Real Photo Show with Michael Chovan-Dalton

"There's a small neighborhood that's called Wilbur Section…It's known for crime, gang activity, drug usage, murders, unsolved homicide, and this is where I am from and this is what formed and shaped me…I want to give something back to my community. I want people to acknowledge themselves and know that they are beautiful." Habiyb Ali Shu'Aib is a Trenton, NJ based photographer who has been photographing life in Trenton since he was 9. His work is a mix of portraits of neighborhoods and portraits of people. The Covid shutdown and the Black Lives Matters marches and protests have impacted the Trenton landscape and Habiyb is processing his role as a black photographer whose work speaks both universally and journalistically about his home city. Habiyb has shown at Artworks, Roebling Wire Works, and the JKC Gallery in Trenton, and he has taught photography to young adults at Mercer County College and Artworks. Recently he was featured on a panel of photographers at the BH Photo Event Space for a discussion about Photojournalism in 2020. https://beloved1photo.com/ https://www.instagram.com/beloved1___/

Here's an introduction and a short clip from PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, a new show that I am producing for Sasha about some of the more existential questions that artists think about but don't always talk about. Subscribe to it on your favorite podcast service or listen to it at photowork.podbean.com.

"You really have to understand the times we live in and…the things that you push against are the things that make you who you are." Martin Bough is a photographer, a teacher, and a Jazz musician. He has been photographing since 1962 but that is not where this story begins. Martin is 92 years old and he was already an accomplished saxophone player and a highly skilled printing press operator before he took up the camera. Martin is a storyteller and you will not hear me very much in this episode because he has a unique way of talking about his life and how he had to live with and overcome the obstacles of neglect, racism, and exploitation for most of his life. It is a story filled with pain and anger and you will hear some of that life-long pain when Martin speaks. We also talk about Martin's connection to Fundamental Photographs, the science stock photo agency I worked at for 15 years with Kip Peticolas and Richard Megna. Martin's sons, Quavin Evans and Bonin Bough, are currently cataloging his work and you can see the start of that effort on Instagram, linked below. Special thanks go to Bonin Ventures and Executive Assistant, Vanessa Ekin for helping me with the logistics of this recording with Martin Bough. Photo ©1968 Martin Bough | Ralph Abernathy speaking at Poor People's Campaign rally in Central Park shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. https://www.instagram.com/martin_bough/ https://www.instagram.com/martinboughproject/

"I can't take that (art) with me when I am gone, but I can certainly pass the message and leave behind how important art is as a tool to get better from trauma in life and just move forward." Tamara Torres is an Afro-Latina feminist artist and community activist based in Trenton, NJ. Tamara and I were going to record last year when her work was in the JKC Gallery, but she had to jet off to two more shows, one in Chicago and another in London before we had the chance. We recorded with, guest co-host and former guest, Ryann Casey in Trenton Hall, where the gallery is located, just days before the pandemic shut-down. Tamara, Ryann, and I talk a lot about who art belongs to and the class and race structure embedded in the art world including the academic art world. We also talk about the function of art as a form of expression to deal with injustice, trauma, and grief Tamara Torres is a Afro-Latina feminist international artist and community activist based out of Trenton, N.J. Growing up in Trenton, Torres survived obstacles such as homelessness, abuse, and discrimination. Her artwork has taken up the cause of social justice for abused, disadvantage, and disenfranchised women around the globe. Torres’ artwork has been exhibited in London, Edinburgh, Rome, Milan, New York City, and throughout New Jersey. Torres’ belief is, if she can change one person’s thinking through her artwork then she has done her job as an artist.. Trigger Warning: We don't get into the specifics of the abuse that Tamara faced growing up, but we do talk a little about her father's substance abuse and about Tamara moving forward from her trauma. https://www.tamaratorresart.com/ https://www.instagram.com/tamaratorresart/ This link will make sense after you listen to the show: https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/women-in-abstract-expressionism-636611

