Zemie Barr
Exhibitions Manager
Blue Sky Gallery
Portland, Oregon
About : Zemie Barr is the Exhibitions Manager at Blue Sky Gallery and co-director of Wolff Gallery in Portland, Oregon. She gravitates towards surreal imagery and personal narrative, as well as conceptual, experimental, and interdisciplinary approaches to the photographic medium.
For our annual issue of Aint–Bad Magazine, we have teamed up with an amazing selection of curators, editors, gallerists, educators, and publishers to offer a chance to have your work seen by some of the best names in the industry. All of our guest curators have trained eyes and know what they are looking for in a photograph. The goal of issue No.13 is to put your work directly in front of eyes of these curators. Julia Wilson recently had the chance to ask Zemie Barr a few questions concerning photography and her thoughts on the medium. Learn more about what motivates Zemie Barr and what she is thinking about today!
JW: Culturally, we seem to have placed the onus of bearing witness to our lives (more like every waking moment) on photography. Do you think in the ever-increasing surfeit of images, that we as a society, have devolved the power of photography? How can photography be revitalized?
ZB: As a visual person, I welcome the inundation of images. Granted, not every image is interesting to me, but I never get tired of looking. Plus, an image that doesn’t resonate with me was significant to the photographer for some reason, and that on its own can be fascinating, as we share more and more of our lives visually on social media. The fact that digital technology is more accessible and economical allows more people to have the chance to experiment with photography. More exposure to image-making tools teaches us to be skeptical of images as objective documents and to recognize that a photograph is just as reliable as its author. However, to make photography that rises to the top and gets noticed requires discipline and a dedication to one’s practice, however that manifests beyond a casual engagement with image making. So, no, I don’t think that the multitude of images takes away from photography’s power to inspire, inform, or document. It’s just a bit harder to take in everything, so viewers have to be more astute and selective, and I think that’s where curated art spaces and publications like Aint Bad still have a place in all of this. Providing a physical space for images can help slow down the viewing experience a bit. I enjoy looking at digital images on a screen (Instagram is one of my favorite ways to see new photography) but I’ve found that nothing compares to seeing photographs in the physical world.
JW: In addition, what makes a photograph ‘experimental?” Do you think experimental photography has to break its traditional ancestral spell of ‘the real,’ so steeped in the document? Do you have a favorite ‘experimental’ photographer or photograph?
ZB: I use the term “experimental” fairly loosely to mean work that pushes viewers to rethink what photography is and can be on a formal level. When you draw attention to the formal aspects of the medium like that, you can’t help but be aware that you are looking at a photograph that has been framed in a certain way by a particular person, rather than assuming it is an objective document. More and more it seems as if many artists are focused on these formal concerns as well as working interdisciplinarily, so this experimental genre as I’m describing it is not particularly rare, but I do think it’s often misunderstood or dismissed by those who prefer more straightforward photography (and vice-versa).
It’s difficult for me to pick just one favorite artist as an example, but Blue Sky showed Sylwia Kowalczyk’s stunning series Lethe last year so it’s fresh in my mind. When our Gallery Manager, Amanda, first showed me her work online, I was immediately drawn in by the textures and almost tangible quality of the images, even on the screen. When the exhibition arrived, this tactilily was even more striking, with her layered collage-based process of ripping, composing, and re-photographing made even more readily apparent up-close. I love how in this series Sylwia is experimenting with how a photograph is made while also visualizing the often disjointed, piecemeal process of recalling the past and the inevitable loss of memory over time.
JW: What would you say to a Martian who asks, ‘What is photography?’ What would you show them?
ZB: I would probably start by saying that a photograph is an image that represents a moment in time created using light. I would then most likely demonstrate one way to make an image using my mobile phone, because to be honest, that’s the tool I use most when creating my own work. Perhaps this Martian could be a photographer, too (or is already light-years ahead of us)!
ISSUE NO.13 – CALL FOR ENTRY
For our annual issue of Aint–Bad Magazine, we have teamed up with an amazing selection of curators, editors, gallerists, educators, and publishers to offer a chance to have your work seen by some of the best names in the industry. All of our guest curators have trained eyes and know what they are looking for in a photograph. The goal of issue No.13 is to put your work directly in front of eyes of these curators.
While there is no specific theme for this call for entry, we are asking to see your best work! Take a look at the list of curators working with us on this publication. Look into their practice, see what they like. Take a look at the Aint–Bad Archives to get a sense of the imagery that we have been publishing over the last few years both online and in print. Does your work have what it takes to be selected as a printed artist in issue No. 13? Show us! Submit today! This call for entry will end on August 10th, so while you are enjoying this hot summer weather, be sure to dig through your hard drives and select work that will impress the curators, and the world!
Each curator will select two photographers from the submissions to feature and interview for the printed publication. Fifteen curators. Thirty photographers. This issue is collaboration at it’s finest. The final result will be a beautiful, hand-curated issue of the best contemporary photography in existence today. In addition to all of the above, we hope to partner with the curators further to exhibit work from the issue in various galleries and institutions around the world.
Please let us know if you have any questions. First, take a look at our FAQs at the bottom of this page.
Submission Deadline
August 10th, 2018
Meet the Curators
Anna Walker Skillman
Owner / Director
Jackson Fine Art
Atlanta, Georgia
About : Anna Walker Skillman has been a loyal and active participant in the arts community for the last 26 years, and has owned and directed Jackson Fine Art since 2003. Exhibiting photography by both emerging and established artists, she continues her commitment to the arts in Atlanta and beyond.
Kris Graves
Director
Kris Graves Projects
New York / London
About : Kris Graves (b. 1982 New York, NY) is a photographer and publisher based in New York and London. He received his BFA in Visual Arts from S.U.N.Y. Purchase College and has been published and exhibited globally. KGP collaborates with artists to create limited edition publications and archival prints.
Rachel Reese
Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
Telfair Museums
Savannah, Georgia
About : Rachel Reese is Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Telfair Museums in Savannah, GA where she organizes temporary exhibitions and stewards the growing permanent collection of contemporary art.
Michael Itkoff
Co-Founder
Daylight Books
Durham, North Carolina
About : Michael Itkoff is an artist and Cofounder of Fabl and Daylight Books and has been deeply involved in the publishing industry for over fifteen years. Michael’s monograph,‘Street Portraits’, was published by Charta Editions in 2009.
Jennifer Murray
Executive Director
Filter Photo
Chicago, Illinois
About : Jennifer Murray is an artist, educator, and curator based in Chicago. She is the Executive Director of Filter Photo, a nonprofit festival, exhibition, and educational space. She teaches at Loyola University Chicago and is an independent artists’ consultant.
Paul Kopeikin
President
The Kopeikin Gallery
Los Angeles, California
About : The Kopeikin Gallery has been active in Los Angeles and Internationally since 1991.
Susan Laney
Director
Laney Contemporary
Savannah, Georgia
About : Susan Laney is the director of Laney Contemporary Fine Art and manager of the Jack Leigh estate. The gallery specializes in photography and contemporary art with a focus on the South. She is currently co-curating an Elaine Mayes exhibition to open in Fall, 2018 at the SCAD Museum of Art.
Alan Rothschild
Owner
The Do Good Fund
Columbus, Georgia
About : Alan is the founder of The Do Good Fund, a Georgia-based nonprofit focused on buiding and exhibiting a collection of contemporary photography from the American South. Alan is past chair of the boards of The Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA, and The Columbus Musuem, Columbus, GA.
Small Talk Collective
Womens Photography Collective
Small Talk Collective
Portland, Oregon
About : Small Talk is a photography collective comprised of seven women: Audra Osborne, Briana Cerezo, Jennifer Timmer Trail, Kelli Pennington, Kristina Hruska, Leslie Hickey, and Marico Fayre. As a group, we explore the nature of what it means to be a visual storyteller, pool resources, provide support and critique, and facilitate community events and discussions. We engage in the best kind of “small talk,” that which binds us together both as a collective and within a larger community of women and minority artists, fostering stronger work and collaboration. Our first book, We’re Always Touching by Underground Wires, was published in April 2018.
Zemie Barr
Exhibitions Manager
Blue Sky Gallery
Portland, Oregon
About : Zemie Barr is the Exhibitions Manager at Blue Sky Gallery and co-director of Wolff Gallery in Portland, Oregon. She gravitates towards surreal imagery and personal narrative, as well as conceptual, experimental, and interdisciplinary approaches to the photographic medium.
Jack Harris
Founder/Editor
The Heavy Collective
Sydney, Australia
About : Jack Harries is an independent curator and publisher based in Sydney, Australia. He is the founder and editor of Heavy, an online platform and print journal dedicated to the discussion and promotion of contemporary photography.
Paloma Shutes
Photo Editor
The California Sunday Magazine and Pop-Up Magazine
San Francisco, California
About : Paloma Shutes is Photography Editor of The California Sunday Magazine. Previously, she worked in the photo departments at Wired and GQ, where she commissioned photography recognized by the Society of Publication Designers and American Photography.
Robert Lyons
International Limited Residency MFA Photography Program Hartford Art School
University of Hartford
Portland, Oregon
About : Robert Lyons lives in Portland, Oregon. He has taught extensively in the USA and Europe at various institutions including: Emily Carr College of Art & Design, Photographic Center Northwest, International Center of Photography, and the Ostkreuzschule in Berlin. He received an M.F.A. from Yale University in 1979. Lyons has received numerous awards for his work including: NEA Survey Grant, Ford Foundation Grants, and a MacDowell Residency. His work has been widely exhibited in the United States and Europe and is represented in numerous permanent collections including: The Metropolitan Museum, Seattle Art Museum, the Henry Art Gallery, Portland Art Museum, Hallmark Collection of Photography, Nelson–Atkins Museum, and Beth Hatefutsoth Museum of the Diaspora, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Amy Elkins
Photographer / Co-founder and Co-Curator of Women in Photography
Women in Photography
Los Angeles, California
About : Amy Elkins is a photographer and the co-founder/co-curator of the website Women In Photography. Her work has been exhibited and published nationally and internationally including The High Museum in Atlanta, GA; Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna, Austria; and The North Carolina Museum of Art among others.
Sasha Wolf
Director
Sasha Wolf Projects
New York, New York
About : Sasha Wolf Projects represents emerging and mid-career, fine art photographers. Additionally, Sasha works with a larger group of artists on career guidance, book development and production and other professional practices. Sasha’s area of interest is straight photography and process work..
FAQ :
How much does it cost to submit?
You can submit up to twenty photographs for $25.
Why is there a fee to submit to this call?
We are asking each photographer to pay a submission fee in order to help with the costs of printing this publication. Printing aint cheap! Aint–Bad strives to use the best materials available to create a publication that is a work of art in itself. All funds collected from submission fees will be used to produce this issue of Aint–Bad Magazine.
Can I submit more than one project?
Yes! However, each submission fee is valid for ONE body of work. We want to see your strongest body of work. If you feel that you need to submit a second body of work, you may do so by paying another submission fee and submitting a different project.
When will I be notified if I am selected for this issue?
All selected artists will be notified by mid-August. Photographers that are chosen for this issue will be required to answer interview questions from the guest curators.
What happens if I am not chosen for print?
If you are not selected by our guest curators for print, your work will be passed to the Aint–Bad Editors, and will have an opportunity to be published on our website as an article or interview. You will be notified via email if your work is chosen for an online feature.
Can I submit a collaborative project?
Yes, you can submit a project that has been created by yourself and other artists. Please submit under the name that you would like to appear in print if you are selected.