Yolanda del Amo talks about Archipelago

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Throughout the month of January, Flak Photo has featured photographs in it WEEKEND series by Yolanda del Amo from her ongoing series Archipelago. Yolanda makes images that eloquently depict moments in human relationships when people, although in the presence of another or others, exist in their own interior worlds. At these times, Yolanda’s subjects seem to inhabit an in-between space, free of words but full with the possibility of emotional tensions and dramas. Archipelago highlights these important times when the real work of keeping relationships together or driving them apart takes place. I recently had an opportunity to talk with Yolanda over email about her images, her residency at Light Work, and other events that have driven the series.

Mary Goodwin: Archipelago shows us a common and universal characteristic of our relationships that often goes unnoticed. I can imagine an ah-ha experience when you first became aware of the power inherent in these moments. How did you start making these photographs?

Yolanda del Amo: Archipelago grew out of a body of work called Domestica, which explored the relationship between a maid and her lady. I was interested in the power distribution between these two women (better say these two roles), and how the spaces they occupied reflected their personal territories. But after a while I felt the limitations of dealing just with two characters and I decided to open up the work to other people, which felt wonderful as it offered endless possibilities. The power of these moments has always fascinated me—its complexity, beauty, and sometimes awkwardness—but the ah-ha revelation for me was more about how photography as a medium could capture them effectively.

MG: I recently returned from photo LA where your image Edith, Juan was hanging in the Light Work booth. After enjoying the image and perusing the work available in Contact Sheet 159, several people referenced the work of Edward Hopper in connection with Archipelago. Has Hopper entered into your thinking about the series? What artists have influenced you in your work?

YDA: Yes, Hopper is definitely an important visual reference for me, and I have been influenced by his representation of spaces —impeccably clean, almost stark—his use of light, and the psychology of his characters who are intriguely immersed in their own worlds. Another painter who has influenced me is David Hockney, in particular his series of double portraits. But probably the most important influence for me has been the work of the German choreographer Pina Bausch for her focus on human relationships and their complexities. While I lived in Cologne during my college years, I was lucky to see many of her dance theater pieces in Wuppertal, where her company is based.

MG: Many people don’t realize that you came to photography after completing advanced studies in Mathematics and a whole career in business. How did photography come to have such a prominent place in your life?

YDA: I was working in 1999 at a German insurance corporation as a mathematician, and the company had relocated me to Argentina. It was in Buenos Aires where I took my first photography classes, and I knew from the very beginning that I had found something meaningful. I had no choice but to follow my drive! I moved to the United States, completed an MFA at Rhode Island School of Design and have been making work and teaching since then. Looking back, I am myself surprised of my sense of determination because I had no idea what I was getting into, but I am very glad I switched my focus and my career because, despite the struggle of being an artist, I am much happier now.

MG: You were a Light Work Artist-in-Residence in 2009. How did you hear about the residency program, and how did your time at Light Work and subsequent exhibition and Contact Sheet 159 help shape the trajectory for Archipelago?

YDA: I had only heard good things about Light Work from friends and colleagues in the field and was very excited to be accepted into the residency program. It was one of the most productive months in my life! You and the rest of the staff are incredibly supportive, and being all artists, you can relate on a very different level to the work and the process. I was doubly honored when I was offered a show at the main gallery, and the breadth of exposure that the publication of Contact Sheet has offered to Archipelago is invaluable.

MG: How have the images in Archipelago evolved over the years as you’ve made them in terms of your approach as a director of the subjects and in the choice of the settings?

YDA: During the first years of Archipelago I shot almost exclusively indoors because I needed some structure to frame the images. In the last years I have incorporated outdoor shots, which has been challenging but also liberating. I have also switched from 4 x 5 to 5 x 7 negatives, a more rectangular format that has opened up new possibilities of how the sitters relate to the space their share. The longer I have been shooting, the more I enjoy the collaborative aspect of the work. All the sitters I work with are people I know, and although I am indeed the director of subjects and locations, I listen and watch very carefully to what they bring to the scene. I really love the magic mix between control and unpredictability in the process.

MG: And meanwhile, you continue to create new images for the series. What are your upcoming plans for the series in terms of shooting, exhibition, and publication?