"I can tell you stories upon stories about endless amounts of people who have come through from Roy DeCarava, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Frank, Larry Clark…all the icons of the fine art photo community…everybody…Helen Levitt and Mary Ellen Mark. Just amazing artists…my father's been in it from the beginning." Ross Kasovitz grew up around some of the most well known photographers and artists for all of his life. He is the son of Peter "Itzik" Kasovitz of K&M Camera. Ross and I talk about how he came to take over the business, how he helped transform it, and how he is working to get the business back up and running after the shut-down. Ross has some great insight into how the shut-down and social distancing will effect the downstream art businesses such as retailers, printers, and framers. We also talk about the impact on photo education and what happens with analog photography and the darkroom. Ross tells a few amazing stories from his family's relationships with some of K&M's legendary customers, including one very funny story about Joel Sternfeld. https://kmcamera.com/ Be sure to also checkout a new show by my friend and former co-host Kai McBride: Kai's Photo Topic with Ross Kasovitz and Jeff Hirsch https://lunacornua.com/camera-stores/

"My grandmother's family were all incarcerated at Minidoka, one of the WWII Japanese-American camps, and I just felt like there were few communities that stood up for them at that time and with the privilege that I have now, with being fourth generation American, I certainly can speak out on those issues that were pivotal to my own family." Emily Hanako Momohara was part of a panel talk at this year's SPE Conference titled 21st Century Family. She spoke about her work, Fruits of Labor: A Legacy of Immigration and Agriculture, which draws a connection from her own great-grandparent's history on the pineapple plantations in Hawaii to the plight of today's immigrants and migrant workers. Emily also connects her work and activism to her grandmother's incarceration at Minidoka and, as Emily will say in the show, she went from being a quiet activist to a more vocal activist because of the direction this country has taken and that she is in a position to stand up and speak for others in a way that she would have wanted communities to stand up for her grandparents and great-grandparents in their time. Emily Hanako Momohara was born in Seattle, Washington where she grew up in a mixed race family. Her work centers around issues of heritage, multiculturalism, immigration and social justice. Emily has exhibited nationally, most notably at the Japanese American National Museum in a two-person show titled Sugar|Islands. She has been a visiting artist at several residency programs including the Center for Photography at Woodstock, Headlands Center for the Arts, Fine Arts Work Center and Red Gate Gallery Beijing. In 2015, her work was included in the Chongqing Photography and Video Biennial. Emily has created socially driven billboards for For Freedoms and United Photo Industries. She lives and works in Cincinnati where she is an Associate Professor of Art at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and heads the photography major. https://ehmomohara.com/ https://www.instagram.com/ehmomohara/

"There is suddenly, in some ways, a whole new branch, a whole new subject for photography…How will notions of isolation, loneliness, communication…be addressed photographically and are those photographic subjects? " Roula Seikaly and I recorded at the SPE Conference in Houston just before everything began to be cancelled and public places were shut down. I called Roula to start the show because of all of the changes since we recorded, so there is a phone conversation at the start to check-in and then the original recording follows. Roula has been involved as a writer and curator with so many great organizations that you know and love such as Humble Arts Foundation, Hyperallergic, and Saint Lucy. We talk about her show, Portraits Without People at Axis Gallery, which was cut short by the pandemic and we talk a lot about teaching, photo history, the exhibition on cliché, Tropes Gone Wild, up now on the Humble Arts site, the community at SPE, and many more things. Roula Seikaly is the Senior Editor at Humble Arts Foundation and a writer and independent curator based in Berkley California. Her writing is featured on platforms including Aperture, Saint Lucy, Strange Fire Collective, Temporary Art Review, and SF Camerawork. She has curated exhibitions at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, Triple Base Gallery, and SOMArts. Her curatorial practice addresses contemporary photography and new media, social justice efforts in contemporary art and exhibition making. She regularly contributes to print and online platforms including Hyperallergic, Photograph, BOMB, and KQED Arts. Cover Photo Credit: Preston Gannaway - Watermelons 2013 included in Portraits Without People show at Axis Gallery. https://www.prestongannaway.com/ https://www.instagram.com/redcurlsriot/ https://www.facebook.com/roula.seikaly http://axisgallery.org/home/exhibitions/portraits-without-people-juried-by-roula-seikaly/ https://www.artpractical.com/event/the-future-of-ap-art-practical-art-publishing/ http://hafny.org/ https://linktr.ee/humble

