"Art Is A Risk. Take It"

Good things are brewing! I can feel it. Summer is close (disturbingly, it feels as though we are already in mid in August, such is the oppressive heat surrounding me as I write) and it holds promise. My lips are sealed...for now.

But I can let you know about "Human Beings II", a brilliant group exhibition exploring the disability experience that is currently on show at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago until June 20th. My piece "Spastic" was selected by artist and curator of this show, Riva Lehrer.

"Spastic" from the series "This Is You, This Is Me", 2012

The exhibition is also part of a wider festival in Chicago called "Bodies of Work", a mix of dance, theater and literature aimed at creating a greater awareness and understanding of what it means to be disabled through the arts. I particularly love and identify with their wonderful tag line "Art Is A Risk. Take It" and feel incredibly honored to be participating in their discussion. The festival runs until May 25th so not too many days left, but if you are in Chicago I encourage you to catch one or more of the remaining events.

My photograph caught the eye of a local journalist, Lindsey Peterson, and I was duly interviewed for a story "Living with Disability on Display in Rare Art Exhibit" in Medill Reports Chicago. My first foray into print...albeit digital print!

from the series "I Am My Body" 2010

All images © Claire Gilliam

Another quick word, my work from "I Am My Body" is still on view at the Art Factory in Paterson, NJ. This memorial weekend, The Paterson Arts Council is holding their fifth Annual Art Walk so it'll be the perfect opportunity to catch the show at this particularly amazing location.

Some More on Truth, and Belonging

It's funny how things in your life suddenly jump into focus seemingly from nowhere, and the wider  world connects with you in thought. It's surely just a matter of coincidence ....or is it? Maybe it's an awakening in you, and now that you are paying attention, you can see. I have experienced this quite strongly this week, since writing about the issue of truth in photography, and the sense of belonging in my past two posts. As a result I thought I'd pass on some information to you.

Firstly, it was very interesting to hear 'Morning Edition' this week, interview three different writers who have emigrated from various countries to America and write about the immigrant experience, on what it means to become American. One of the writers just happened to be Jhumpa Lahiri. You can hear all three interviews online at npr.org, where you can also find links to their readings etc.

Whilst I was waiting for my prints to dry on Wednesday I popped across the street to the ICP Museum. They currently have four different exhibitions; Cornell Capa: Concerned Photographer; Susan Meiselas: In History; America and the Tintype; and Living with the Dead: W.Eugene Smith and World War II.

 I was impressed by all four exhibitions but two particularly struck me with their need to portray the truth of conflict and atrocity to the wider world and seem particularly pertinent to my ramblings last week.

Cornell Capa (brother of Robert Capa, the photographer who took those famous shots of the Normandy beach landings during WWII) worked for Life Magazine from 1946 to 1967 and the Magnum Agency from 1954 onwards. He coined the phrase 'Concerned Photographer' feeling it was his humanitarian duty to educate and change the world through his pictures. He covered the collapse of Peron's regime in Argentina in 1955 and the struggles in Nicaragua after the assasination  of Anastasio Somoza in 1956. In 1974 he founded ICP.

Political Dissidents arrested after the assassination

of Nicaraguan dictator, Anastasio Somoza, Managua, 1956

Susan Meiselas's work is incredible but not for the faint of heart. She is known for her images of the Nicaraguan Uprising in the 1970s, but has a large body of work about Kurdistan, and Saddam Hussein's massacre of the Kurds in the 1990's. You are compelled to look, even though what you are staring at are stark images of death, violence and destruction. You feel the sorrows of these people, and are outraged and incredulous that a human being could do such things to a fellow human being. I spent a long time with these images. The interesting thing about Meiselas is that she doesn't feel the photograph is the end of the story. She includes a great deal of other documentary evidence to tell the story and will often use text, writing, and interviews together with her own imagery citing photographs as key to memory and history. There is a lot of information about her work on the ICP website as well as her own site which I have included links to. 

Photographs of 20-year-old Kamaran Adullah Sabar are held by his family at Saiwan Hill Cemetery.

He was killed in July 1991 during a student demonstration against Saddam Hussein, Kurdistan, Northern Iraq

Arbil Taymour Abdullah, 15, the only survivor of mass execution, 

shows his wound, Kurdistan, Northern Iraq 1991

All four exhibitions run until 4th January if you want to see the work for yourself.

And finally, for anyone who may be interested, ICP is holding a seminar on 12 & 13th December, entitled "What is Real:Documentary Photography and the Politics of Truth".

Some Autumn Colour

All images © Claire Gilliam

I start out today with a couple of shots of Autumn Colour, taken in my back yard........it's been quite amazing this year and I have recently had a burst of enthusiasm for getting out the digital camera, (and also the colour film!) to capture some of it. In fact I am heading out shortly to Wawayanda State Park, NJ in search of some more autumn splendour.

News this month.........

Since I last posted, I have discovered that I will not be awarded the Photographer's Fellowship Fund. Initially I was disappointed but have got over that very quickly! There's always next year, and I hoping I'll have an even stronger body of work to put forward.

 The 1st November marks the opening night of the Annual Small Works Show at Bertoni Gallery in Sugarloaf, NY. It is a small venue, but fun to enter. This will be my 3rd year exhibiting work at this gallery: three photographs from 'Family Matters'. My husband Gene will also be showing a piece, a beautiful portrait of one of his sons.

The beginning of October marked the first weekend of the six month ICP course "The Independent Project" with Chuck Kelton, master printer to the likes of Danny Lyon, Helen Leavitt, and Mary Ellen Mark to name just a few, and a tremendous teacher to boot. The time spent working with Chuck, and my fellow students is exhilarating, and exhausting, but by the time Sunday evening comes around we are all infused with huge amounts of creative energy to see us through to the next class in a few weeks time. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I am working on printing some self portraits first made a year or so ago. I am really excited by these images, and can't wait to see them completed. The talent in this class is exceptional and I am very excited to see the final portfolios of work we all produce. If it is anything like last year's class we are all in for a treat. I will leave you with couple of links below....click on them to see the work of two of my fellow classmates projects: Jorge Luis Monteagudo, and Wendy Paton. Stunning and beautiful work........