YDA: I have some ideas for shooting this year, and currently I am applying for funding as they involve some traveling. A solo exhibition of my work will open next week at the Pascal Gallery at Ramapo College. Ultimately, my goal is to publish Archipelago as a book, and I hope that all the support and exposure that I have received from Light Work will help me achieve that goal.

MG: Thank you very much for the conversation about your work, Yolanda!

Images: Aron, Helen, Laura, 2008; Edith, Juan, 2007; Anabel, Paula, Clara, 2008

Jonathan Katz to speak at Light Work

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Light Work, along with Syracuse University’s Hendrick’s Chapel and LGBT Resource Center, continues the dialog about censorship, freedom of speech, and First Amendment rights by hosting a lecture by Jonathan Katz on February 7. Katz has been speaking all over the country about these issues since the removal of David Wojnarowicz’s A Fire in My Belly from the National Portrait Gallery exhibition Hide/Seek, which he co-curated. Katz will speak about his experiences with the exhibition and the controversy, followed by a question and answer session that will allow the audience to directly participate in the discussion.

For those not able to attend the event, we’ll be posting a video to our website that will document the lecture and subsequent discussion.

Please help us spread the word about the event, and the importance of keeping the issue of free speech in the forefront of our national dialog, by emailing our press release to your friends, posting it to your Facebook, and telling us what you think about these issues right here in our comments.

Here is the full text of our press release about the event. You can also download it as a pdf by clicking here.

Jonathan Katz Lecture
Ending the Loud Silence: Hide/Seek the Future of Queer Exhibitions and Freedom of Speech
February 7, 2011, 6:00pm
Watson Auditorium

Light Work, Hendricks Chapel, and the LGBT Resource Center are pleased to announce a lecture by Jonathan Katz, co-curator of the important Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture. Co-curated by Katz and David C. Ward, this monumental exhibition is the first to focus on sexual difference in the making of modern American portraiture. The exhibition has been praised for its groundbreaking scholarship by a major museum and has drawn international attention when a video in the exhibition by David Wojnarowicz was censored and removed from the exhibition under pressure from a right wing religious group and conservative politicians.

The exhibition considers such themes as the role of sexual difference in depicting modern America; how artists explored the fluidity of sexuality and gender; how major themes in modern art—especially abstraction—were influenced by social marginalization; and how art reflected society’s evolving and changing attitudes toward sexuality, desire, and romantic attachment. According to Blake Gopnik of The Washington Post, the exhibition features a “…fascinating world, and powerful art…” He goes on to state that, “Scholars Jonathan Katz and David Ward have mounted one of the best thematic exhibitions in years.”  According to Holland Cotter of The New York Times, “With the exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, one of our federally funded museums, the National Portrait Gallery, here in the city of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ has gone where our big private museums apparently dare not tread, deep into the history of art by and about gay artists.”

The exhibition attracted international attention when Wojnarowicz’s video A Fire in My Belly was censored and removed from the exhibition by G. Wayne Clough, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, after receiving complaints from William Donohue, president of the Catholic League as well as John Boehner, Republican Speaker of the House, and Eric Cantor, Republican Majority Leader. The removal of the video from the exhibition has sparked public outcry from arts organizations and activists around the world, including the Tate Modern in London, the Whitney Museum and MOMA in New York City, and SF MOMA in San Francisco, among many others. Light Work joined these protests in early December by organizing a screening of Fire in My Belly on December 14 in collaboration with the ArtRage Gallery, which included a public forum about the work. Light Work will continue to show the video until February 13, the date the exhibition is scheduled to close in Washington, DC.

Light Work presents this event as an opportunity for Katz to discuss the process of curating this important exhibition, its significance, as well as the controversy surrounding the entire exhibition and Wojnarowicz’s video. In addition, there will be a question-and-answer session with Katz and audience members through which Light Work hopes to continue the dialogue about this exhibition, censorship, and the controversy.