"I say that as a person who shifted from being an artist/activist to someone who has really taken the activism part of my practice and my life and put it front and center." John Freyer is an artist, activist, and Professor of Cross Disciplinary Media at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts. We met up at the Society of Photographic Education conference in Houston shortly after his panel talk titled, We Want Our Pictures Back, with Arthur Fields, Graham MacIndoe, and John. They discussed their journeys through recovery and how that impacted their photographic practices, including the depiction of people with substance use disorder and the issues of consent. John Freyer is an artist, author and educator based in Richmond Virginia. His projects include All My Life for Sale, Big Boy, Live IKEA, Free Ice Water, and Free Hot Coffee Freyer is an Associate Professor of Cross Disciplinary Media at Virginia Commonwealth University. Freyer’s practice engages accidental audiences in galleries, museums, and public spaces. He explores the role of everyday, personal objects in our lives – as commodities, fetishes, and totems and investigates how the circulation of objects and stories enrich social ties between individuals and groups. He earned his B.A. from Hamilton College and M.A. & M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. His work has been reviewed in The New Yorker, The Sunday London Times, Artforum, Print Magazine and NBC’s The Today Show. Freyer is a Fulbright Scholar, a Macdowell Colony Fellow and was an Artist in Residence at Light Work and the Fannon Center, Doha, Qatar. Freyer has brought his social practice projects – Free Ice Water and Free Hot Coffee to the TEDx stage, has exhibited at Mixed Greens Gallery in New York, the Liverpool Biennial Fringe in Liverpool, UK and was a 2018 Tate Exchange Associate at Tate Modern, London. https://www.johnfreyer.com/ https://www.instagram.com/john.d.freyer/ https://www.instagram.com/recoveryroast/ https://www.instagram.com/fotofika2020/

Matthew Leifheit | Ocean Meets the Bay "I think people are increasingly asked to choose many paths at once, so my professional practice class has been retitled, How to Become a Self-Cleaning Oven. " Matt Leifheit is a photographer, magazine editor, book editor, and publisher. He is the founder of Matte Editions which produces Matte Magazine and a growing number photo books, including Slow Morpheus by my guest co-host and friend of the show, Rachel Stern. Matt, Rachel, and I talk about Matt's latest work and future book about Fire Island which is deeply connected to gay history and culture in the United States. Matt describes this place as one in transition both physically, due to tidal changes, and culturally, because a geographically dedicated location for sexual expression is not as needed as it once was. We also talk about Matt's ideas about commitment to work and what it take to be an artist and Rachel and Matt talk about creating their new artist manifesto. https://www.matthewleifheit.com/ http://matteeditions.com/ https://www.instagram.com/mattelife/ https://www.instagram.com/matte.editions/ This episode sponsored by the School of Visual Arts MFA Photography, Video, & Related Media - Charles Traub, Chair. http://www.mfaphoto.sva.edu/ Visit realphotoshow.com @realphotoshow on Twitter/IG/FB

"When I would come up from Virginia I would go there and I would take pictures and I would be like, okay if I take a picture then he'll live until next time." Paolo Morales and I met to record at SVA during his short break from teaching at Hollins University in Roanoke Virginia. We talk about what it has been like for a New York City kid to relocate to Virginia to keep working and talk about his most recently exhibited work, The Blind Leading the Blind and Memphis Tulips, which deal with dislocation, isolation, and gentrification. We also discuss Paolo's take on his identity as an Asian American and a photographer as revealed through his work. Paolo Morales is a photographer who was born and raised in New York City and currently lives in Virginia. Exhibitions include Hamiltonian Gallery, The George Washington University, New York Asian Film Festival, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, and Capital One Bank Headquarters, among others. Residencies include Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Blue Mountain Center, and Philadelphia Photo Arts Center. He received an MFA in photography from Rhode Island School of Design and is Visiting Assistant Professor of Art at Hollins University. https://www.paolomorales.com/ https://www.instagram.com/paolojmorales/ This episode sponsored by the School of Visual Arts MFA Photography, Video, & Related Media - Charles Traub, Chair. http://www.mfaphoto.sva.edu/ Visit realphotoshow.com @realphotoshow on Twitter/IG/FB