

PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf
Sasha Wolf / Real Photo Show
From the PhotoWork Foundation, the PhotoWork Podcast, hosted by Sasha Wolf, features in-depth conversations with influential figures in the fine art photography world, including photographers, curators, and publishers. Through personal and insightful discussions, the podcast serves as a vital resource for artists, students, and professionals—offering inspiration, education, and a platform for anyone passionate about photography.
The PhotoWork Foundation supports the development and education of post-documentary photographic artists and cultivates an audience for their work. Through a diverse program of outreach to individual artists and those who will be enriched by the results of their sustained efforts, the Foundation seeks to empower an aspect of photography that is most often not commercially viable but is essential to the collective understanding of what it looks like to be living in society today.
To learn more about the podcast, see additional content related to individual episodes and other opportunities for artists visit: www.photowork.foundation and follow us on Instagram @photowork.foundation.
The PhotoWork Foundation supports the development and education of post-documentary photographic artists and cultivates an audience for their work. Through a diverse program of outreach to individual artists and those who will be enriched by the results of their sustained efforts, the Foundation seeks to empower an aspect of photography that is most often not commercially viable but is essential to the collective understanding of what it looks like to be living in society today.
To learn more about the podcast, see additional content related to individual episodes and other opportunities for artists visit: www.photowork.foundation and follow us on Instagram @photowork.foundation.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 2, 2021 • 59min
Curran Hatleberg - Episode 35
In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha and photographer Curran Hatleberg discuss his journey from studying painting in undergrad to receiving his MFA in photography at Yale. They discuss his upcoming monograph due out this spring in 2022, as well as the books he's already published, as solo monographs and in concert with his partner, the artist Cynthia Daignault. They drill down on the importance of working collaboratively, both with his photographic subjects, as well as with his wider support group.
https://curranhatleberg.com
https://tbwbooks.com/products/rivers-dream
Curran Hatleberg received his MFA from Yale University in 2010. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including recent shows at the Whitney Museum of American Art, MASS MoCA, Higher Pictures, and Fraenkel Gallery. Hatleberg has taught photography at numerous institutions, including Yale University and Cooper Union. He is the recipient of a 2020 Maryland State Arts Council Grant, a 2015 Magnum Emergency Fund grant, a 2014 Aaron Siskind Foundation Individual Photographer’s Fellowship grant, and the 2010 Richard Benson Prize for excellence in photography. Hatleberg’s work is held in various museum collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, SF MoMA, KADIST, the Center for Contemporary Photography, the Davison Art Center at Wesleyan University, the Williams College Museum of Art, and the Yale University Art Gallery. Lost Coast, his first monograph, was released by TBW Books in fall 2016. Somewhere Someone, a collaborative artist book with Cynthia Daignault, was released by Hassla Books in fall 2017. His second monograph, will be published by TBW Books in 2021.
Find out more at https://photowork.pinecast.co

Nov 19, 2021 • 51min
Diana Markosian - Episode 34
In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha and photographer and filmmaker Diana Markosian discuss her ICP exhibition and accompanying first monograph, Santa Barbara, published by Aperture. Diana and Sasha talk about the reconstruction of Diana's childhood both in Russia and the United States in this staged and scripted documentary style project as well as the emotional experience of revisiting some painful childhood memories.
https://www.dianamarkosian.com
Diana Markosian (born in Moscow, 1989) takes an intimate approach to her photography and video storytelling, in work that is both conceptual and documentary. Her projects have taken her to some of the remotest corners of the world, and have been featured in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Vogue Magazine. She holds a Masters of Science degree from Columbia University in New York. Her work is represented by Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire in Paris, France and Rose Gallery in Los Angeles, California. Episode Notes
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Nov 5, 2021 • 51min
John Pilson - Episode 33
In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha talks with photographer, film maker and Yale MFA Senior Critic in Photography, (as well as interim Acting Director of Graduate Studies) John Pilson. They discuss John's artistic journey, how he landed at Yale as a grad student himself and the Yale graduate program as it is today.
https://www.instagram.com/johnpilson/
John Pilson lives and works in Brooklyn, NYC and teaches in the Yale School of Art’s Graduate Studies in Photography Program where he is a Senior Critic. He has exhibited his work at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center and at the Museum of Modern Art. Mr. Pilson has been an artist-in-residence at the Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center and the LMCC World Views Program. At the Venice Biennale in 2002 he was awarded one of four prizes given to artists in the International Exhibition. Pilson was the editor for volume one of A New Nothing published by Sleeper Studio in 2021 and he is a contributor to the upcoming book, Object Lesson: The Influence of Richard Benson, to be published by Aperture in 2022.
Find out more at https://photowork.pinecast.co

