to do anything with my hair. Now that almost a year had passed, my hair has grown and is long enough to layer it. I will probably do that during winter break.

What really surprised me during the process was how the length and style of my hair change my facial appearance—something that I thought wouldn’t change, regardless of what form my hair took. Now, it appears that the way a person shapes his or her hair really does show what type of person he or she is. Because I like cosplayers whose hairstyles are based on Japanese anime/manga/game characters, I want to style my hair that way as well. And by doing so, I guess I will show my personality. This might just be true for many people who are concerned about their hairstyles.

Posted in Cultural Encounters | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

The Spirit of Thanksgiving

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Gen Hua Tan

This year again, like the previous, my family met with my aunts and cousins in my mother’s brother’s family in Brooklyn to celebrate Thanksgiving. This is actually a fairly new tradition. Sometime a few years ago it was just suddenly decided that we would all gather to have a Thanksgiving dinner. I really enjoyed seeing my cousins and their parents the previous two years, so I was excited this year despite all the homework.

I’m not a morning person so I was expecting to meet this year sometime around 5PM on November 22nd. When my mother came home on the 21st telling me to wake up at 11AM tomorrow to be at my cousin’s home by 12PM, I almost didn’t want to go. But since we only meet a few times a year, and this was a special occasion, I pushed that thought aside. When I looked at my younger brother’s displeased expression, I knew I had to push him in order to go … And I did, literally.

The next morning, he slept soundly even with the alarm ringing and my shouting. As a last resort, I pulled his blanket and threw it back at him to wake up him. When we finally arrived, we were late but no one seemed to mind. My mother’s sister’s family (with my cousin’s child who was a bit over a year old) was already here. The moment I stepped in, however, I couldn’t resist but to ask everyone, “Why are we meeting so early? Isn’t the turkey dinner at night?” To my pleasant surprise, my cousin answered, “We’re having hotpot first that’s why. Let’s start moving the table.”

I had no objections to hotpot but on Thanksgiving? It was definitely not traditional or familiar to many cultures. Everyone seemed to like a family hotpot, so why not? After setting up the table and hotpot, my cousins’ parent told us to go buy some drinks at a supermarket—quickly—before it closed in an hour (it was closing early, by 2PM for Thanksgiving). The large store was almost empty except for a few customers. I guessed most of the people were celebrating Thanksgiving with families and had done their shopping beforehand. Although the air was a little chilly, its calming nature eased my anxiety about the somewhat chaotic apartment that I was about to reenter.

Once my cousin and I entered, I noticed that my mother and my aunt had arrived – which meant it was time to eat! Since it was hotpot, my cousins bought a lot of food and vegetables to boil. In addition to a soup base package, my cousins prepared hot sauce, soy sauce, and cut scallions dipped in shrimp and soy sauce for flavoring. As for the food, there were fish balls, beef balls, shrimp balls, fried tofu (I think these were the best), sliced beef, sliced lamb, enoki mushrooms, shrimp, and assorted vegetables. They bought so much that by the time the turkey was almost ready, everyone was too full to eat anymore. Turkey with mashed potato, which was supposed to be the main dish, became the side dish.

Turkey might have been a symbol of Thanksgiving. However, it was originally meant to express gratitude and celebration. In time, it has grown to mean family reunion. And so, even though a hotpot Thanksgiving was non-traditional, it was definitely in the spirit of Thanksgiving.

Hotpot – Photo credits to http://www.absolutelyfobulous.com/2011/04/04/my-fobby-flashback-hot-pot-the-perfect-meal-for-a-rainy-cold-day/

Posted in Cultural Encounters | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Bending Reality, Art That Changes Our Perspectives

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Gen Hua Tan

In the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a plethora of arts from various eras and all over the world can be seen. The first exhibited we visited was a little room section within African Arts. In particular, African art was relatively unknown in the late 1800s. That changed after a showcase of African arts in 1914. Struck by the unique characteristics of African art such as the wooden figures’ abstract representations and distorted shapes, great artistic leaders in American and Europe became enamored by them and eventually incorporated some of the African arts’ styles into their own works.

One of the African arts that seemed to influence modern art was a wooden figure by an unidentified Fang artist (Ntumu group) titled “Figure from a Reliquary Ensemble: Seated Male Holding Vessel.” This wood sculpture was made of wood, brass or copper and was in a seating position holding a bowl-like object. Its shape was peculiar and parts appeared to be distorted. It didn’t have a chin; instead, that area was flat while the lips were carved on the area where the chin would be. The way its eyes were carved, without pupils made it seem like it was staring into empty space. The form of its body was almost abstract in that its neck was the same size, and shape, as its body, making the figure appeared to have an extended body while its legs were relatively short. One other thing that sparked interest to American and European artists might be African art’s open exhibitionism in their sculptures. The figure was naked but that didn’t make it feel out of place.

Seated Male Holding Vessel. Photo credits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The abstract and distorted nature of African art was profoundly present in Pablo Picasso’s art titled “Seated Man Reading a Newspaper.” Aside from the title, Picasso’s drawing looked nothing like the sculpture I mentioned above, “Seated Male Holding Vessel.” In fact, it didn’t look like a man sitting and reading a newspaper at all. The drawing was composed of many rectangular shapes and shading where the viewers could somewhat make out a person and perhaps a newspaper as indicated by a large blank rectangular space in the center. That was precisely the point. The Seated Man in Picasso’s work was very abstract; it had its features distorted, indicating a strong resemblance to how African arts were made. Through this, art was no longer rigid and focused on resembling reality. Modern art took on a more abstract perspective, hence, welcoming the possibilities of art in vastly different forms.

Seated Man Reading a Newspaper. Photo credits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Moving on from the African Art section while keeping in mind its influences, we arrived at the gallery, Matisse – In Search of True Painting. The paintings in the gallery were placed chronologically. One of the first paintings that caught my eye after I entered the gallery was Henri Matisse’s Still Life with Purro II (1904-5) painting. Shapes of objects such as shapes of bottles, fruits, and towel seemed to have blended in with the background because so many colorful dots were used to color the painting. It was certainly a very abstract way to paint and portray still life. Next to it was a clearer (shapes more visible) version painted in 1904 titled Still Life with Purro I. As the title indicated, Still Life with Purro I was painted before Still Life with Purro II. The first, however, was not as bright and vivid as the second even though it gave form to the objects much better. The impact just wasn’t the same. The first had a darker, gloomier atmosphere while the second was lively and seemed to be full of motion.

Still Life with Purro II (Left), Still Life with Purro I (Right). Photo credits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It wasn’t a surprised then to see the same style used in another painting called Luxe, calme, et volupté (1904). This painting showed seven ladies picnicking near the shore—some were completely exposed. The element of unrestricted nudity seemed to be influenced by African art. Luxe, calme, et volupté was just one of the many.

Walking further, a pattern seemed to emerge from the layout of the gallery. The gallery purposely showed multiple paintings of the same thing but in different styles to indicate Matisse’s “search” for the true form of painting. Towards the end of the exhibit, the painting with the most variations was probably The Dream (1940). Within nine months, Matisse drew and painted over ten images very abstractly with curvy lines and non-solid shapes. He was meticulously trying to figure out what form or style was the ideal one—the true painting. He explored many templates and styles, changing the shape of the person and her hair, curving the table, turning the angle, playing with the position of the person, and varying the designs on the clothing. Through this process, to Matisse, the true painting seemed to be less rigid like reality and freer like abstractions. Matisse’s final product, The Dream, revealed this through the curvy and disproportional arms, and the slanted table that appeared to tilt downwards. Perhaps, like the title of the painting The Dream, the true painting was one that is can bend reality and curve our perspectives so that a new way of viewing the same thing could be found.

The Dream (Left), Reprint of archival photograph documenting Henri Matisse’s process of painting The Dream (Right). Photo credits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Posted in MET Exhibit | Leave a comment

“I Am My Own Boss”

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Joseph Maugeri

Not many people can say they are the head of a successful business. But Max Flatow can.

Max Flatow is a self-taught photographer who went to Southern Vermont College. It was a small school with about 450 students. This is where Flatow became a photographer. The school simply gave him a key when he asked about a dark room on campus. How awesome is that? He learned photography from utilizing the equipment that he had. After he learned the art of photography, he began to learn the tricks of the trade.

Flatow uses social networking to show his work to the public and expand his consumer base. It is easy to view his Facebook page and see a lot of his outstanding work. Flatow posts his favorites to the page. Here is a link to the page so that you can decide for yourself.

http://www.facebook.com/mflatowphoto?fref=ts

In addition to the Facebook page, Flatow believes heavily in word of mouth. Passing ideas from one person to another is sometimes the best way to get business. When people are recommended business from a close friend or relative, then they may be more inclined to actually take the person’s advice. Sometimes Flatow will even be the one recommending his work to others.

Flatow takes pictures of everything. From photos of weddings, to children, to celebrities, and food. If you can photograph one, then you can photograph them all. That seems to be a motto of Flatow and it has proven to be successful for him. When he travels, he contacts local restaurants and shows them his work. “Be your own marketer,” great advice from Flatow. If the restaurant likes it (which I’m sure they all do) then they have the option to hire him to photograph their food. Essentially, even on vacation Flatow is always working. But as long as he is doing something that he loves, then he really isn’t working a day in his life. It can get a tad tedious though.

Flatow will often take 800+ photos and narrow it down to 10. It sounds tough, and I’m sure it is. This is why I’m not a photographer, I would not have the patience for that. This is also probably why I am not rich…

All photos from Max Flatow’s Facebook page. Check it out.

Posted in In the Spotlight, Max Flatow | Leave a comment

People of New York

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Luke O'Dowd

In my collage project I wanted to do something that would represent all the people of New York City. This is one of the things I was struck by most when coming here for the first time. I think many New Yorker’s take for granted how diverse their environment really is, and they fail to realize that most of the world is much more homogeneous. Diversity can sometimes be scary. There is a lack of uniformity, which can be perceived as something novel and uncontrollable. Most of us, myself included, like to be in control of our situation. We don’t like change. As I’ve grown since I’ve been here, I’ve learned to appreciate the differences in the vast variety of people who call New York their home.

Screen Shot 2012-12-18 at 4.49.33 PM

 

I wanted to do a photo collage of many small photos being used to make one large photo. There are a few programs that help artists make these “photo mosaics”. I chose to make my larger photo the statue of liberty. As a non-native New Yorker, I always believed this to be a great representation for the city. It is a symbol of American freedom to be whoever or do whatever you want. The city has so many different types of people who look nothing alike, do nothing alike, or even like anything in common. It is a place where everyone coexists and forms one large haven where everyone can do what they want and be who they want. The people of New York are New York.

Posted in Collage Project | Leave a comment

A picture is worth a thousand words

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Nancy Zhu

The carefully selected and curated photographs in the exhibit of Rise and Fall of Apartheid: Photography and the Bureaucracy of Everyday Life at the International Center of Photography (ICP) show the remnants and everlasting struggles of apartheid, the segregation in South Africa more than sixty years ago. Curated by Okwui Enwezor and Rory Bester, the exhibition proposes the power of the photography and journalism, and honors the exceptional achievement of South African journalists and photographers.

The exhibition examines the apartheid system and how it affected every aspect of South Africa. Through photographs, films, books, magazines, and newspapers, the exhibit showed how apartheid interfered with all of social aspects, ranging from housing, public amenities, and transportation to education, social events, tourism, religion and businesses. A big part of South African history is documented and on display right here in the center of the Big Apple at ICP.

There were photographs of people living behind gates and barbed wires. It shows how much resemblance there is between that and a prison. Alcan aluminum window frames were also on display in the lower level of the museum to represent the business aspect in South Africa. There plentiful portraits of important figures, such as Nelson Mandela. One particularly famous one is the one with Nelson Mandela dressed in traditional beads and a bed spread, as he was hiding out from the police during his period as the “black pimpernel” in 1961. There were also numerous accounts of protests – crowds of people with the same idea holding up posters and signs expressing their powerful thoughts of justice.

Out of the hundreds of media presented at the museum, two really stood out to me. I apologize ahead of time for the lack of the photographs I am about to describe, because the museum did not allow photos to be taken of the exhibit.

One was a photograph of a police interference with innocent villagers even after such incident. The photograph’s caption was: “After a funeral of a three-year old child shot in the head by a policeman’s rubber bullet, angry mourners clash with police near the family’s home.” It’s troubling to hear about such misery apartheid could bring to an innocent family, and many other families across South Africa as well.

My second photograph was a picture capturing African Americans in a fashion show and having a party. This picture, I thought, not only shows happiness, but strength in the people of South Africa. The strength they held within them throughout the period of apartheid. Without that strength, they would not been able to endure the hardships and put an end to apartheid.

A picture is worth a thousand words.
Imagine 500 pictures. How powerful is that?

Posted in ICP Exhibit | Leave a comment

William Henry O’Dowd

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Luke O'Dowd

I’ve also been fascinated by war and WWII in particular. I am an avid fan of history, and for me WWII is really the turning point for the world in entering the “modern age”. Life has changed so much since the late 30’s and early 40’s, an era marked by the bloodiest war in history. Millions died around the world, each called to fight for their country. It was a time of national pride, but also tragic in the number of young American boys lost in a war marked by so much evil.

My grandfather’s brother, William Henry O’Dowd, grew up in Miami, the first of eight children. He graduated from high school in ’39, a time when the country was still stuck in the Great Depression. There were no jobs available and so two years out of high school he joined the army. I cannot fathom such a decision being made by a 20 year, only 1 year older than I am now. William died just a few years ago, and everything I am able to relate about his life was recounted to me by my grandfather, James O’Dowd. The great pride that he has for his brother can be heard in his voice, and the excitement with which he describes different stories his brother must have told him.

William, Bill for short, wanted to join the Army Air-core, the segment we now call the Air-force. Unfortunately, because he didn’t have perfect vision he could not become a pilot as he dreamed. He had to content himself with loading the “bomber aircrafts” that went on raids. Through my grandfather, I learned that he and his loading crew would always count how many planes returned from the mission, and often, especially in the beginning of the war, only about half came back. Through this counting of plans, the winning side could be learned. In the beginning of the war, many planes did not return. However, as the war continued and Germany became over-extended in their aggression, a larger percentage of planes returned. The Allies were slowly beating back the aggressive Axis of Powers.

William stayed in the Army Aircore all throughout the war, serving his country from the age of 20 to 25. Can you imagine being a war during your early 20’s? Still today, we see young men enlist in the marines for no other reason than for their eagerness to serve their country. I’m very proud of my great uncle William and his duty to our country. I hope that I may also be able to contribute to a better America and help further the world with acts of courage and justice.

Screen Shot 2012-12-18 at 2.02.07 PM

Posted in Who (S)he Was/Is | Leave a comment

The Rise and Fall of Apartheid Review

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Alessandra Rao

A profound and explicit exhibition at the International Center of Photography, Rise and Fall of Apartheid holds a magnifying glass up to the Apartheid, offering a multi-faceted view of South Africa in a span of 60+ years.Not only does it present the confrontational horrors of racial segregation and its tangible effects, but the collection of magazines, books, documentary clips, uncensored video, commercials and many other mediums present the every day life that adds up to form a culture. The photos and media are strung together to form a powerful narrative, classified into segments of a common theme. Two themes, the political and emotional response, and blacks in the media offered a bi-lateral perspective into Apartheid.

One talented photojournalist, Peter Magubane, set the scene for the political and emotional responses to segregation in South Africa, especially in the Soweto Uprising. The uprising was sparked by black students in 1976 in attempt to change the unjust, highly segregated school system.  Magubane’s photographs blur the line between aesthetic and documentary, while effectively conjuring feelings of pathos from viewers. He especially captures the chilling aftermath of the uprising with an image of a black person’s corpse covered by newspapers, with a desolate open palm in the foreground. The newspaper ironically reads “This, I believe, as a South African.” According to the description beside the photograph, dead bodies covered with newspaper filled the streets during the Soweto Riots in 1976. Another image by the same artist, depicting the funeral of Hector Pieterson, who was the first young victim of the Soweto Uprising, poignantly captures this family’s struggle by highlighting body language. Four individuals, side by sidestand behind the casket with raised right fists and bowed heads.

The Treason Trial, beginning in 1956 until 1961 was yet another tumultuous event of Apartheid; 156 people, including Nelson Mandela were arrested in a raid and accused of Treason. Photographs taken by Eli Weinberg and an unidentified photographer lay out a narrative that demonstrates the sociology of power, the strength of the force that results when the people band together to ignite change. Weinberg’s Crowd Near the Drill Hall on the opening day of the Treason Trial illustrates a historic moment by documenting the facial expressions of the subjects, the unity of the signs they are holding up, and how the entire frame is occupied by the crowd. Another powerful Weinberg photograph is featured in the exhibit, which shows a young Nelson Mandela in 1961 clad in traditional beads and a bedspread, hiding from the police. The subject’s expression is one of sincere dedication and nobility; the photographer captures his presence as a leader. Surrounding photographs are arranged chronologically, with a heavy emphasison crowds for this particular event. A photograph by an unnamed photographer shows an anxious, somber crowd behind a foreground of three white policemen. The crowd, which is mostly black with some whites, seem to be staring in unison in the same direction, at a distant spot behind the camera.

A German-born South African, Jurgen Schadeberg, takes a particular interest in the Black Sash, an anti-apartheid women’s group. In contrast to images of fiery crowds of the Soweto Uprising and the Treason Trial, adjacent images of the Black Sash appear to be funeral-like. Schadeberg captures grave faces, bowed heads and women holding a candle to their chests. This juxtaposition of images shows the stark differences of how certain crowds conduct protests. The women in his images wear black sashes and stand still in the frame like mannequins, frozen in time, as they passively hold up signs. The photographer makes a point in his photographs that this was a global cause, contributing to the exhibit’s theme of the sociological influence. An interesting choice that was made in curating the exhibit was to showcase the group rather than the individual. A crowd of women of the 29 ANC Women’s League are shown being arrested for breaking a law that prohibited them from entering township.

The exhibit cleverly weaves in an environment of the culture and everyday life that took place, despite the horror of the Apartheid. A long panoply of Drum Magazine covers lie in a glass showcase, a contrasting sight against the chilling images on the opposite end of the room. Drum Magazine is targeted to mainly black readers and contains market news, entertainment, and feature articles. Peter Magubane, who worked for the magazine, says, “Drum was a different home; it did not have apartheid. There was no discrimination in the offices of Drum magazine. It was only when you left Drum and entered the world outside of the main door that you knew you were in apartheid land. But while you were inside Drum magazine, everyone there was a family.” The brightly-colored covers featuring smiling black women seemed to belong to a different place and time period. In the next room, photographs of rebellious women in South Africa’s “jazz age” hung on the walls. The unnamed photographers captured photos of women with bare breasts, surrounded by men. This time period during the Apartheid showed women establishing a presence on the stage: some sang, others danced, and a few engaged in promiscuous acts. While Schadeberg’s images displayed a culture of reserved, noble women, this section of the exhibit portrayed women as objects of pleasure, entertainers.

Newspaper articles, drawings, journal pages, picture books, and other primary sources are on display in the exhibit, giving a 360 degree view of Apartheid. Posters, advertisements and guerilla marketing also make a presence, highlighting the business trends of the time. The International Center of Photography designed a show that exceeds photojournalism; it creates a highly realistic atmosphere that has the ability to bring viewers back to this historical time.

Rise and Fall of Apartheid at the International Center of Photography will be open for viewing until January 6, 2013.

Posted in ICP Exhibit | Leave a comment

A Dried Herring, Please

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Nastassia

I recently went back to my hometown in Queens for some grocery shopping. I stopped by a little shop in Rego Park where I was sure to find smoked salmon and Russian herring.

Bringing our shopping cart to the cashier, we were met with the usual question: Would you like anything else?

The tall sales-woman looked like a giant behind the cash register. She was elevated by a platform on the floor.

My mom, who seemed miniscule in relation to her, answered that she wanted a smoked salmon. Not too large and not too greasy.

The cashier, slightly taken aback, cringed her face. “Don’t you understand, young lady, that salmon is supposed to be big and fatty?” she spat in Russian.

This was the first in a very long time that I heard the native Russian tongue. At home, my family speaks a hybrid language, infused with words from Russia, Belarus, and Poland. I forgot the funny little things about the Russian dialect that always made me laugh. First, this lady, who was probably younger than my mom, called her a “young lady”. Addressing somebody as a “young person” is quite common in the language, but in the moment, when her tone was so sour and her face looked so disapproving, it seemed strange to use such a flattering phrase. The latter part of her sentence, however, was what really got me.

I chuckled at forgetting that “big and fatty salmon” was the standard amongst Russian Americans.

In an instant, my mom fell into the routines of Russian culture, where all ladies bickered if they shared differing views. She went on to tell the cashier about her profession in the medical field and that she knew the difference between food that was healthy or not.

With an unsatisfied expression, the lady went to look for a salmon. She soon returned and slammed it on the top of the scale.

Three pounds. Not bad.

“Anything else?”

“Yes, a herring,” my mom replied.

“Do you also want a dried one?”

Now, I wasn’t going to stand there and let my mom have all the fun.

“Yes, the driest and most lifeless one that you can find,” I answered.

What’s important to remember is that Russian herring, similar to the one sold in American supermarkets, is submerged in some form of oil. By nature, it has to be wet and somewhat greasy.

Our conversation was nothing but rubbish at this point, with each side ceaselessly trying to put the other down. It was pretty amusing, to see how even I changed my behavior when I was placed into that environment. If I was in an average store, I would not converse in such a way with the cashier, and I am sure that she would not speak with the same tone to her customer. It’s only when I descend to the basements of Russian supermarkets that I see the wild side come out of people. Perhaps it brings us back to the environment in which we grew up.

Assimilating to the American culture may be the dream, although full of toil and hard work. After being in the United States for twelve years, I had the firm belief that my family and I were fully integrated. It came as a surprise that lapsing back to our original behavior, even for a moment, was so easy and thoughtless.

People can adjust and change, but at their root, they always stay the same.

A russian herring.
Image provided by www.g20eats.blogspot.com

Posted in Cultural Encounters | 6 Comments

Is Technology Destroying our Culture?

Posted on December 6, 2012 by John Scanlon

Our society has become very dependent upon technology; but when will we have enough of it?  The answer to this question is apparently never, and it can be quite disturbing at times.

Growing up as a child, I am sure most of us remember the various toys, or dolls, with which many of us played.  Some may stand out more than others, and these things may well have shaped who we have become today.  I remember specifically playing with two toys around the age of two, or three.  One of them was a small electronic keyboard that made an assortment of sounds.  The other was a game with a set of blocks of all different shapes and sizes.  Each of these blocks had to placed into its corresponding hole.  These toys helped us recognize the various shapes and sounds that exist all around us in the world.

Heading back to my dorm on the 6 train the other day, I decided to sit next to a woman with a small child on her lap.  I am going to take the wild assumption that this was her son.  After a few stops, the boy started getting antsy, so the mother began reaching into her bag.  I assumed that she would pull out a small knickknack that would occupy to child, but man was I wrong.  From the bag, she pulled the latest IPad.  She handed it to him, and he knew exactly how to work it.  He turned it on, selected an app, and went about playing his game.  For the rest of the ride to 96th street, I observed the child electronically playing the keyboard and placing blocks into their respective holes.

When I got off the train at 96th, I had some food for thought.  My parents always joke around how “back in the Stone Age,” they didn’t use technology, nor did they need it.   Now, the latest generation of children is now becoming familiar with the latest gadgets on the market.  Slowly but surely, technology is consuming the lives of our youth.  I can’t help but wonder whether this is a destruction of our once accepted culture, or a revolutionizing of it.

From this…

Children’s Electronic Keyboard
Taken from EBay

to this…

IPad
Taken From Apple.com

Posted in Cultural Encounters | 9 Comments

Apartheid: Gone, but Still Here

Posted on December 6, 2012 by John Scanlon

When something is outlawed, it does not fully erase the impact that it once had in society.  Many people tried to destroy Apartheid again and again, but the legislation did not come down until the 1990’s.  Even though it has been uprooted from South Africa, the remains of it still exist today.  In the International Center of Photography, better known as ICP, there are a plethora of images that still capture the troubling atmosphere that surrounded Apartheid.  Within ICP, some of the photographs are much more graphic, and consequently moving, than others.  To me, there were three photos that left an impressionable mark on my understanding of Apartheid.

Peter Magubane, a well-known combatant of Apartheid, captures perhaps two of the most frightening images in the exhibit.  The first snapshot was taken during 1960.  It features what seems to be a never-ending line of coffins for all of the African Americans who died during a riot.  On both sides of the caskets are families and friends mourning the deaths of their loved ones.  In the description of the picture, it is said that there were more than 5,000 people at the graveyard that day.  When the South African government learned that Magubane was taking pictures of such tragic events, they did not want these photos published.  Even though there is no immediate violence depicted in this picture, a feeling of heartache can be sensed by the facial expressions of those present at the cemetery.

Never Ending Row of Caskets
Photo Credit: Peter Magubane

After being arrested for his striking photography, Magubane returned in the 1970’s to capture the tragedy of the Soweto Uprising.  During one of these riots, he may have taken the most disturbing snapshot of his long career.  In the photo, there is a man holding a rather young child, placing him into the back seat of a vehicle.  The famous Apartheid photographer captured an image of a child shot dead and now being situated the back of a car.  Anyone who stood in the way of law enforcement was ultimately shot dead.  This shows the severity of the situation because they did not discriminate who they killed, not even small children.

Still, there were others who revealed the true brutality of Apartheid through their photography.  In 1959, Gideon Mendel photographs a struggle between a family and the police in action.  In this image, the policemen possess a variety of weapons, whereas the family has nothing to defend themselves.  This parallels the idea that despite the large numbers of people against Apartheid, they could not make much of an impact because they were basically powerless.  After taking a closer look, I saw that there was a child lying dead on the ground after being shot with a bullet.  Just like Magubane, Mendel vividly captures the ruthlessness towards children in South Africa during the time.

The Rise and Fall of Apartheid exhibit at ICP contains some of the most power photographs of the 20th century.  They show the harsh reality that many African American families experienced during that time.  Magubane and Mendel both gained wide spread recognition with their photographs of the cruelty unleashed on children.  Even though Apartheid no longer legally exists, its impact will live forever through these photographs.

The Rise and Fall of Apartheid Exhibit at ICP
Photo Credit: DLK.Blogspot.com

Posted in Critics' Corner, ICP Exhibit | Leave a comment

Separate, Yet United

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Melody Mark

Apartheid was a era of racial segregation that existed in South Africa. With the power of photography, this harsh system came to an end in 1990s.

Walking into the International Center of Photography (ICP), I witnessed for the first time the consequences of Apartheid. Walking down the row of photos was like travelling back and forward through time. In the timeline of photographs, earlier photographers captured the most brutal part of the segregation, whereas newer photographers captured the changing culture that was a result of Apartheid. From public protests to speeches, South Africans openly protested against the cruel laws that the government imposed. This exhibition thoroughly portrays the progress of the movement with a variety of photographs from different owners. Through this variety, ICP offered a wide range of perspectives of the same movement.

One photo that stood out to me was Nanny and Child taken by Peter Magubane in 1950s. What stood out to me the most were words on the chair: Europeans Only. These simple, yet powerful, words on the chair are able to keep one race away from another. In this photo, the African nanny is looking over the white little girl. Automatically placed in a lower social class because of her race, the African nanny is forced to sit on the other side of the bench. The little girl on her face also has a confused expression on her face. This photo portrays how children were trained at a young age to understand the laws of Apartheid. Even though she seems confused, she knows to sit on her designated side. This photo revealed how Apartheid segregated the two races, no matter their age.

However, in another photo, a photographer offered a different perspective. In the photo The Black Sash, an anti-apartheid women’s group, also taken in the 1950s, is a portrayal of unison within segregation. Jurgen Schadeberg’s photo reveals how women from various races assembled to fight this movement. In this image, a large group of both colored and white women stood together in front of the Parliament and government offices holding a burning candle and wearing a black sash. This was a symbol of unity between races—one that the government had fought hard to separate.

By placing Schadeberg’s photo across from Magubane’s, ICP has effectively separated the two impacts that Apartheid had on society during the time. Although both photos were taken around the same time, these photographers offered contrasting views of how Apartheid impacted people. On one level, white children learned about these segregation laws at a young age. On another level, women from different races were able to unite and fight these brutal laws together. The structure of ICP exhibit played a role in separating the two ideas and organizing the photos in a way that revealed this important theme.

Posted in ICP Exhibit | 1 Comment

Two Realities

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Melody Mark

Everyone perceives reality differently, and Katherine Vaz is able to add a unique twist to it in her novels. After reading her book, Our Lady of the Artichokes, I realized that there are two sides to every historical event. One side is the actual event, while the other side is how people involved see the event. In Katherine Vaz’s new novel, Below the Salt, she narrates a story of how John perceives his surroundings. As a writer, she places herself in her characters’ shoes and does extensive research on the events that occurred during the time period.

Katherine Vaz, the 29th Harman Writer-In-Residence, discusses the journey of creating her novel-in-progress. During her reading, she uses strong, descriptive adjectives to portray a realistic setting throughout the passage. Furthermore, these words are strung together to invoke emotions in her audience. In one passage, she narrates, “Twilight is a paint spill…and here you are, here you are born” to describe the birth of John Olves in the jail cell. By creating this beautiful picture, she is able to turn a tragic event into a dreamy one. Her writing style is different from any that I’ve come across before.

In Our Lady of the Artichokes, she uses the same technique to incorporate the two sides of Catholicism. She also includes elements of the New World’s culture into this Old World religion. Through her stories, I am able to have a better understanding of how children from the New World perceived the traditions of Catholicism in Portugal.

