The MCSI program for Spring 2021 is “The Careful Photograph”
The Director for Spring 2021 is Associate Professor of Art Tarrah Krajnak.
“The Careful Photograph,” podcast will feature the voices of nine emerging photographers of color who are challenging, subverting, and highlighting some of the problems and paradoxes of the photographic medium in our current moment.
Each episode will focus conversation around a single photograph by the artist. What has emerged are nine episodes that can be used as a teaching tool, or a course in itself about how to look at photographs and look “with care.” Each episode ends with a praxis assignment, visual exercise, or creative prompt for listeners.
Artists Featured: Sama Alshaibi, Nydia Blas, William Camargo, Mercedes Dorame, Tommy Kha, Lorena Molina, Zora J Murff, Rafael Soldi, and Aaron Turner
First podcast release February 16th
Website for the Series: https://www.thecarefulphotograph.com/
Featured Artist: Mercedes Dorame
Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ENQtDyfLFaJh2Yb4jhBFG?si=viwXNpyvR7uAdxLlIJhU1Q
Featured Artist: Aaron Turner
Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Nu4kRAyIqqOshl0sZrO2h?si=m6xO9wbaSheSWhyJcAN36A
Featured Artist: Sama Alshaibi
Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7sGI5cAMQPvAl0CFfYu60r?si=UxPu9SmsQayOPanspgrc2Q
Featured Artist: William Camargo
Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0sNS7D1bndFNXbCfFOy4XZ?si=XrSS5xrqTw-xiOnnjCnnYQ
Featured Artist: Lorena Molina
Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3pavf8mfcENCAq1nL3tbhW
Episode 6 – “American Father”
Featured Artist: Zora J Murff
Episode Description: Zora J Murff is a photographer and educator based in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Murff joined us to talk about a photograph called “American Father” from his upcoming series “American Mother, American Father” Zora’s work grows out of his conviction that “we need to acknowledge each other, because largely, the world does not acknowledge us.” We talk about family portraiture, systemic diversity, and “making work in the absence of light,” in the words of Theaster Gates.
Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5zdirBTUgR8EB4NSW6OuaX
Episode 7 – “Revival”
Featured Artist: Nydia Blas
Episode Description: Nydia Blas joins us to talk about an untitled photograph from her upcoming book “Revival” — available for preorder at https://www.krisgravesprojects.com/book/revival. In this episode, we talk about creating intimate photographs with strangers, bell hooks’ essay “The Oppositional Gaze,” and working through a Black feminist lens.
Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/36Can8kZr8E8NYvkX73BEV
Episode 8 – “Mine IX”
Featured Artist: Tommy Kha
Episode Description: Tommy Kha is a New York and Memphis-based photographer who joined us to talk about the making of his photo “Mine IX” from “Mi Chien, Mi Loup”. We talk about Kha’s family history, his process of making photos of and with his mother, and the erasure of AAPI folks in the photographic archive.
Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6dzLhFrH9KqWD8i5eZEjzh
Episode 9 – “Imagined Futures”
Featured Artist: Rafael Soldi
Episode Description: Rafael Soldi joined us for the last episode of this season — we talk about the making of a photograph from his series, “Imagined Futures” Through this photo, we discuss the history of photo booths, queerness, immigration, and the Materiality of Rafael’s work.
Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3YA6Ge7B2Iww4PdWNMWs4Q?si=csa5Mu09SgyPLACF7jWPMw&dl_branch=1