Oct 14, 2021 • 54min
Gillian Laub - Episode 32
In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha and returning guest, Gillian Laub discuss her brand new book and exhibition, Family Matters, published by Aperture and on view at ICP. Gillian explains why she asked her editor, Lesley Martin, to delay the publication of the book, just how crucial it was to her to get the text right, and her fears about releasing work that was so intensely personal.
http://www.gillianlaub.com
https://aperture.org/books/gillian-laub-family-matters/
Gillian Laub (born in Chappaqua, New York, 1975) is a photographer and filmmaker based in New York. She received a BA in comparative literature from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, before studying photography at the International Center of Photography, New York. Her works include the book Testimony (Aperture, 2007) and the book and HBO film Southern Rites (2015). Laub received a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in 2019.
Find out more at https://photowork.pinecast.co

Sep 30, 2021 • 49min
Alessandra Sanguinetti - Episode 31
In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha and Magnum photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti discuss her books, On the Sixth Day and The Adventures of Belinda and Guille and the Meaning of their Enigmatic Dreams. Alessandra and Sasha discuss what informs her work, from her rural beginnings and desire to be a storyteller to illness and a moment of questioning her own abilities.
https://alessandrasanguinetti.com
Sanguinetti was born in New York in 1968, and brought up in Argentina where she lived from 1970 until 2003. Her interest in photography began aged 9 when she poured over her mother’s collection of books by Michael Lesy, Dorothea Lange and others. She studied Anthropology at the University of Buenos Aires and General Studies at the International Center of Photography.
In 1996 she began working on a series eventually titled, On the Sixth Day, which explored the complex relationship between man and domesticated animals in the countryside in Argentina. Three years into this project, she turned her attention to two nine-year-old cousins, Belinda and Guille, whose grandmother’s farm had been the subject of Sixth Day. Sanguinetti followed the two girls’ for five years, taking pictures embarked on a life long project, collaboratively photographing the two girls as they grew up and presently as adult women. The first five years culminated in a much-acclaimed monograph, The Adventures of Belinda and Guille and the Meaning of their Enigmatic Dreams (2010).
Sanguinetti is a recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship and a Hasselblad Foundation grant. Her photographs are included in public and private collections, such as the Museum of Modern Art (NY), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has photographed for the The New York Times Magazine, LIFE, Newsweek, and New York Magazine and is currently based in San Francisco
Sanguinetti has been a member Magnum since 2007. She is currently based in California.
Find out more at https://photowork.pinecast.co

Sep 16, 2021 • 57min
Jacqueline Bates - Episode 30
In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha and Photo Director Jackie Bates discuss her work with The California Sunday Magazine and Pop Up Magazine, a live magazine meant for a live audience. Sasha and Jackie also talk about some strategies for photographers to use when approaching an editor for assignment work.
https://www.californiasunday.com
https://www.instagram.com/popupmagazine/
JACQUELINE BATES is Photography Director of The California Sunday Magazine, which won the National Magazine Award for excellence in photography two years in a row, in 2016 and 2017, and Pop-Up Magazine. Previously, she was senior photo editor of W Magazine and worked in the photo departments of ELLE, Interview, and Wired. Bates holds an MFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts, and her work has been exhibited internationally.
Find out more at https://photowork.pinecast.co

