Christopher McCall - Episode 77

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha has a warm and deeply personal conversation with photographer Gregory Halpern. They discuss his latest book, "King, Queen, Knave," published by MACK, and also revisit "ZZYZX," the 2016 monograph that significantly elevated Greg's career. Together, they emphasize the importance of knowing when to assume the roles of photographer and editor, and when to let the audience engage with the work on their own terms. http://www.gregoryhalpern.com/ ||| https://www.mackbooks.us/products/king-queen-knave-gregory-halpern Gregory Halpern is an American photographer born in Buffalo, New York. He is the author of eight monographs, including King, Queen, Knave (2024), Omaha Sketchbook (2019), and ZZYZX (2016), his fantastical book of photographs of Los Angeles, now in its fourth edition. Halpern is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a member of Magnum Photos. His photographs are held in the collections of several major museums, including The Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, and the Fotomuseum Antwerpen. His work has been featured in group exhibitions at the International Center of Photography, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the George Eastman Museum, the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Fotomuseum Antwerpen, and Pace/MacGill in New York. He holds a BA in History and Literature from Harvard University and an MFA from California College of the Arts. He lives in Rochester, New York with his wife, Ahndraya Parlato, and their two daughters. He is a professor of photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology. This podcast is sponsored by picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom. https://phtsdr.com

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha is joined by Pauline Vermare, Curator of Photography at the Brooklyn Museum, and Lesley A. Martin, Executive Director of Printed Matter. They discuss their collaborative efforts on "I’m So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now," published by Aperture. This publication offers a counterpoint, complement, and challenge to historical precedents and the established canon of Japanese photography. Lesley and Pauline share their connections to Japanese society and their interest in the representation of women in photography. Together, Sasha, Lesley, and Pauline explore how they balanced the academic and historical aspects of their work with the artistic appeal of a photobook that highlights the contributions of Japanese women photographers. https://aperture.org/books/im-so-happy-you-are-here-japanese-women-photographers-from-the-1950s-to-now/ ||| https://www.instagram.com/la.martin_/ ||| https://www.instagram.com/paulinevermare/ Pauline Vermare is the Phillip and Edith Leonian Curator of Photography, Brooklyn Museum. She was formerly the cultural director of Magnum Photos NY, and a curator at the International Center of Photography (ICP), The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, in Paris. She sits on the boards of the Saul Leiter Foundation and the Catherine Leroy Fund. Lesley A. Martin is executive director of Printed Matter. Prior to that, she was the creative director of Aperture, founding publisher of The PhotoBook Review, and co-founder of the Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards. She has edited more than one-hundred and fifty books of photography, including An-My Lê’s Small Wars; Illuminance by Rinko Kawauchi; LaToya Ruby Frazier: The Notion of Family; and Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama. Martin has curated several exhibitions of photography, including The Ubiquitous Image; the New York Times Magazine Photographs, co-curated with Kathy Ryan; Aperture Remix, a commission-based exhibition celebrating Aperture’s sixtieth anniversary; and most recently, I'm So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers Since the 1950s, co-curated with Pauline Vermare and Mariko Takeuchi. She received the Royal Photographic Society award for outstanding achievement in photographic publishing in 2020, and has been a visiting critic at the Yale University Graduate School of Art since 2016. This podcast is sponsored by picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom. https://phtsdr.com Image © Mikiko Hara

In this episode of PhotoWork, host Sasha Wolf talks with the three recipients of the Foundation's inaugural Fellowship: Molly D'Arcy, Brandon Holland, and Will Suiter. They each share how the six-month mentorship impacted their artistic practice and what the experience meant to them personally. It's an honest and transparent peek into the evolving practices and processes of these three young artists. Molly D’Arcy is an American artist (b.1997) living and working in New England. She began making short films as a child, an interest which blossomed into a passion for darkroom photography. Her work centers around themes of journeying and destination. Spirituality has been part of her life since childhood and continues to play a central role in her photographic practice today. https://photowork.foundation/molly-darcy/ Brandon Holland is a New Orleans-born art and documentary photographer. His work is concerned with environment, kinship, blackness, and the delicate nature of things. He uses photography as a means of preservation and connecting with the world around him. He splits time working and living in Baltimore and New Orleans. https://photowork.foundation/brandon-holland/ Will Suiter is an artist working in photography, based in Humboldt County, California. He was born 1999 in the San Francisco Bay Area suburbs, and grew up sharing time between the urban SF Bay Area and rural Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. He moved to rural Humboldt County in 2017 to study forestry at Humboldt State University, and the isolated, remote geography and rural culture of the region has informed much of his work since. https://photowork.foundation/will-suiter/ This podcast is sponsored by picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom. https://phtsdr.com

