PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, photographer Mike Brodie talks about his raw, intimate and powerful new book, Failing (Twin Palms). Growing up with a tough home life, Brodie found escape in the punk and BMX scenes before, at just 17, he began hopping freight trains and photographing the drifters and outcasts he met on the rails. Those images became A Period of Juvenile Prosperity (2013), a groundbreaking book that launched his career. After that early success, Brodie walked away from the art world to become a diesel mechanic. Now, age 40, with a son, he reunites with longtime collaborator Paul Schiek ( TBW Books) to publish Failing and reflects with Sasha on his journey, the challenges of early fame, and what it means to return to photography on his own terms. https://www.instagram.com/mikebrodie_thepolaroidkidd https://www.twinpalms.com/products/mike-brodie-failing Mike Brodie’s first monograph, A Period of Juvenile Prosperity touched down more than a decade ago, depicting his fellow rail-riders and drifters in a rebellious and wildfire pursuit of adventure and freedom. “Brodie leapt into the life of picture-making as if he was the first to do it,” Danny Lyon wrote about the book in Aperture. Next came Tones of Dirt and Bone, a collection of earlier SX-70 pictures Brodie made when photography first led him to hopping freights, when he was known as “The Polaroid Kidd.” And then Brodie seemed to disappear from the art world as suddenly and mysteriously as he’d first appeared. Maybe his vanishing was another myth. Maybe it was just a necessary retreat. “I was divorcing myself from all that,” he says. “I was growing up. I was pursuing this other life.” In Nashville he became a diesel mechanic. Fell in love. Moved across the country again. Got married. Bought land on the long dusty Winnemucca road Johnny Cash sang about. Started his own business. Built a house. Put down roots. And when that life exploded, the open road called again. Throughout almost all of it, his cameras were with him, and at last those pictures are coming to light.

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha is joined by legendary photo critic, curator, and collector Vince Aletti. Vince reflects on his early days as a music critic for Rolling Stone before joining the Village Voice as an arts editor, where he also began writing about photography. Later, as the photography critic at The New Yorker, Vince became a deeply admired voice in the field. Photographers hoped he would write about their work because his reviews were always perceptive, beautifully written, and profoundly generous of spirit. Sasha and Vince also revisit a personal milestone: Vince was the first critic to review an exhibition at Sasha’s gallery, featuring photographs by the late Paul McDonough—a review that helped launch both Paul’s career and Sasha’s as a gallerist. In addition, they explore Vince’s unparalleled collection of photo ephemera, a lifelong passion that has not only preserved vital archives of lesser-known work but has also inspired acclaimed photobooks and exhibitions. https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/vince-aletti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Aletti Vince Aletti is a writer and curator based in New York City. His writings on music and photography have been published widely. Between 1973 and 1978 Aletti wrote a highly prescient weekly column on the emerging disco scene for Record World magazine, and between 1987 and 2005 he was the art editor and photography critic for The Village Voice. His writings have also appeared in The New Yorker, Artforum, and Vogue Italia, among many other publications. His book Issues: A History of Photography in Fashion Magazines was published by Phaidon in 2019. The Drawer was published by Self Publish, Be Happy in September 2022 and went on to win the 2023 Aperture/Paris Photo Photobook of the Year award.  An exhibition at White Columns inspired by The Drawer in 2024 was Aletti's fifth collaboration with the gallery, following on from his 2008 exhibition Male: Work from the Collection of Vince Aletti; the 2014 exhibition of Robert Kitchen’s work, and the 2019 exhibition of Ed Baynard’s work (both curated by Aletti); and the 2008 White Columns publication of Aletti’s collected writings on disco, Disco File, which was subsequently republished in an expanded edition by DJ History/D.A.P. Born 1945, Philadelphia  Rolling Stone contributor (1970–1989); first mainstream writer on disco (1973)  Record World weekly disco columnist (1974–1979) Senior Editor,  Photo Critic & Art Editor, The Village Voice (~1987–2005) Contributor, The New Yorker (2005–2016): weekly exhibition reviews in Goings on About Town Various publications: Artforum, Aperture, Photograph, Vogue Italia, FOAM, System