Vaz juxtaposes two realities through her writing. By comparing the two, she is giving her audience two perspectives of the story. Also, as a reader, I find myself immersed in her novels because of the effective descriptions she continues to use to develop her story.

Posted in Katherine Vaz | Leave a comment

Moving Stillness

Posted on December 6, 2012 by navtejahuja

Apartheid ended just twenty or so years ago. However, the pictures throughout this time period are extremely powerful, conveying the difficulty, hatred, and struggle experiences by black people. The International Center of Photography (ICP) is currently holding its Rise and Fall of Apartheid: Photography and the Bureaucracy of Everyday Life exhibit. As one walks down the halls, it is noticeable that the exhibit flows chronologically, allowing the viewers to gaze upon policy, attitudinal, and technological changes.  Emotions ranging from violence to depression to jubilation can be seen in any of these photographs. Famous photographers such as Cedric Nunn and Peter Magubane were featured in this masterfully powerful exhibit.

A photograph that stood out and caught a great amount of attention was one by Cedric Nunn. It featured a woman, sitting on a bed, alone. She is facing a wall in a small square room. The description under the photo explains that this mother is mourning the death of her son, who was supposedly a supporter of the UDC (United Democratic Front). The UDC was a powerful anti apartheid organization. This photograph displays the extent to which peoples’ beliefs could lead them to be persecuted. It can be assumed that her son was part of some demonstration that may have turned violent, causing his death. This photograph is extremely effective because it does not show the mother’s face. This shows how this violence did not affect specific people, but anyone who was involved. Then of course, the economic conditions can be determined, as the house looks plain and simple, with nothing elegant. Nunn displays the truth of sadness in this photograph, a very powerful message in this exhibit.

Another powerful image in this exhibit was one by Peter Magubane. Taken in 1976, this photograph shows a small group of black men holding makeshift weapons in their struggle to fight off an unseen enemy. One man can be seen holding a trash can lid while another is seen clutching some sort of a box. Violence was common as many people struggled to end the unfair practice of apartheid. Through this picture, it can be seen that one of these sides was at a huge disadvantage. The background of this black and white picture is a poor rural village, showing the economic struggles of the blacks. In fact, the photo is captioned “Fighting bullets with stones”. Violence was commonplace during the struggle to end apartheid, and it is often this one sided fighting affair that led to casualties and death.

Peter Magubane had another work in this fantastic exhibition that truly displayed the essence of the fight to end apartheid. This is the photograph of the Sharpeville funeral held in 1960. A crowd of well dressed black men can be seen lined to see what seems like an endless line of caskets. The Sharpeville Massacre was an incident in which 69 black protesters were killed by police after an altercation. Though there were many photographs of funerals in this exhibit, this one directly displays the effect of the anti apartheid struggle. It led to many deaths, but in the end was worth it, as equality was accepted. While each casket looks exactly the same, each one held a human being with a family, friends, and others left behind. Realizing this makes one truly appreciate the magnitude of this struggle, and how much people valued their principles over their very own lives.

 

While many photographs taken tried to focus on the negatives of the situation, one photgrapher, Cedric Nunn, was able to capture the transition of South Africa. Some of his photgraphs in the exhibit were a part of his “Then and Now” collection, in which he examined the change blacks went through during and after apartheid. In the “Then” portion, many of the photographs are displaying some sort of struggle, whether it be protests, poverty, or death. The one that stands out shows a group of black youth carrying a casket, with one leading and carrying a cross. However, he is also able to capture the positives after apartheid ended. His “Now” collection contains a photograph of a black man walking on a sidewalk in Johannesburg in 2000. There are white people in the background, and the fact that everyone is on the same side of the street, walking and barely noticing each other shows the positives changes that have taken place. While many photographers tried to focus on the “struggle” theme, Cedric Nunn successfully showed the transition in South Africa.

The International Center of Photography has done an excellent job in gathering the most powerful and informational photographs from the apartheid era. The “Rise and Fall of Apartheid” exhibit is something that shows the true struggle for equality that took place in South Africa, while displaying some positive rays of hope, leading to an eventual positive outcome. The curator Okwui Enwezor understood how to best present this delicate yet important issue, treating it with care. This exhibit is a must go for anyone interested in historical events or just good photography.

Credit: Peter Magubane

 

Posted in Critics' Corner, ICP Exhibit | Leave a comment

House (And Opinions)/ Divided

Posted on December 6, 2012 by navtejahuja

The stage was set. The economy was booming, propelled by the housing market. Juxtaposed throughout the performance was the famous Steinbeck work Grapes of Wrath. Home owners and stock traders shared good fortune. But as the music portrayed, there was something churning and developing under the surface of this commentary on the economic decline, House/ Divided.

The theater piece starts off with the hustle and bustle of an average day of the New York Stock Exchange. As traders inquire to the profitability of purchasing new stocks, and others try to convince them that they are “as safe as houses”, the ironic turn of events begins to take place.

This performance takes place on one stage, with a house as the centerpiece. This house revolved, rotated, broke apart, and did much else to supplement a wonderful performance by the actors.  On the wall behind the house, stock prices could be seen moving from right to left, showing a lot of green to indicate beneficial stock markets.  Throughout the performance, music depicted the mood of the characters. In the beginning, the fast paced music almost made it seem as if the audience was in a jungle (and why not? The stock market is one of the darkest, densest jungles there are).  The music (mostly automated but some live) changed as the scene transitioned from that of a busy trading floor to that of the prairie, where Steinbeck’s characters are accompanied by much older, non- machine made music. However, director Marianne Weems and writer Moe Angelos did a great job in preserving the theme of displaced people.

This performance also mixes in many interviews of actual home owners in Columbus, Ohio (chosen because Ohio is a swing state and was effected deeply by the housing crisis) who had lost their homes due to the economic meltdown. This was a great addition and gave a deep insight into the magnitude and reality of the situation. Another aspect of the performance that conveyed reality was the crude language used by the two stockbrokers. Their words were filled with sarcasm, disdain, and a lack of emotion or empathy. This is the image that stockbrokers of today that is widely accepted by both the media and the public.

As soon as the economic downturn hit, the music changed to the type one would see in a movie when someone is breaking out of jail. The house, an image of the American Dream, begins to be disassembled, as chaos ensues in the finance offices. The president of Bear Sterns comes on to the main screen, reassuring investors that everything will be fine, and the recovery will occur promptly. To an audience in 2012, this is almost comical, as it is clear that what was predicted did not happen and these business leaders took completely wrong steps in trying to turn the direction of their companies. This performance was a commentary not only on the tragedy for homeowners, but also the ineptness of loan officers, giving loans to people that clearly could not afford to pay any of them back. As the stock market plummeted, the setting changed to the farms of Oklahoma, in which the families have been kicked off their farms, having to move to California in order to pick fruit. The juxtaposition of these two problems is also quite interesting because in the old days, people would simply move to places where there were better opportunities, but now there is such a high demand for jobs that at some points, there are just not enough jobs to sustain economic growth. Another interesting comparison between the two time periods is that in Steinbeck’s time, there was no such thing as a big bank who’s failure could set off a chain reaction to effect the national economy. However, economies today have become so complex and inter- connected that one fallout can cause a much greater reaction.

The play’s strongest message was sent in the end, as an actor portraying Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve accused of over deregulating the market to the point where it was taken advantage of and the decline began. With Greenspan’s refusal to admit his mistakes and eventual acceptance, the stock strip in the back of the stage began to flicker green, signaling recovery. Once again, Steinbeck’s characters were brought back to signal a similar emotion of hope and resilience. Both stories will hopefully have a positive end.

 

“You Blew It”

Lucky enough to stay after for the question and answer session, something I heard blew my mind. “You blew it.” An elderly woman got up to ask a question, but instead went on to destroy the performance. She said that “the music was abominable” and she was not “emotionally stirred”. Everyone was shocked by this sudden rudeness, and the director was no exception. “You go write your own play,” said Marianne Weems angrily. This woman, though entitled to her opinions, needed to do a better job of conveying her criticism, and this part of the night was the only subpar one for me.

 

Credit: Jay LaPrete

Posted in Critics' Corner, House/Divided (BAM) | Leave a comment

A Self Created Photographer

Posted on December 6, 2012 by navtejahuja

Max Flatow, originally from Brooklyn, has had an extremely interesting climb to success. Coming from a high school with a great photography program, he indulged in this art. However, college was a completely different experience. According to him, while the Southern Vermont College (a small private school of 450 students) had a darkroom, it was barely used, and there were not many classes pertaining to this area either. However, he was able to make the most out of what the school had to offer and spent countless hours in the college’s darkroom, teaching himself and experimenting with different techniques. He also studied abroad in Spain to expand his knowledge.

Max Flatow is an epitome of the modern photographer. He appreciates Instagram and uses social networking to advertise himself. He calls Photoshop a “digital darkroom” and prefers digital cameras to film because they let him take a thousand shots instead of twenty five, and goes on to describe the growing importance of technology, referring to the fact that the famous Captain Sully plane shot was taken on an iPhone. Ever since he sold his works for the first time at a café, he knew he wanted to be a photographer. As an entrepreneur, Max Flatow appreciates the importance of networking. In high school and college, he worked under the supervision of Mary Howard, who taught him how to run a business and how essential face to face networking is.

“People are gonna get married no matter what.” This is the explanation Mr. Flatow gives for why he started his career mainly as a wedding photographer. However, he has expanded into many other fields, including food. All of his photographed food is natural, and he always tries to include photographs of the chefs, as they are integral in the production of this food. Flatow has been involved in many famous shoots, such as those of Brady Lowe’s pigs.