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, host Sasha sits down with photographer and publisher Matthew Genitempo to discuss his latest book, "Dogbreath," published by Trespasser. Together, they explore how "Dogbreath" marks a departure from his earlier work, "Jasper," particularly in terms of personal narrative and photographic language. Matthew also shares insights about a pivotal critique session when he was in graduate school that significantly influenced his working methods and mindset. https://www.matthewgenitempo.com | https://trespasser.co/shop/dogbreath Matthew Genitempo is a photographer and publisher living and working in Texas. He earned his MFA from the University of Hartford. In 2017 he co-founded the publishing imprint Trespasser Books. Matthew has released three monographs, Jasper (Twin Palms 2018), Mother of Dogs (Trespasser 2022), and Dogbreath (Trespasser 2024). This podcast is sponsored by picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom. https://phtsdr.com

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha interviews photographer Todd Hido about his latest book, "The End Sends Advance Warning," published by Nazraeli Press. They explore how the book defies its title, focusing instead on themes of hope and beauty. Additionally, they discuss the creation of Todd's recent survey show at Casemore Gallery, which is the most extensive presentation of his work to date. Despite being a returning guest, Todd shares fresh insights about his mentors and his deep passion for photography, and he announces a new book towards the end of the episode. http://www.toddhido.com | https://www.nazraeli.com/complete-catalogue/the-end-sends-advance-warning | https://casemoregallery.com/exhibitions/56-todd-hido-some-polar-expiation-an-enormous-cat-a-complete/overview/ Todd Hido (born in Kent, Ohio, 1968) wanders endlessly, taking lengthy road trips in search of imagery that connects with his own memories. Through his unique landscape process and signature color palette, Hido alludes to the quiet and mysterious side of suburban America—where uniform communities provide for a stable façade—implying the instability that often lies behind the walls. His photographs are in over 50 private and public collections around the world, including the Getty, Whitney Museum of American Art, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Pier 24 Photography holds the archive of all of his published works. Hido has published more than a dozen books, including the award-winning monographs House Hunting(2001) and Excerpts from Silver Meadows (2013). His Aperture titles include Todd Hido on Landscapes, Interiors, and the Nude (2014) and Intimate Distance: Twenty-Five Years of Photographs (2016). He returned to the cinematic landscape photography that he first explored with Roaming (2003) with Bright Black World(2018), and followed it up with The End Sends Advance Warning (2024). Hido is also an avid photobook collector, and in the last 30 years has created a notable collection of over 8,500 titles. His work has influenced multiple Hollywood productions, such as Spike Jones's Her, Sam Levinson's Euphoria, Issa López's True Detective: Night Country, and the upcoming directorial project by Jason Momoa, Chief of War. He is also one of the subjects of Momoa's documentary project on creative makers, On The Roam. This podcast is sponsored by picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom. https://phtsdr.com

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha and Dr. Sarah Kennel, the Aaron Siskind Curator of Photography at the VMFA, discuss in detail the acquisition process at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. They also delve into the collaborative efforts required to produce a large traveling exhibition, specifically A Long Arc: Photography and the American South since 1845, which is coming to the VMFA in October 2024. This episode reveals many of the inner workings of museum operations and helps to demystify the various processes through which artwork is acquired and shown. https://vmfa.museum | https://www.instagram.com/sarah_kennel/ Dr. Sarah Kennel joined VMFA in 2021 as the inaugural Aaron Siskind Curator of Photography and Director of the Raysor Center for Works on Paper. A specialist in nineteenth and twentieth-century photography, Kennel has curated, published, and presented widely on topics ranging from nineteenth-century French photography and historic photographic processes to European modernism and understudied women photographers. She has written extensively on the relationship between painting and photography in nineteenth-century France and, more recently, Kennel has focused on photography in the American South. This podcast is sponsored by picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom. https://phtsdr.com

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha has an in-depth conversation with photographer Ahndraya Parlato about her book, "Who is Changed and Who is Dead," published by MACK. Ahndraya shares the life-altering events that inspired her to create this examination of motherhood, which is filled with both humor and grief. Sasha and Ahndraya discuss the book's use of text and image and how Ahndraya had to let go of preconceived notions of what a photo book should be. Ahndraya also gives us a wonderful sneak peek into her next body of work. https://www.ahndrayaparlato.com/ | https://www.mackbooks.us/products/who-is-changed-and-who-is-dead-br-ahndraya-parlato?_pos=8&_sid=0db4ce9c9&_ss=r Ahndraya Parlato has a BA from Bard College and an MFA from California College of the Arts. She has published three books, including: Who Is Changed and Who Is Dead, (Mack Books, 2021), A Spectacle and Nothing Strange, (Kehrer Verlag, 2016), East of the Sun, West of the Moon, (a collaboration with Gregory Halpern, Études Books, 2014). Additionally, Ahndraya has contributed texts to Double feature (St. Lucy Books, 2024), Photo No-Nos: Meditations on What Not to Shoot (Aperture, 2021), and The Photographer’s Playbook (Aperture, 2014). She has exhibited work at: Spazio Labo, in Bologna, Italy, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, PA, The Aperture Foundation, New York, NY, and The Swiss Institute, Milan, Italy. Ahndraya has been awarded residencies at Light Work and The Visual Studies Workshop, grants from Light Work, the New York Foundation for the Arts and is a 2024 Guggenheim Foundation Fellow. Her most recent project, TIME TO KILL is forthcoming from Mack Books. Ahndraya teaches at the Rochester Institute of Technology. This podcast is sponsored by picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom. https://phtsdr.com

In the first-ever episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf recorded in front of an audience, Sasha and photographer Rahim Fortune gathered at picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom to discuss his new book, Hardtack, published by Loose Joints. Sasha and Rahim delve into the significance of collaboration, with Rahim emphasizing the various forms of collaboration involved at every stage of the book's creation. This includes the individuals Rahim photographed, the production team at picturehouse, and the editing process with Sarah Chaplin Espenon at Loose Joints. https://www.rahimfortune.com | https://loosejoints.biz/collections/current-titles/products/hardtack Rahim Fortune is a visual artist and educator from the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. He uses photography to ask fundamental questions about American identity. Focusing on the narratives of individual families and communities, he explores shifting geographies of migration and resettlement and the way that these histories are written on the landscapes of Texas and the American South. Fortune’s previous book, I Can’t Stand to See You Cry, was published by Loose Joints in 2021 and was the winner of the Rencontres d'Arles Louis Roederer Discovery Award 2022. His work has been featured in exhibitions worldwide and many permanent collections, including the High Museum in Atlanta, GA, LUMA Arles, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and The Boston Museum of Fine Art. This podcast is sponsored by picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom. https://phtsdr.com

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha talks with Christopher McCall, the Founding Director of Pier 24 Photography. They discuss the history of Pier 24, how he transformed the raw space to create a unique gallery experience, and the final exhibition, Turning the Page, which runs until the end of 2024. Additionally, they touch on his upcoming book, Photo Book Photo List, which will be published by Pier 24. This episode is packed with valuable life lessons, experiences, and wisdom from both Chris and Sasha, offering insights for artists at every stage of their careers. https://pier24.org | https://www.instagram.com/thechrismccall Christopher McCall is the Director of Pier 24 Photography in San Francisco, one of the largest exhibition spaces devoted to the medium. In 2002 McCall received an MFA in photography from California College of the Arts, studying under Jim Goldberg and Larry Sultan. After teaching for seven years, he joined Pier 24 Photography in 2009 as the founding director, assisting in the conceptualization of the organization’s mission and oper- ating principles. Since opening the doors of Pier 24 in 2010, McCall has overseen the presentation of thirteen exhibitions and spearheaded the creation of the Larry Sultan Visiting Artist Program, a collaboration with California College of the Arts. This podcast is sponsored by picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom. https://phtsdr.com

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, substitute host, Michael Chovan-Dalton continues his Chico Review recordings, this time with photographer, Ben Brody. Ben joined Michael to talk about his two books, Attention Servicemember and 300m both published by Mass Books which was started by Ben and Peter van Agtmael. Ben and Michael talk about Ben’s experience as an Army photographer during the American war in Iraq and why he chose to be a civilian freelance photographer during the war in Afghanistan. Ben talks about how Attention Servicemember and 300m are part of his self-reckonining with his role in creating propaganda. They also talk about his work with The GroundTruth Project, an organization dedicated to local journalism in under covered communities. Note: Attention Servicemember was first published by Red Hook Editions. https://www.photobrody.com - https://www.massbooks.co Ben Brody is an independent photographer, educator, and picture editor working on long-form projects related to the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their aftermath. He is the Director of Photography for The GroundTruth Project and Report for America, and a co-founder of Mass Books. His first book, Attention Servicemember, was shortlisted for the 2019 Aperture - Paris Photo First Book Award and is now in its second edition. Ben holds an MFA from Hartford Art School's International Low-Residency Photography program. He resides in western Massachusetts.