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, photographer Daniel Arnold joined Sasha for a candid conversation about the upsides and downsides of social media success. Daniel reflected on the joy and fulfillment he experienced during the height of his online popularity, while also acknowledging the need to move beyond curating a public persona. They also discussed his forthcoming book, You Are What You Do (Loose Joints). Though Daniel had a strong instinct to maintain control over his work, he came to appreciate how working with an editor—bringing in a more objective eye—could open the work up to new ideas and take it in directions he might not have pursued on his own. Special Request: As we approach our 100th episode, we're both thrilled to reach this milestone and deeply grateful to our extraordinary guests and YOU, our dedicated listeners. In the coming months, we'll be sharing reflections on how the podcast has evolved over the past five years and highlighting memorable past episodes. Most importantly, we want to hear from you! We'd love for you to share what the PhotoWork Podcast means to you: What has the PhotoWork podcast meant to you? How has it influenced your relationship with photography? Which episode resonated with you most? What's the most valuable lesson you've learned? Send your audio messages (1 minute max) or written thoughts to info@photowork.foundation with the subject line "Episode 100" Please include your first name and location in both audio and written messages! Selected submissions will be featured in our special 100th episode, and EVERYONE who participates will be entered to win exclusive PhotoWork appreciation gifts. https://danielarnold.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arnold_daniel/ https://loosejoints.biz/collections/forthcoming/products/you-are-what-you-do Daniel Arnold (b. 1980, USA) is a New York-based photographer whose candid, street-level images capture the unfiltered rhythms of urban life. His recent solo exhibitions include Dante’s Inverno at The Little House, Los Angeles, New York Life at New York Life Gallery, New York and Nothing at Larrie Gallery, New York. Arnold's photography appears regularly in publications including The New York Times, Vogue, and Interview, among others. In 2022, Elara Press published his first monograph entitled Pickpocket. A new collection of photos entitled You Are What You Do will be released in November of 2025 by Loose Joints.

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, photographer and educator Sage Sohier joins Sasha to discuss a lifetime of extraordinary work, including her recently published books Passing Time and Americans Seen (Nazraeli Press), featuring photographs made primarily in the 1980s. They also delve into Witness to Beauty (Kehrer Verlag), an intimate and moving portrait of Sohier’s mother alongside her two daughters—a project that embraces aging and the passage of time. Throughout the conversation, Sage shares her enthusiasm and thoughtful insights on staying open to new ideas and equipment, as well as the value of revisiting older work with fresh eyes. https://sagesohier.com https://www.instagram.com/sagesohier/ Sage Sohier (b. 1954, Washington, D.C.) grew up in Virginia and received her BA from Harvard University in 1975. She is a Boston-based photographer who has published eight monographs, including “Americans Seen,” (Nazraeli Press 2017 and 2024), “Passing Time,” (2023), and “Witness to Beauty” (Kehrer 2017). She is the recipient of Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships. Sohier’s work has been included in group shows at the Museum of Modern Art, NY, the International Center of Photography, the Art Institute of Chicago, and in solo shows at Joseph Bellows Gallery, Robert Klein Gallery, Foley Gallery, Blue Sky Gallery, and The Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago. Her work is in numerous collections including the Museum of Modern Art, NY, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. She has taught photography at Harvard University and Wellesley College, and has done commissioned work for the George Gund Foundation in Cleveland, the Robert Rauschenberg Residency program in Captiva, FL, as well as editorial work for numerous publications