Sep 9, 2021 • 35sec
Tropical Storm Delay
Tropical Storm Ida created some delays for us. We will be back next week.
Find out more at https://photowork.pinecast.co

Aug 26, 2021 • 0sec
Tim Davis - Episode 29
In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha and photographer, Tim Davis discuss his book, I'm Looking Through You, recently published by Aperture. Tim and Sasha share some of their experiences from working in Los Angeles and Tim talks about some of the different modes of working he employed for this project.
http://www.davistim.com
https://aperture.org/books/coming-soon/tim-davis-im-looking-through-you/
Tim Davis (born in Blantyre, Malawi) lives and works in Tivoli, New York. He received a BA from Bard College, where he teaches, and an MFA from Yale University. He has presented solo exhibitions at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY New Paltz, New York; White Cube, London; Knoxville Museum of Art, Tennessee; and Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago. Several monographs have been published of his work, including The New Antiquity (2010) and My Life in Politics (Aperture, 2006). He is recipient of the 2007–8 Joseph H. Hazen Rome Prize and a 2005 Leopold Godowsky Jr. Color Photography Award.
Find out more at https://photowork.pinecast.co

Aug 12, 2021 • 59min
Catherine Opie - Episode 28
In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha and photographer Catherine Opie discuss Cathy's new comprehensive, survey monograph just published by Phaidon, the pivotal role a family friend played in Cathy's artistic trajectory, the impact her iconic picture Pervert had on her life and the reactions from those who first saw the work at the 1995 Whitney Biennial, including Sasha's own reaction.
https://www.phaidon.com/store/photography/catherine-opie-9781838662189/
https://www.regenprojects.com/artists/catherine-opie
Opie received a B.F.A. from San Francisco Art Institute in 1985, and an M.F.A. from CalArts in 1988. Solo exhibitions of her work have been organized at the Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg, Canada (2020); Marciano Foundation, Los Angeles, CA (2019); Princeton University School of Architecture, Princeton, NJ (2018); Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, Norway (2017); Nova Southeastern University Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, FL (2017); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (2016); Museum of Contemporary Art, Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA (2016); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2016); Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH (2015); Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA (2012); Socrates Sculpture Park, New York, NY (2012); Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA (2011); Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR (2010); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (2008); Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, IL (2006); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (2002); and the Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, MO (2000).
Opie has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Guggenheim Fellowship, Photography (2019), Aperture Foundation Award (2018), Smithsonian Archives of American Art Medal (2016), Women’s Caucus for Art President’s Award for Lifetime Achievement (2009). United States Artists Fellowship (2006), San Francisco Art Institute President’s Award for Excellence (2006), Larry Aldrich Award (2004), and the CalArts Alpert Award in the Arts (2003). She has been a professor of fine art at the University of California, Los Angeles, since 2001 and serves on the board of directors of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the board of trustees of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
Find out more at https://photowork.pinecast.co

Jul 29, 2021 • 50min
Donavon Smallwood - Episode 27
In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha and 2021 Aperture Portfolio Prize Winner, Donavon Smallwood discuss his prize winning work inspired by the history of Seneca Village, A 19th Century Black community destroyed to make way for what is now known as Central Park. Sasha and Donavon also talk about the importance of mentors and the influences of art and literature.
http://donavonsmallwood.com
https://aperture.org/editorial/2021-aperture-portfolio-prize-winner-donavon-smallwood/
Donavon Smallwood is a self-trained photographer who grew up in a household that emphasized literature and deep engagement with the tradition of art. For him, photography—like all art and creation—is a communion with the divine; and he uses the medium as a means of exploring humankind, imagination, essence, and nature. Smallwood holds a BA from Hunter College, New York. His first monograph, Languor, is forthcoming in June 2021.
Find out more at https://photowork.pinecast.co