One thing that could be seen right off the bat was Max Flatow’s appreciation of technique in photography. As he went through the slideshow of his various pictures, he described his mindset and the technique he was trying to use in each photograph. He began by talking about “depth of field,” in which everything but the subject is a blur. With lighting techniques, there are endless possibilities according to him. He described the silhouette shot he took of a couple, and how, the right shutter speed combined with the proper amount of light gave him the perfect shot.  There is also the rule of thirds, in which the subject is not in the center of photograph, but towards one side. However, the one thing that must be kept in mind and he made this very clear, was that “even though a lot of techniques are cool, do not overuse them”.  One technique that stood out to me was the tilt. I had no idea simply tilting the camera could have such a large impact on the dynamics of the picture.

Efficient, modern, and elegant: three words that describe Max Flatow’s photographic career and style. His ability to appreciate the natural is what makes his work that much more appreciable.

Here is a link to one of my personal favorite photographs groups by Mr. Flatow:

http://www.maxflatow.com/blog/index.php/2012/07/03/sneak-peak-kasey-joes-vermont-wedding/

 

Posted in In the Spotlight, Max Flatow | Leave a comment

Beautiful Words Create Beautiful Images

Posted on December 6, 2012 by navtejahuja

As the 29th Harman writer, Katherine Vaz, stepped on to the stage, she was greeted with polite applause. She began with an introduction of herself, what brought her to Baruch on that rainy evening, and a short description of her works. It could be clearly seen that she was very comfortable in this type of a situation, and was rather enjoying herself. The audience, now full of food, was ready to hear this reading.

This was the first reading I have attended, and I felt intrigued by the anticipation in the room, as it seemed that everyone else knew what was to be expected.

It looked as if a spotlight had been placed on Ms, Vaz, with her yellow dress illuminating her surroundings. She spoke clearly yet casually about her newest work, Below the Salt to be released in January. This is her fifth work in her collection of publications, which also includes Our Lady of the Artichokes, a collection of short stories.

Her most recent work has some striking similarities with the ones that preceded it. For example, there is religious aspect that is prevalent in many of her short stories in Our Lady of the Artichokes as well. Below the Salt, in which she read excerpts from important sections, tells the story of a mother and a child during the time of the Civil War, banished from their homeland due to the fact that they did not wish to convert to Presbyterianism.  The main character is the child, John Olves, and the story tracks his progression through life’s stages.

Ms. Vaz used her powerful voice to provide the audience with images of what was happening in the story.  As I looked around, I saw many people with eyes closed and brows furrowed, trying to picture the beautiful words she spoke. Describing the mother and John’s time in captivity, she read the phrase “He ate nothing but the music of birds” before explaining that his mom taught him how to sing. She also went on to speak about the religious significance. The guards in the prison were using John to “break her”. The mother’s response to this behavior was “I’ll go hungry but feed my baby”. This speaks to the religious backdrop of the story and the moral lessons that most religions provide, such as respecting other human beings and taking care of children.

Katherine Vaz was able to seamlessly transition between reading her story and anecdotes from the time she wrote the novel. As she read about John going to fight in the Civil War, there was a very powerful line which caught my attention. “’We are all condemned to this world,’ John said.” She continued on to describe some of the horrors at which point she started to explain how she acquired the knowledge to some for the details she used, such as the starving at Vicksburg. She studied letters of soldiers from the Library of Congress. After sharing a quirky story about Lincoln and a librarian, she continued to read her story as if she had never stopped. This allowed the reading to be smooth, and easy to follow.

Overall, I was not only impressed by Katherine Vaz’s ability to read to an audience, but also with her writing technique. Her description of a love scene involving spoke to me greatly. The setting was described as “The sun flattens on to the river. Red meets blue”. The sun and water converging is not only symbolic of the two lovers meeting, but is, simply put, beautiful. As she said herself, she believed that she should not “hang a tassel off every sentence”  but let the words speak to the reader.  Both her words and personality were a joy to be around, and I look forward to the release of Below the Salt.

Credit: Christopher Cerf

Posted in In the Spotlight, Katherine Vaz | Leave a comment

Documenting True Beauty

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Melody Mark

Before coming to Max Flatow’s presentation, I always believed that photographers specialized in one subject. However, Flatow has changed this mindset because his photographs have proven that he “shoots everything.” His wide-ranged portfolio reveals how he is willing to travel around the world to capture the beauty of many things. One photo I remember clearly is the photo of the couple in the middle of a field. He cleverly uses the wind to spread the veil behind the bride, creating a dreamy effect. Not only does Flatow document a connection between the couple, he also captures the mood. As the viewer, I am able to experience the moment in the photo.

Flatow mentions that he doesn’t use flash. Rather, he uses exterior artificial lighting. He is able to create effective shadows in his images. One photo that stands out is the image where two flower girls are standing on the stage. There is a single light in the middle that brightens the photo just enough so that the viewer understands the setting. The fact that subjects are not posed makes the photo even more perfect. The beauty of these photos can easily capture the audience’s attention because the moment is real. His innate ability to snap a photo at the right moment proves that photographers can be successful even if they are self-taught.

Although Flatow is a photographer, he also seems to be a businessman. He understands that his portfolio needs variety if he wants people to hire him. With experience in taking photos of various subjects, he has opened doors to many opportunities. He does not forget to mix up the techniques he uses before taking each photo.

After looking at these photos, I was inspired and determined to take photos of my own. It has always been a trouble for me to take photos at the “right” moment. However, after attending this presentation, I learned that many great photos are not posed. Rather, it’s the natural expressions of the subject that makes the photo just “right.” Photography is also about experimenting and choosing one out of hundreds that best convey a theme. Although it requires a lot of work, Flatow’s portfolio has motivated me to document special moments I see around me.

The Veil- taken by Max Flatow

taken by Max Flatow

Posted in Max Flatow | Leave a comment

White Flight

Posted on December 5, 2012 by rubinsammy

It’s actually as it sounds. In many neighborhoods—including mine— a lot of middle class white people started leaving and heading out to the suburbs. I didn’t want to find the answer by studying Census data. Instead, I wanted a personal account.

So, I went to my neighbor, a man who is 93 years old and has been living in the same house since it was built. He explained everything to me. A lot of his former friends were using the pretext that they had enough money to move out. But the real reason is more sinister: according to him, his friends were afraid of the influx of minority groups. I was a bit shocked, even though I was expecting such an answer.

He said that our neighborhood didn’t change that much, except for the increased number of Asians. He said that if I ever wanted to look at such drastic changes in a neighborhood, then I should go to Canarsie.

Being a man of ambition, I embarked on a journey. One Friday at Union Square, I decided to finally go on the L train. I have been on the L train before to get to Williamsburg, but I never took it to the last stop. The ride was rather surreal. The view was amazing. You can see beautiful buildings and amazing train stations in terms of structure and art (Broadway-Junction had to be my favorite spot). At one time, I saw that I was the only white person. I was a bit scared, but I was even more scared when I got off the last stop. I didn’t know where to go and I stood out like a sore thumb. After ten minutes of trying to get directions from a Caribbean restaurant, I found the bus I needed. When I was finally in my neighborhood, I told my neighbor that I was just in Canarsie and told him of my experience. He laughed and told me that Canarsie used to be filled with Italians, Irish, and Jews.

Then I asked him, “Why didn’t you leave?”

He replied, “This home is my life. No matter what happens, I would never leave Brooklyn!”

Posted in Cultural Encounters | 5 Comments

Will It Ever Fall?

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Yeuk San Shen

Images are powerful.

Do you think Apartheid had ended? Well, after this exhibit, you are definitely going to say no. The Rise and Fall of Apartheid exhibit in the International Center of Photography has nearly 500 photographs, documenting the rapid changes within a 60-year period in the country of South Africa. There were many “rises” for sure, but were there any “falls”? I’m not so sure about that.

For my first impression, I have to disagree with most of my classmates. It does not feel like a museum. In my head, a typical museum would have a lot of people, running around trying to figure out which way to go because there are so many paths crossing one another. In ICP, there was only one path. The photos are aligned in chronological order, with several short videos displayed here and there. All you have to do is walk and see. Down the wooden way, the pictures are hanged on a plain yellow wall. It is very simple, which becomes such a contrast compare to the impact on me after looking at the images.

These are not artistic photos. They are real. There are many images about segregation. Well, of course. They must be images of segregation. There are a number of them titled “Bus for non-Europeans only” or “European-only dry cleaner” or have a similar title. The photographers did not try to create a certain technical effect on their works. They are plain, but documentary and memorable. I know this probably sound old to many people, but every time I look at a photo showing the distinctive differences between the living styles of white and black, I am surprised. I saw segregation pictures for the first time when I was five years old in my first grade; the second one was when I was in fourth grade; after I arrive in American, which was right after seventh grade, I only saw more. I know this makes me sound naïve, but how long does it have to be before people can actually live in harmony? Before people can actually look at these pictures and laugh like an old man laughing at his young mistakes? So far, I would say, “Not in my life time.”

http://cdn.thedailybeast.com/content/newsweek/2012/11/25/faces-of-apartheid-at-the-icp/_jcr_content/body/inlineimage.img.503.jpg/1353725766273.cached.jpg

The second set of photos that caught my attention is the nude girls set. I stop in front of it, and look at it for a good ten-minute until the security guard suspiciously watches me as if I was about to put the whole set in my pocket. It is totally different from the rest of the exhibit. Most of the pieces there have a kind of serious and determined tone to them. This set has none. It is showing many white guys playing around with the nude girls in a nightclub. After all those images of death and pain, this set becomes an irony. I’ve always wondered whether or not these people have a hard time falling asleep at night. Unfortunately, they do not.

It is impossible to say that these images have not had any impact on us. They are very powerful. Why? Because they are the truth.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/09/21/arts/design/21APARTHEID_SPAN/0921APARTHEID_SPAN-articleLarge.jpg

Posted in ICP Exhibit | 1 Comment

“The Story Just Came To Me”

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Joseph Maugeri

I wish stories just came to me. I, normally, have do some serious thinking before I can write long essays or even shorter ones. Coming up with a good idea can sometimes take me ages…

This is not always the case with the author Katherine Vaz. She described the story of her new book at the Fall 2012 Harman In-Residence. Her book is titled Below the Salt, and it follows a young man whose life surrounds the Civil War. If you want anymore of the plot, then read the book. All that I am going to say is: you won’t be disappointed, its great. 

The book didn’t start out that way though.

“I wrote for about a year, stuff that was so terrible that I threw it in a box.” We all have those moments, don’t we? I know that I may be writing an essay and decided to scrap everything that I’ve done because it sucks. But hey, it happens. Move on. Keep writing. Which is exactly what Katherine Vaz did and if she didn’t, then we wouldn’t be able to read her great work. And her work is great.

Vaz’s writing is very immersive. When she sets a scene, the setting comes to life.

“I am a big believer of going to the place and feeling it on your skin … And that’s important.” First, she goes to the setting of the book and experiences the setting. She feels it on her skin. But then—and here’s where the magic happens—she writes about it, and the reader can feel it on his/her skin. Many writers strive for that skill and few succeed, Katherine Vaz being one of them.

She is an extraordinary writer and an interesting speaker; Vaz has forever influenced my writing.

Posted in In the Spotlight, Katherine Vaz | Leave a comment

BAM: House Divided, Experimental Hi-Tech Design Puts Form Before Function.

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Alessandra Rao

Inspired by John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, House/Divided is an experimental, multi-media theater piece that features video projections, documentary clips, live acting and a moving set. When a play defies the conventional by diving into the digital realm, it is easy to get lost in the limitless opportunities for innovation. House/Divided attempts to multitask with the chaos of technology. It puts form before function, a sacrifice that is somewhat foolish, especially since the subject matter, foreclosures and repossessions in Ohio, is already complicated in nature.

Rather than a narrative play that has a linear storyline with the rising action, climax, and falling action, House/Divided is more of a collage. The scene transitions, although not fluidly, between the present and the past, between metropolis and farmland. The starkness of the transitions gives off the notion that the playwright intended for the audience to observe different facets of the issue without following a focused, solid storyline. Although the breadth of technology used is quite remarkable, each feature seems to compete for the viewers’ attention as the Times Square advertisements do. The ‘live’ tickers, the webcam projections, the banker (Jess Barbagallo) on the side making phone calls, and the repeating background music adds to the high-tech experience, but it is rather overwhelming.  At one point, a projection of Alan Greenspan appeared, while an overlapping projection of a ticker quickly infiltrated the set with a rising sea of negative, red numbers signifying the major decreases in the stock market. It was a clever representation, but the underlying messages are politically charged, almost resembling propaganda. The problem with using technology is that glitches are more likely to happen. About halfway into the play, a part of a documentary clip was repeated. The superfluous use of technology in the banking scenes really only served the singular purpose of communicating that the debt crisis is, in itself, confusing, forceful and ubiquitous.

Amidst the serious subject matter, the script does include some humor through caricatures of bankers that make myriads of mortgage-related phone calls in a short amount of time and mockeries of automated recordings. The script incorporates some scenes of comedic relief that bring up economic annoyances that most people in the audience can relate to.

The “high-tech” quality of the play is much more emotionally powerful during the rural Ohio scenes than in the bank setting. While the acting and the set of the bank scenes appear fast-paced, machine-like, cold and opportunistic, we see the humanistic presence of rural Ohio. An image of a home with white shingles and many windows is projected onto the main, boxy structure of the set, giving the illusion that it is three-dimensional. Here, the use of technology seems more effective because the panels of the structure are translucent, allowing the viewer to see a cutaway with actors inside.  The first rural scenes look tranquil and beautiful, as nostalgic images of tall grass sweeping before the sunset are projected onto the panels—effective images that conjures the pathos. Further into the play, the tone becomes desolate and hopeless when the house is foreclosed. The panels are moved around by the repossession men, making the empty structure seem more like a house than a home, at this point.

Although we get a cutaway view into the house, it is almost futile since the panels are not transparent enough to see the facial expressions of the actors. Furthermore, the character voices telling their anecdotes is just as unsuccessful; the highly artificial Midwestern accents were more of a distraction than a set of believable monologues. Despite the unrehearsed accents, the narrator’s grave, whispery voice was at least an appropriate fit for the poetic narrations that supplemented the scene of the house on the verge of foreclosure. One chilling banjo (or ovation guitar) cover of Neil Young’s “Out on the Weekend” arose from the shadows, and marked the beginning of the foreclosure. The deep, resonating strumming of the ballad created a poignant moment that is difficult to forget.

The play’s message would have been more successful if it did not go to the extremes to illustrate the debt crisis, but instead exhibited arguments from both sides. A clear focus and a simple design are the two things that a theater company must consider, especially when taking on the challenge of an experimental-digital medium.

House Divided played at the Brooklyn Academy of Music from October 24, 2012 through October 27, 2012. For current and future productions at BAM, please visit http://www.bam.org.

Posted in House/Divided (BAM) | Leave a comment

A Dream for Me, A Living for Him

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Yeuk San Shen

Becoming a photographer had been a dream for me for several years, until my reality check hit me and I fell back into the real world like those people who wanted to become a rock star realized after multiple auditions that it just not going to happen—though for me, the journey ended before it start. For this reason, I admire anyone who is determined to be or has became a photographer. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to be able to hear from one of these “heroes”, Max Flatow, who came in on November 6th and talked to us about his career path.

Max Flatow is a self-taught photographer. Even though he didn’t plan to become one, he developed this interest during college and whoa-la! Time flies by—this is his seventh year into the profession already. In fact, he was uncertain whether or not to become a photographer for several years, until his experience in Spain changed his mind forever. He took many pictures during his trip, and had a gallery show in a small café. I guess the satisfying feeling he got when he knew that people were appreciating HIS images was really affecting—why else would he change his mind?

During the conference, he said that approximately 85 to 90 percent of the photos he took were for weddings. Then he showed us some of his photos. I really liked them. There was one particularly caught my eyes.

Max Flatow

I wouldn’t consider this the best of all, but it was surely the most meaningful one in my eyes. From the white scarf flowing in the wind in that specific angle, the couple showing off their love with a gentle kiss on the lips to with the color of the image and the background—all I could say was that everything made sense. I don’t know how to further analyze it except for one word, “WOW!”

He also took photos of food, though he admitted that it was a stressful job because most foods need to be photographed in a critical condition. Many of the slides in the presentation were taken in an angle; and the subjects tended to be put a little off to the side. He liked facial expressions and black-and-white photos, and he especially stressed that he didn’t like camera lights. When one of our classmates asked him that “is it a good idea to take pictures with Iphone”, he laughed. He simply loved the idea.

He said, “Well, the worse thing that can happen is your phone’s battery dies. Then you charge it and then shoot again!”

Well, there goes an alternative way to become a photographer. I should try it sometimes.

Max Flatow

Posted in Max Flatow | Leave a comment

A Journey Through Apartheid

Posted on December 5, 2012 by wesleyyun

Upon my entrance to the photography exhibit, I quickly realized a certain things. The first had to do with the setup. The order in which the works were set up was interesting and made a lot of sense to me. The International Center of Photography takes an unique approach in the presentation of their photos and by having the audience start and end in specific places. The exhibit was more a brief journey to parallel the longer journey that those faced during apartheid. Whereas other galleries at other institutions keep the floor open so that people have freedom to walk around, at ICP, the work essentially provides a method of interpretation of the work. This was a great plan as it gives the visitor and audience an aim and a goal to reach and ensures that you leave with new understandings whereas the wandering visitor may not leave with much.

The entrance results in the transition to the first section of the exhibit. The viewer is provided with an increasing amount of background information and sets the mood for the journey to begin. It was like a time traveling machine that primed us and gave us knowledge of what life was like before any conflict became apparent. Major events were listed on a poster with dates and provided a timeline of some sort. There was an old movie that constantly played back on a small screen that showed the natives of South Africa as animals with great exaggeration on their primitive and wild ways. This section presented the differences between the two groups and how their lives were. The natives would live happily with peace and pride in their background, while the whites would usually prefer to stay apart from the blacks.

The exhibit continues by moving onto works that show a new era filled with prosperity. We are presented with minimal occurrences in which the two races would come together and work together. The period of economic prosperity in South Africa may be one reason as to why the people did not argue as much to the the mixture of races. We see the emergence of the various arts and  increase in the value of creative thinking in this South African society. What was really surprising to me was the inclusion of many native figures in the new arts.

But this section lead to work that covered the prevalence of violence in their society. The photographs in the section would often involve heavy scenes of blood and gore to bring a sense of empathy from the audience.  The purpose of the exhibit seems to be geared to those looking at the photographs to understand the pain these natives were facing during the time that is Apartheid.

The lower level was very different and had a whole new approach when it is compared to the upper level. It is a great way to end the exhibit because now that you have been filled in and been on the journey, the freedom to explore lies at the end.

The exhibit at the International Center of Photography was a great learning experience which really helped me understand and in some ways experience the hardship that revolved around the Apartheid in South Africa.

Credits to ICP

Posted in Cultural Encounters, ICP Exhibit | Leave a comment

Katherine Vaz

Posted on December 5, 2012 by isabelzhao

It was the first reading I have attended and I was pretty excited to have the opportunity to join in on Katherine Vaz’s reading of her fifth publication, Below the Salt. Even as I had planned to arrive about ten minutes early, the room was already packed and there were no empty seats. I didn’t want to sit out on the benches because of the distractions but it was the only alternative other than sitting on the floor.

As the audience finished up on their refreshments, the 29th Harman Writer of Baruch College gave an introduction of herself and her book, which is based on the time of the Civil War. Similarly to one of the books we read by her, Our Lady of the Artichokes, there is a religious point of view that she incorporates in the story. Below the Salt, from what we can tell by the excerpts she chooses to read to us, is about a woman and her child who are exiled because they chose to not convert to Presbyterianism.

Our Lady of the Artichokes by Katherine Vaz – Image found on Google

Vaz decided to write the book in the point of view of John Olves because he grew up in jail with his mother. She is a great believer in “the feel of the place on your skin,” which she finds important and compares it to how “you can’t just read about what the wind feels like when it comes across the prairie”. She spent half a year in Jacksonville so she could put herself in the shoes of the character to feel for herself what it is like, and therefore, get a better idea of how things apply to her characters in terms of who they are.

Vaz’s reading was full of metaphors and descriptions that painted a picture in my mind. My first experience at a reading was great, followed by a question and answer session. In this session, Vaz explained what she went through to write this book, which took eight years, and how much research she had to do, which is phenomenal and very admirable.

Image found on Google

Posted in Katherine Vaz | Leave a comment

Garden of Metaphors

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Nastassia

The gold of Katherine Vaz’s writing lies within her powerful metaphors. Strikingly unusual, her style takes her readers deep into their own imaginations. Though an experience within itself, reading Vaz’s stories draws a magnifying glass to only one pulley within the intricate mechanism of her thinking. To see the big picture, one has to close his eyes and listen.

When Katherine Vaz began reading excerpts from Below the Salt, her raspy voice was quick to convey the solemn tone of the story that was about to unfold. “They ate nothing but the music of birds”, she described the starving Trinidadian prisoners with a pain in her voice. Each word, pause, and breath revealed just how deeply she empathized with the characters that she had given life to. Through meticulously weaving in combinations of figurative language, she built a beautiful relationship between a mother and son who escaped a life of imprisonment and found a new land of erratic possibility and happiness. Though the processes of growing older and immigrating produced inevitable changes within her characters, Vaz was able to keep them grounded. As the family found a haven in New York, traces of their despairing past reemerged when they started to ponder about their future. In a heartwarming moment, the mother said that she would continue to caress her son even in death. Her body would transform into cobwebs after being consumed by spiders, and if her bleeding son walked through them, she would make his pain dissipate. With a moderate pace and a clear effort to enunciate each word of her story, Kathrine Vaz drove bizarre yet beautiful images into the mind of her audience.

In the following Q&A session, Vaz admitted that her talent of building a labyrinth of metaphors is also her biggest weakness. Looking into the distance and evidently thinking back to a prior conversation, she revealed that she must remind herself not to “hang a tassel off every sentence”. Her well-developed tone and self-monitored style is the icing to a cake well layered with research. With a smile on her face, Vaz recounted her time of travel in Illinois, the main setting of her story, and the challenging pursuit of information about John Alves, a soldier from the American Civil War. Even with the necessary information and inspiration, Vaz’s creation of Below the Salt spanned eight years. In a response to an aspiring writer, she said that the biggest challenge of creating a full story is developing a story line, and then asking yourself “how do I make it blossom out?” Even her speech, it seemed, was packed with dazzling images. Some were breathtaking and fantastical, while others were crude and funny. As her hands demonstrated shaking the figure of an upside-down saint, the audience burst with laughter at hearing how the Portuguese chastised their holy-figures for being disobedient.

The air of solemnity turned into one of relaxed conversation as Katherine Vaz explained how her experiences resulted in a varied and surprisingly realistic array of fictional stories.

Image provided by disquietinternational.org

Posted in Katherine Vaz | Leave a comment

A Story Divided

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Nastassia

Paying tribute to John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath is a noble task to take on. Marianne Weems had a vision of using modern day theater to bring Steinbeck’s story back to life by drawing a parallel between the Great Depression of the 1930s and the more recent recession of 2008. The director filled her production with several memorable moments, but unfortunately, the summation of the play did not meet any expectations. Even with the latest technology, talented actors, and a meaningful theme, House Divided was an awkward theater production to witness.

House Divided opened with a scene that was both unusual and immediately glum. As the sound of a ferocious wind filled the auditorium, a woman appeared on the left. Sitting on the dark stage, she slowly rotated the handle of an old projector. The machine shone the images of dark skies and wheat fields onto the surface of a house that stood center stage. A few solemn words of a narrator could be heard behind the wind, but before any sense of the scene could be made, the sounds were muted and the house’s canvas grew dark. Momentary darkness ensued, but bright lights and the bustle of a trading floor soon replaced it. Standing below a NYSE newsfeed ribbon, two workers burst into a talk, crudely greeting each other and typing away on their computers. Behind them, the Bear Sterns CEO walked into view and started a conference.

After a few short minutes, the format of the play had been established. Focus shifting from the hardships of the Great Depression to the financial chaos of the modern era, the production concluded without a clear and witty connection between the two. Sure, both times witnessed horrid economic conditions. People lost their homes and livelihoods. But what was the greater reason for joining these two events in one play?

That isn’t to say, however, that the individual stories were without a clear message or that the tech team did a poor job. If you drew your attention to the right side of the stage, you would witness one family’s gruesome journey during the Depression Era. Forced out of their farmland in Ohio, the family set out on a westward expedition to find wok. To show progress along the journey, the production crew would alter the house at the center of the stage. It would be repositioned, changed in shape, or selectively illuminated in one place to seem less like a house and more like destroyed property. The characters’ stories, consistent with the theme, would seem as tormented as the house that stood at the center of it all. As the family was nearing California, they met a man filled with lost hope. He too went to the golden state to find work, but his long and futile attempt saw nothing more than the death of his starved wife and children.

On the left, the story of a recent recession simultaneously unfolded. This time, the house at the center of the stage would look different, but tell a similar story. With white vinyl siding and large glass windows (again projected onto it), the house was symbolic of the optimistic era that expanded the housing bubble beyond all expectation. As the elegant bank worker in a beige pencil skirt and high heals calmly spoke to a frustrated homeowner, the contents of the house were taken apart and the man’s belongings were thrown out. Bear Sterns was doing great, but the average person was losing his home and livelihood.

There was an instance in which the stories began to develop a tie. The narrator spoke of the changes that the old Ohio home began to undergo once its owners left. The surrounding land became infested with weeds, the harsh winds blew open the door, and wild cats were free to roam inside the house. The eerie tone of the old narrative transforms into a comedic act as the audience is taken to 2008. A lady, whose house neighbors an abandoned property, sees wild cats walk inside the house and calls animal control. While talking on the phone, she wanders into the foreclosed home and begins to say how cute the mother cat looks beside her cubs. In a fit of laughter, the audience anticipates the tragic, yet undeniably funny, outturn of events.

Both stories were compelling and worthy of praise, with one brilliant parallel between them. To say that they are two pieces within one puzzle, however, is an overstatement.

Posted in House/Divided (BAM) | Leave a comment

The Rise and Fall of Apartheid

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Nastassia

The International Center of Photography currently displays a noteworthy collection of apartheid images. The two-floor exhibit contains a multitude of photographs taken from the early 20th century to the modern day, all showing the evolution of culture and politics in South Africa. Stepping into the museum, I came equipped with some knowledge of this man-made abomination and its history. Actually seeing the haunting images, however, opened my eyes to something that was more than a passage in a history book. Only then did it become less of a story and more of a reality.

The exhibit contained numerous photographs that revealed the steaming tension between the native South Africans and the authorities. The battle between blacks and whites found its root in opposing goals, with the first group vehemently fighting for equality and the latter determined to keep the nation segregated. The issue of it all was just that; how could South Africa be a nation if the majority of its citizens were an inferior class? A photograph taken by Sam Nzima in 1976 embodied that idea. Hector Peiterson, a young man, was being loaded into a car. His clothes were tattered, his left foot was without a shoe, and his thin and lifeless limbs were dangling in the hands of a man. The man who carried him was evidently horrified. With mouth wide agape, he seemed to be releasing a cry of desperation. There was no question that he witnesses something catastrophic. He, however, wasn’t the only one to lament over the dead boy. Numerous people behind him reflected his expression. They were hopeless and confused, but ready to fight.

Not all images shared this theme of violence and consequence. The blacks in South Africa witnessed massive cases of injustice and cruelty, but they were steadfast to believe in the possibility of change. There were large groups of peaceful and well-organized protestors amongst the rebels, as Jurgen Schadeberg’s powerful image implies. Taken in 1931, this photograph captured Violet Hashe, a female activist, speaking to a crowd of well-dressed South African citizens. Her hands were outstretched as she addressed her fellow activist. Her passionate body language seemed to echo the liveliness of the South African flag that was waved behind her. The caption provided a few brief comments about the picture, including the name of the main activist and the campaign’s name. There was no insight into what came before this event or if the protestors took a stride towards equality. Those details, however, would be superfluous, as the photograph excelled at capturing the invigorated spirit of the people. Hope was well alive on their faces.

What struck me most about the exhibit was its varied focus. The collection of photographs did not seek to label the 1900s of South Africa as a decade of apartheid, but instead aimed to capture all the aspects of life in that era. The overall message of the exhibit was clear: life is not solely light or dark. Much of the century was filled with distress and unease, but there were certainly beacons of light that guided the oppressed citizens through the tough times.

Drum magazine, a South African publication, aimed to celebrate the native South African culture and “The Black Fifties” despite the political chaos. Labeled as “Africa’s leading magazine”, the colorful magazine cover stared back at me as I looked at it through a glass case. On the cover was the image of a young lady in an elegant blue dress. Her legs crossed in a flirtatious manner as she leaned against pink stairs. Her curly bangs adorned the side of her face and her eyes gave off a sultry expression, as she looked right through the cover. Her aura of confidence and beauty paralleled that of the rising stars during New York’s Harlem Renaissance. Drum magazine was an outlet for black photographers to showcase their work and earn recognition, especially in the field of documenting.

An exhibit worth attending, Rise and Fall of Apartheid was both bone chilling and heartwarming. Uncensored and unaltered, the photographs captured the worst and best times of the dynamic century of apartheid.

 

Posted in Cultural Encounters, ICP Exhibit | 1 Comment

Feel the Love

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Nastassia

Max Flatow lives the life of our envy. His job takes him around the globe to some of the most beautiful places on Earth where he has the pleasure of witnessing life’s most blissful moments. As a photographer, Flatow is invited to photograph couples on their wedding day, whether it is in Canada, the Caribbean, or India, just to name a few locations.

Visiting our Arts in New York class, Max Flatow had an infectious light in his eyes. Though appearing to be a timid character in his gray suit and newsboy cap, he soon began to capture our hearts and minds with his enchanting photographs and inspirational words.

Equipped with a slideshow of his favorite images, Flatow presented each piece and its story. One of his favorite weddings to shoot, not surprisingly, was his own.  As a smile spread on his face, he showed a photo of his wife with immense pride. Standing in a lake at sundown with her wedding dress half submerged, she was well illuminated against a backdrop of dark trees and brilliant pink clouds. He knew that the photograph was excellent, but this knowledge was veiled by the immense love and admiration that he felt for his subject.

It was this kind of love that he sought to capture in the couples that he photographed. When asked of his approach to capturing the ideal emotion from the wife and groom, he replied, I tell them to “look into each others’ eyes and feel the love”. He stressed the importance, however, of letting them look natural, or else he would get a “contrived, toothy grin”; and nobody likes that.

Flatow’s style is quite unique, as he tries to focus on the entire aspect of the wedding day, from the tedious preparation, to the romantic kiss, to the amusing reception, and all the nuances in between.  “Clients expect one thousand photos of the day”, he says. His assignment lets him take photographs from unconventional angles and experiment with light; and his results are astounding. His signature style is to photograph the silhouette of his subject and take advantage of the natural light in the background.

Though an established photographer with his own growing Brooklyn-based business, Max Flatow received no formal education in his field. He was briefly exposed to the art in middle school and was later able to experiment with it in college. Though Southern Vermont College did not offer any photography classes, it did have an excellent dark room. With permission, he was allowed to use the facility to experiment with film photography and augment his skills.  It was just a hobby then, but it would set him along a road to success. After a trip to Spain, he realized that photography was his life-passion. He started to sell his photographs at a coffee shop, and later worked for free to build his clientele. His photographic interests vary from weddings, to travel, to food.

Regardless of what he captures, he brings a fresh approach to his field of work. Redefining the significance of photography in our culture, he promotes the use of any kind of camera — as long as photographs are taken. “Shoot as much as you possibly can”, he tells us. Whether it be a professional camera or an iPhone, he wants the young generation to understand the joys and rewards of photography.

Image provided by www.maxflatow.com/index2.php#/home

 

Posted in Cultural Encounters, Max Flatow | Leave a comment

Imagery– the Most Powerful Yet Invisible Technique

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Yeuk San Shen

I first heard of Katherine Vaz from my IDC class. We had to read a book named Our Lady of the Artichokes, a collection of short stories for homework. As always, I resisted the reading. When I was reading, however, I was captured by her wild and rich images, and was quickly overwhelmed by every single word of the book. So of course, it was exciting to hear that she was going to be the 29th Harman Writer in Baruch College.

http://libblog.lib.umassd.edu/wp-content/uploads/libblog/2009/10/Vaz_OurLadyOfArtichokes_md.jpg

As a class, we went to her Sidney Writer-in-Residence Reading in October 23rd. After warm welcome, Katherine Vaz began her reading. She was reading a part from the third book she wrote, named Below the Salt. She said that she had never read it in public, so that was her “debut”. As she began reading, her writing style appeared right from the first word that came out her mouth.  It was clear that this book and Our Lady of the Artichokes shared many things, from themes to techniques. The one thing that caught my eyes, however, was the same thing that inspired me the most during my reading—her use of imagery.

The whole time, the powerful images she created through those spoken words jumped right into my head. Before I noticed, my brain was full of different scenarios from the story. The scenes connected and composed a movie within me, as if it was right before my eyes as the reading went on. The experience was amazing. I always thought imagery was the basic component of a story, so I had never paid enough attention to them. And I had to say—it wasn’t an experience that you could realize it right away. Maybe it was because of the author’s voice, or maybe for some other reasons, Vaz’s voice pulled me into her story. As soon as the reading began, I was dissolve into my own imagination triggered by her low and magnetic voice.

She later had a Q&A section. She said that the stories were created based on her own events, and that she was a big believer for “going to the place and feel the place on your skin”. Hum… “Feel the place on your skin”… This might be the reason for her success in creating such dominant details. After all, if I have to make a comment on her fiction, I would have to agree with one of her reviewers—that they “glow with a fairytale magic—yet uniquely”.

Posted in Katherine Vaz | Leave a comment

Max Flatow

Posted on December 4, 2012 by isabelzhao

“Everyone with an iPhone or camera can be a photographer.”

Oftentimes you would come across someone with a really nice and expensive DSLR camera and call themselves a photographer. Max Flatow, however, believes otherwise. Flatow went to middle school with a photography program but when he went to Vermont college, he wasn’t offered many courses that pertained to what he wanted to study. However, he was given access to a darkroom, where he got to play around with different techniques and improved his photographing skills. He studied abroad in Spain when he was still in college, where he took pictures that he was able to display at a local cafe to sell himself as well as his work and about fifty to seventy people showed up. From there, his career finally took off.

His talent has brought him to opportunities and projects in different cities in the US and even to different countries like India. There, he shot photos for a couple that was getting married. A lot of his projects are for couples getting married because “People are always going to get married no matter what.” However, he is not only interested in photographing weddings but he “like[s] to shoot everything.” Some other subjects he had taken photos of are football players, bands, and of course, food. In the past, he even shot music photography.

There are many different techniques that comes up a lot in his pictures. Some of them include the rule of thirds, depth of field, using artificial lighting, and taking advantage of natural settings. In a lot of his indoor shoots, he has a large spotlight that can produce the appearance of shadows and darkness, such as the one with two flower girls and the one of a couple walking down the steps. In another photo taken outdoors, he used the wind to take photos that were untraditional, with the veil of the bride flying in the air.  Unlike most photographers, he takes a lot of photos that are in the moment and candid, such as the couple on the streets of Manhattan, because he understands that many people aren’t fond of being told what to do and how to pose. At the end of the day, he says that out of the hundreds and thousands of photos he takes, his clients choose the one where they are acting most naturally and make them feel as if they are reliving the moment.

Flatow’s passion for photography was definitely emphasized as he went through his slideshow of photos. He used each and every technique to catch the subjects in their most beautiful angle and lighting, which encourages me to play around with a camera for the photography projects. The fact that he learned all his photography skills on his own is really inspiring and definitely makes me want to learn how to use a camera to its fullest potential.

Posted in Max Flatow | Leave a comment

A “Traditional” Thanksgiving Dinner?

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Yeuk San Shen

Thanksgiving, a traditional holiday celebrated by Americans and Canadians, does not have a true meaning among Chinese people, at least to my family. Sure, it is to thank the Native Americans for their help and blah, blah… Like we don’t know the dark history of the United States at the time. I know that many people compare this holiday with Christmas and New Year, but for us, we are more likely to align Thanksgiving with Columbus Day—the day off that has many things on sale, but a LARGER one. The only similarity is that like most families in America, we also try to have a get together with friends or family, although most of the time it is just an informal dinner and nothing much.

SO, when my mom suggested that we should have a real Thanksgiving dinner, with the whole turkey and all that, I was simply shocked. Then again, I had never have a whole turkey and those traditional side dishes before, so the idea ringed in my head. On Thursday, we prepared many dishes, merging a traditional dinner with a touch of Chinese; I even baked a tart for dessert! Finally, we finished the preparation.

My tart

The dinner was at my aunt’s house. We invited some friends and people that we are close with. We sat down. We ate. We talked. The dinner was great. The food was amazing (well, usually self-cook dishes are amazing). We joked around afterward. My mom brought out my dessert and all of our guests liked it. At around eight o’clock, we left the house with a full stomach.

The dinner

Of course, we considered it a tradition Thanksgiving dinner.

But I still don’t get the meaning of it though.

Posted in Cultural Encounters | 1 Comment

Collage Project

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Joseph Maugeri

Collage Project By Joseph Maugeri

I begun this project with the intent of taking nice looking photos while longboarding around the city. I decided against that idea. For a few reasons.

The main reason was because it was wet and dirty… I ended up being covered in mud, which was not fun at all. But then I got to thinking, there really isn’t a big message affiliated with taking nice pictures. It’s pretty bland and boring. That’s when I ended up at Rockefeller Center. I’ve never really been there before, except when I was little, so I decided to take a look around. When I got there (with the help of my phone), I noticed a lot of police present. I wasn’t entirely surprised and started snapping a few pictures of them.

I was–once again– pulling a ‘Walker Evans.’ It was hard to take pictures of police because they normally don’t want to be filmed. I figured I’d take the risk and do it anyway. It’s more fun that way. It’s also more interesting.

As I was taking the pictures, I started thinking of the significance. The police weren’t really doing much. Some were talking to tourists, laughing, having a good time. There were the serious cops, the cops that were right out of the academy, and none of them seemed busy. So why were they there? There are tourists, shoppers, natives New Yorkers,  and many more types of people. When there is a lot of people in a small space, violence tends to ensue. However when police are present, one of two things happen: one is that people feel safe, and the other thing is that people get scared. Safety is always a good thing. When there are police, the good people feel protected. At the same time when there is police, the bad people get scared. That’s why there aren’t many violent acts committed in Rockefeller Center. Now this theory is interesting(at least to me) but it doesn’t seem to apply in similar places.

When I got that idea, I skated down to Bryant Park. Bryant Park is similar to Rockefeller Center. It’s about the same size, there is an ice rink, there are a decent amount of people, and they even have a lit tree. But, there was little-to-no police presence. I saw one security guard. That’s it.

After Bryant Park, I went to Baruch. On the way to Baruch, I remembered that there is a Christmas tree in Madison Square Park too. So I stopped by to see it. Same deal as the other two places. Christmas tree, decent amount of people, plenty of things to do. But here, there were no security guards, cops, park workers, or any authority at all.

So why is there little or no police presence at Bryant Park and Madison Square Park, but Rockefeller Center is like NYPD headquarters? Can people really not contain themselves in Rockefeller Center but are perfectly fine at similar places? It doesn’t seem to make sense. The only aspect of Rockefeller Center that is different is that there is more tourism. Is that the only reason though? I just found it bizarre.

I did this project on Prezi because I never used it before and I wanted to learn. Ben said it would be good for this project and I’d have to agree with him. It’s pretty cool.

Posted in Artistic Endeavors, Collage Project | 1 Comment