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, renowned photographer Dana Lixenberg discusses the power of portraiture and how editorial autonomy enabled her to safeguard the portrayal of individuals featured in her work within marginalized communities. Lixenberg shares the origins of Imperial Courts, her seminal project documenting life in the Los Angeles housing project of the same name, and the deep relationship of trust she built over more than two decades of work there. The conversation also explores her iconic portraits of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, as well as her poignant book project, The Last Days of Shishmaref, which captures the lives of an Indigenous community on a disappearing Alaskan island. https://grimmgallery.com/artists/42-dana-lixenberg/ https://www.instagram.com/danalixenberg Dana Lixenberg is known for her stripped-down portraits that revel in the elemental characteristics of her subjects. She uses a large-format field camera – a cumbersome tool, which necessitates what the artist refers to as a ‘slow dance’ between her and her subjects. The resulting portraits contain an enormous amount of detail and texture, and are as revelatory as a personal encounter. The power of the work arises from its intimacy, compositional rigor and, importantly, the absence of social stereotyping. Lixenberg has been predominantly active in the United States, and her thorough understanding of the country and its society seeps through palpably in her work.  Besides her extensive editorial practice, for which she photographed many cultural icons, she pursues long-term projects with a primary focus on marginalized communities. These projects include Jeffersonville, Indiana (2005), a collection of landscapes and portraits of a small town’s homeless population and The Last Days of Shishmaref (2008), which portrays an Inupiaq community on an eroding island off the coast of Alaska. Lixenberg’s most extensive body of work to date is Imperial Courts, 1993-2015 (2015), which she begun in the aftermath of the 1992 Rodney King riots. Spanning 22 years, the project tracks the changing shape of an underserved community in Watts, Los Angeles. In contrast to the often one dimensional, sensationalized media coverage of this neighborhood, Lixenberg employs a more subdued and collaborative photographic approach. Like her other projects, Imperial Courts consists of a series of photographs and a publication. Exploring other media for the first time, Lixenberg also included audio recordings and created a three-channel video installation. The project was awarded the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize in 2017 and continues to be exhibited internationally.

Justine Kurland is an acclaimed artist known for her utopian landscapes and challenging narratives, while Marina Chao is a distinguished curator at CPW with a rich background in major art institutions. They delve into their collaborative exhibition, 'The Rose,' which celebrates feminist collage art as a means of expression and survival. The discussion highlights the contrasts in curatorial experiences from different renowned institutions and reflects on the transformative power of community in artistic practices. Themes of identity, collaboration, and the role of art in activism are also explored.

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha sits down with photographer Harlan Bozeman to discuss his artistic evolution—from the casual nature of street photography to the immersive, collaborative, and activist approach he brings to his ongoing documentary series, Out the E. They also explore his newer project, Failure to Appear, a more introspective and formally abstract investigation into memory and Black culture. Harlan is thoughtful, honest, and generous as he reflects on both the triumphs and challenges of his complex artistic practice. https://www.harlanbozeman.com/ https://www.instagram.com/harlanbozeman/ Harlan Bozeman is an artist based in Central Arkansas, whose work confronts the erasure of Black legacies and centers on how this exploration influences one’s personhood. He received his M.F.A at the University of Arkansas, his Bachelor’s in Journalism at DePaul University, and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2023. Harlan is a 2024 Catch Light Global Fellow and is currently participating in the Magnum Foundation’s Counter Histories fellowship. Harlan Bozeman is Professor of Practice at Tulane University.

In this conversation, photographer Jamel Shabazz shares his journey capturing the essence of 1980s New York City. Known for his impactful street photography, he discusses how life experiences inspire his work and influence social change. He dives into his book, "A Time Before Crack," exploring its significance for his community. Jamel emphasizes the power of dialogue in photography, turning encounters into meaningful connections. His dedication to mentorship highlights the role of art in healing and uplifting individuals affected by trauma.

Christopher McCall, former Director of the influential Pier 24 Photography, reflects on the legacy of this pivotal space for photography. He discusses its 14-year history and the emotional impact of its closure. The conversation shifts to the importance of innovation for emerging artists, celebrating lesser-known photographers while navigating challenges in contemporary exhibitions. McCall emphasizes the rise of pop-up exhibitions and the critical role of mentorship, urging artists to take charge of their visibility and support each other in the vibrant photography community.

Bryan Schutmaat, an acclaimed photographer from Austin, Texas, shares his journey through the American landscape and portraiture. He unveils insights from his new book, 'Sons of the Living,' highlighting the dignity of marginalized communities along desert highways. The discussion dives into the misrepresentation of collaboration in portraiture and the ongoing nature of artistic work. Bryan also reflects on navigating creativity, the impact of time on artistry, and exciting future projects, including an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum.