In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha welcomes two extraordinary guests: artist and curator Justine Kurland and Marina Chao, a curator at CPW. Together, they discuss their collaboration on The Rose, an exhibition that explores collage as a feminist form, strategy, and genealogy. Featuring works by over fifty contemporary artists and key figures from the 1960s and 1970s, the exhibition examines collage as both a means of world-building and a survival strategy in times of crisis. Sasha, Justine, and Marina delve into the layered responsibilities of artists and discuss the assumption that interpreting a straightforward photograph is inherently simpler than reading and interpreting conceptual art.

https://www.justinekurland.com

https://cpw.org/staff/

https://cpw.org/exhibition/the-rose/

Justine Kurland is an artist known for her utopian photographs of American landscapes and the fringe communities, both real and imagined, that inhabit them. Her early work comprises photographs, taken during many cross-country road trips, that counter the masculinist mythology of the American landscape, offering a radical female imaginary in its place. Her recent series of collages, SCUMB Manifesto, continues to make space for women by transforming books by canonized male photographers through destruction and reparation.

Kurland’s work has been exhibited at museums and galleries in the United States and abroad. Her work is included in permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Carnegie Museum, Pennsylvania; Getty Museum, California; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, among others. She works with Higher Pictures in New York.

Marina Chao has previously held curatorial positions at the International Center of Photography and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. As assistant curator at ICP she organized the exhibition Multiply, Identify, Her (2018) and contributed to the publication Public, Private, Secret: On Photography and the Configuration of Self (Aperture and ICP, 2018). She was awarded a 2019 Curatorial Research Fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for Seeing Meaning, a project exploring the intersections of image, language, and technology.

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha sits down with photographer Harlan Bozeman to discuss his artistic evolution—from the casual nature of street photography to the immersive, collaborative, and activist approach he brings to his ongoing documentary series, Out the E. They also explore his newer project, Failure to Appear, a more introspective and formally abstract investigation into memory and Black culture. Harlan is thoughtful, honest, and generous as he reflects on both the triumphs and challenges of his complex artistic practice.

https://www.instagram.com/harlanbozeman/

Harlan Bozeman is an artist based in Central Arkansas, whose work confronts the erasure of Black legacies and centers on how this exploration influences one’s personhood. He received his M.F.A at the University of Arkansas, his Bachelor’s in Journalism at DePaul University, and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2023. Harlan is a 2024 Catch Light Global Fellow and is currently participating in the Magnum Foundation’s Counter Histories fellowship. Harlan Bozeman is Professor of Practice at Tulane University.

In this episode of PhotoWork, host Sasha Wolf has a deeply moving conversation with renowned photographer Jamel Shabazz. They talk about his lifelong love for photography and how he uses it to make a social impact. Jamel opens up about how his life experiences have shaped his approach to art and hard work. The episode also covers his book, “A Time Before Crack,” and its importance to his community at the time. It's a heartfelt conversation that goes beyond just photography. Tune in to hear the insights and stories from a photographer passionate about making a difference.

https://www.jamelshabazzphotographer.com ||| https://www.instagram.com/jamelshabazz/

Jamel Shabazz is best known for his iconic photographs of New York City during the 1980s. A documentary, fashion, and street photographer, he has authored 12 monographs and contributed to over three dozen other photography related books. His photographs have been exhibited worldwide and his work is housed within the permanent collections of The Whitney Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Fashion Institute of Technology, The Art Institute of Chicago and the Getty Museum.

Over the years, Shabazz has instructed young students at the Studio Museum in Harlem’s “Expanding the Walls” project, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture “Teen Curator’s” program, and the Bronx Museum’s “Teen Council.” He is also the 2018 recipient of the Gordon Parks award for excellence in the arts and humanitarianism and the 2022 awardee of the Gordon Parks Foundation/Steidl book prize. Jamel is also a member of the photo collective Kamoinge, and a board member of En Foco, another photo collective. His goal as an artist is to contribute to the preservation of world history and culture.