Jonathan Katz, a scholar of post war art and culture from the vantage point of sexuality, is an associate professor and director of the visual studies doctoral program at SUNY Buffalo, as well as honorary research faculty at the University of Manchester, UK; and a guest curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery. Known as an activist academic, Katz was the founding director of the Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies at Yale University—the first queer studies program in the Ivy League—and founding chair of the very first Department of Gay and Lesbian Studies in the United States, at City College of San Francisco in 1990. He co-founded the activist group Queer Nation, San Francisco, and the San Francisco National Queer Arts Festival, and founded the Queer Caucus of the College Art Association. David C. Ward is a historian of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

The website http://hideseek.org offers an archive of information about the censorship of A Fire in My Belly as well as a growing list of arts institutions that are hosting events and screenings in support of Wojnarowicz and freedom of artistic expression.

Limited free parking for this event is available in Booth Garage—please RSVP to Light Work (315-443-1300). The event is free and open to the public. Gallery hours to view the video are Sunday to Friday, 10am–6pm, and by appointment. To schedule an appointment, please call 315-443-1300. Light Work is closed during school holidays.

Light Work invites groups and individuals to schedule tours and gallery talks of the facility. Light Work is a non-profit, artist-run organization dedicated to the support of artists working in photography and electronic media. Light Work is a member of CMAC, the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse University.

For more information, please contact Jessica H. Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Caption: David Wojnarowicz, A Fire In My Belly (Film In Progress) and A Fire In My Belly Excerpt, 1986-87
Super 8mm film transferred to video (black and white and color, silent), 13:06 min. and 7:00 min. Courtesy of The Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P.P.O.W Gallery, New York and The Fales Library and Special Collections/ New York University.

In search of the Light Work Collection

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Every once and while we just like to take a spin through the Light Work Collection, searching on a term to see what it turns up. Here’s a fantastic image by Chan Chao, titled Tin Taw Liang, that came up when searching on the word democracy. Give yourself a treat on Friday afternoon (or whenever you’re reading this), do a couple of searches, and post your favorites in the comments.

From the Files: Aaron Siskind

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The Light Work files are full of great postcards (remember those?) like this one from Aaron Siskind to Jeffrey Hoone in 1986. Siskind, who was 82 at the time, had just closed an exhibition at the Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery, and this card marks the safe return of the work from the show. A little piece of Light Work, photographic, and communications history all rolled into one little card.

Siskind’s exhibition, which is the subject of Menschel Gallery Catalog #3, was comprised of new images, all taken from 1980-1984. In the catalog, Hoone writes, “In this new work he continues to abstract the depth of visual poetry present in the objects that surround us by conveying photographically things felt as things seen. This conviction has been the hallmark of Siskind’s work for the past 40 years and this contribution will forever allow us to consider the essence of photography’s power as more than merely the accurate and faithful recording of visual facts.”

We’d love to hear your thoughts about Siskind and his work in the comments!

—Mary Goodwin, Associate Director

Marna Bell: Hudson Past/Perfect

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Marna Bell–Hudson Past/Perfect
Community Darkrooms Gallery
Exhibition Dates: January 18–March 8, 2011
Gallery Reception (at Light Work): February 3, 5:00–7:00pm

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition Hudson Past/Perfect, featuring photographs by Marna Bell, the winner of the Light Work/Community Darkrooms Members Juried Exhibition competition. Juror Stephen Mahan, director of the Photography & Literacy Project at Syracuse University, picked Bell as the winner, and awarded five Honorable Mentions to Jeremy Decharzo, Andy Frost, Genevieve Marshall, Meghan Schaetziel, and Mindy Lee Tarry.

In 2005, after the sudden death of her mother, Bell picked up her camera after a twenty year hiatus from painting and began photographing nature. Her focus in both painting and photography has been on reclaiming visions of the past and her connection to nature.

According to Bell, “Many trips back home to New York City on the train have helped me remember lost pieces of time where life seemed simpler and less veiled. It was a natural progression for me to record the cycle of change in my Hudson Past/Perfectseries. By revisiting the same landscapes in different seasons and under different weather conditions, I was able to capture the past before it disappeared. I am drawn to the meditative quality of the Hudson River and the sacred aspects of the natural environment.” The series is reminiscent of a more romantic era, when God and Nature were viewed as one.

About the Artist
Marna Bell received her BFA from Pratt Institute and her MFA from Syracuse University. Her paintings and photography have been featured in exhibitions throughout New York State as well as at the Brenda Taylor Gallery in San Diego, CA. She received the Best in Photography Award in the Manhattan Arts International Online Exhibition, The Healing Power of Art (New York, NY).

Also on view at this time is Penumbra, a suite of three video installations by Demetrius Oliver, and theTransmedia Photography Annual exhibition, featuring photographs by seniors in Syracuse University’s Department of Transmedia, part of the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Gallery hours for this exhibition are Sunday to Friday, 10am–6pm, and by appointment. To schedule an appointment, please call 315-443-1300. Both the exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. Paid parking is available in Booth Parking Garage.

Light Work invites groups and individuals to schedule tours and gallery talks of the exhibition and facility. Light Work is a non-profit, artist-run organization dedicated to the support of artists working in photography and electronic media. Light Work is a member of CMAC, the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse University.

For more information, please contact Jessica Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Demetrius Oliver: Penumbra

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Demetrius Oliver–Penumbra
Exhibition Dates: January 18–March 8, 2011
Gallery Reception (at Light Work): February 3, 5:00–7:00pm

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition Penumbra, a suite of three video installations by Demetrius Oliver, which reconnects viewers to their place in the universe by playing with earthly and human forms against a backdrop of the cosmos. In Penumbra, explorations of light and scale, movement and the rhythm of the natural world suggest journeys both physical and metaphysical.


Light Work Gallery: Mare, January 18–March 8, 2011

In Mare, a circular image of a wave crashes against an unnamed shore; the image spins within itself and simultaneously orbits the gallery. As the image rotates, the lines of the wave begin to resemble the layered surface of a Jovian planet such as Jupiter. Visitors to the gallery become part of the work as the projection reflects off their bodies. Joining the sea with both corporal and heavenly phenomena, the installation recreates the awe felt when looking at the night sky and the increasing smallness of human existence within the ever-expanding universe.

Oliver
Demetrius Oliver
Perigee

Urban Video Project Everson Site:
Perigee, February 2011

At the Everson Museum of Art Urban Video Project site, Oliver will install the workPerigee, which echoes the same circular image of a wave that appears in Mare. A perigee occurs when one orbiting body, in this case the moon, is closest to earth, which makes tidal waves generally stronger. The movement of the video describes the rotation of both planets and the alternate rising and falling of the sea. Its projection on the site, framed perfectly against the stars, transports the viewer into the celestial continuum where earth and its inhabitants are affected by larger bodies in space.

Oliver
Demetrius Oliver
Penumbra

Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery (Schine Student Center): 
Penumbra, January 18–March 3, 2011

Penumbra, which will be installed in the Menschel Gallery at Schine Student Center, is a three-channel video in which Oliver’s head acts as a stellar body fading away as another body emerges to conceal it. The three videos play simultaneously, allowing Oliver to stretch time, the body, and space as the circle of his head becomes both a macrocosm of the universe and a microcosm of the body.

About the Artist
Demetrius Oliver lives and works in New York, NY. He received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI and his MFA from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA , and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ME. From has participated in artist residencies at the Core Program, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX and The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY. Oliver was a Light Work Artist-in-Residence in 2009. His work has been exhibited widely, with recent solo exhibitions at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; Rhodes College, Memphis, TN; D’Amelio Terras, NY; the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, GA; and The Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston. Most recently his workJupiter was installed on the Highline Gallery in New York City.

Also on view at this time is the Transmedia Photography Annual exhibition, featuring photographs by seniors in Syracuse University’s Department of Transmedia, part of the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Gallery hours for these exhibitions are Sunday to Friday, 10am–6pm, and by appointment. To schedule an appointment, please call 315-443-1300. Both the exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. Paid parking is available in Booth Parking Garage.

Light Work invites groups and individuals to schedule tours and gallery talks of the exhibition and facility. Light Work is a non-profit, artist-run organization dedicated to the support of artists working in photography and electronic media. Light Work is a member of CMAC, the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse University.

For more information, please contact Jessica Heckman at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Transmedia Photography Annual Exhibition: Best of Show Award

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Transmedia Photography Annual Exhibition–Best of Show Award
Exhibition Dates: January 18–March 8, 2011

Light Work is pleased to announce the Transmedia Photography Annual exhibition, featuring photographs by seniors in Syracuse University’s Department of Transmedia, part of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. For this exhibition, Light Work has collaborated with Innova Art Ltd to award a Best of Show and two Honorable Mentions.

Juror Scott Conarroe, a visiting artist from Canada, selected the recipients of the Best of Show Award and two Honorable Mentions. John O’Toole, recipient of the Best of Show Award, will receive $700 worth of Innova paper, plus $200 worth of digital printing at Community Darkrooms. The two recipients of the Honorable Mention Award, Genevieve Marshall and Varvara Mikushkina, will each receive $150 worth of Innova paper. Other finalists in the competition were Soloman David Schechman and Mary Gannon.

According to Conarroe, “It was a real pleasure for me to spend time with the work in this show. The quality of the images and the scope of inquiry were more than interesting; this is an inspiring collection of photographs. I am particularly grateful to John, Genevieve, and Varvara for this early glimpse into what I expect will be significant practices in the years to come. Congratulations and thank you to everyone who contributed to this Transmedia exhibition.”

John O’Toole — Best of Show Award
O’Toole’s series What Was Once Familiar… depicts Catholic Memorial, an all boys private Catholic school in Massachusetts for grades 7-12 attended by the artist. These images explore schools both as places that are consistently in a state of flux, with students graduating and teachers moving on, but also as environments that remain constant and familiar to the community of people that grow together within these institutions.

Genevieve Marshall—Honorable Mention Award
Marshall’s work investigates the complexity of feelings she has toward her father and their relationship. Since her parents divorced in 1995, her father has never owned a home, and as a result, their time together is spent occupying public space (diners, job sites, etc.). Marshall uses this series as an opportunity to assess her place within his world, and create meaning from the spaces that meant nothing to her.

Varvara Mikushkina—Honorable Mention Award
Mikushkina photographs her family, capturing how certain immigrant tendencies are inescapable. The work communicates what she likes to call, “the immigrant soul.” The images communicate an understanding of intimacy and the invitation to someone’s cultural home, where that specific culture is sustained within foreign grounds that it inhabits.

About Innova Art Ltd:
When it comes to color-critical digital printing, INNOVA delivers to the photographer, artist, print production house and print buyer. INNOVA’s un-paralleled line of fine art digital printing products include award winning FibaPrint®, Photo, Fine Art, Eco-solvent and Book Art papers, available in cut sheets and rolls up to 60″ wide. Innova also offers internationally recognized canvas, new INNOVA Art Cards, and the patented JetMaster Display System. For more information about INNOVA, visit www.InnovaArt.com

Also on view at this time is the exhibition Penumbra, a suite of three video installations by Demetrius Oliver, which reconnects viewers to their place in the universe by playing with earthly and human forms against a backdrop of the cosmos. In Penumbra, explorations of light and scale, movement and the rhythm of the natural world suggest journeys both physical and metaphysical.

Gallery hours for these exhibitions are Sunday to Friday, 10am–6pm, and by appointment. To schedule an appointment, please call 315-443-1300. Both the exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. Paid parking is available in Booth Parking Garage.

Light Work invites groups and individuals to schedule tours and gallery talks of the exhibition and facility. Light Work is a non-profit, artist-run organization dedicated to the support of artists working in photography and electronic media. Light Work is a member of CMAC, the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse University.

For more information, please contact Jessica H. Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Organizing the Light Work Collection

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In 1985 we put together an exhibition from our collection titled Light Work: Photography Over the 70s and 80s. The exhibition opened at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse and then traveled to several locations throughout the state for the next two years. Most of the work in the exhibition was donated to us by artists who had participated in our Artist-in-Residence program (AIR).

We started the AIR program in 1976, and it continues today as our most important contribution to the field. We currently invite 12-15 artists per year to participate in the program with the goal of giving artists the opportunity to do what they do best—make new work. Each artist comes to Syracuse for a month and is provided housing, a private darkroom or computer workspace, 24 hour access to our lab and a $4,000 artist fee. Their only obligation is to work on the project of their choice without any distractions or additional requirements. At the end of their residency each artist is asked to donate a few examples of their work to our collection, and we publish a selection of their work in a special annual edition of our journal Contact Sheet. (Image: Gary Metz, from the series Quaking Aspen, Populous Tremuloides.)

When we did the retrospective exhibition in 1985 we realized that we had a unique collection that would continue to grow along with our AIR program. So in 1992 when we began to catalogue and digitize the collection. Our goal was to make the collection accessible and searchable from a number of different perspectives. In 1992 the database technology, and especially the image data base technology, was nothing like it is today. There was no Internet, and the founders of Google were in grade school. We were able to digitize the work in the collection using Kodak’s Photo CD service where you sent Kodak 100 slides and they sent you back a CD filled with digital files. Kodak also had an image database program called Shoebox, and we used that as our first database.

We created a number of fields in the database to help us organize the work with obvious functions like artist’s name, dates, titles, catalogue numbers, and where the print was located in the collection. Because it was a collection of images, we also wanted to try and develop a way to search the collection in order to find works that might relate to one another. One way to do that was to use a keyword field that might include general descriptions of the image like, portrait, landscape, abstract, etc. We thought that this system was too limited for a number of reasons, including the general nature of the descriptions, and the objectivity of whoever had the task of assigning keywords to each image.

In the original Shoebox database there was a long text field where we could add essays about the artists, artists statements, or just about any kind of description about the artist or the image. We had already been writing essays about each artist for publication in Contact Sheet, so we could easily add these essays to each record in the database and make the entire essay searchable. While this wasn’t a perfect solution it seemed like a good way to search the collection that might turn up unexpected and also useful results. Now that the entire collection in online in a searchable database we want to encourage our audience to use this flexible search capability to make their own connections with the collection. (Image: Hank Willis Thomas, Branded Chest.)

As I am writing this I am looking out over a very snowy January Syracuse landscape, so I decided to type “winter” into the search box in the collection. The search produced 42 matches including work by Peter Finnemore, Hank Willis Thomas, and Gary Metz. I’ve just included the images here along with the caption information and would be very interested to have your comments about the results.

—Jeffrey Hoone, Executive Director

Image: Peter Finnemore, Mad about the Cow.

From the Files: Carrie Mae Weems

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For over the 30-plus years Light Work has been supporting emerging and under-recognized artists working in photography. In the course of that time running a residency program, staging exhibitions, hosting lectures, and publishing Contact Sheet, we have accrued quite an archive of files. In fact, one wall of the Light Work offices is taken up by these hundreds of files, all organized by artist name or project. Light Work has worked with ground-breaking artists, many of whom have gone on to become inspirational and influential in the art world. Our files act as a historical record not only of our mission but of 20th and 21st century photography in general. From the Files gives a unique glimpse into how Light Work has helped artists early in their careers, and how these artists in turn have contributed their talent to our mission.

As a case in point, in 1986 Carrie Mae Weems wrote this letter (click to enlarge) to then Director Jeff Hoone to introduce herself and offer to give a lecture at Light Work. In the letter Weems gives brief descriptions of her series Family Pictures and Stories, South-East San Diego, and Ain’t Jokin’.

Weems went on to be a Light Work Artist-in-Residence in 1988. Her contributions to Light Work include seven pieces in the Light Work Collection, exhibitions in 1996 and 2003, and the donation of prints to the Eatonville Portfolio and to our 2011 Subscription Program, which features an image from the Kitchen Table series. Her work is included in Contact Sheets 61, 97, and 124.

Best from the Rest: Dawoud Bey

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I would like to thank Dawoud Bey for his very thoughtful and considered blog entry about censorship at the National Portrait Gallery and the larger historical and cultural implications of this attack. While there are many subtexts to this controversy, and to the many attacks that have come before, that have used moral outrage to justify discrimination, it is critical to place all of these attacks into a clear context of what they truly are — an attack on the core American value of free speech that is guaranteed by the rule of law.

Many of those who are calling for censorship of free speech say that the government should not be supporting art they don’t agree with or find offensive. If you dig down deep enough there are very few endeavors in the United States that the government does not support or help make possible. When we eat anything made from corn, or travel or ship goods on an interstate highway or through an airport, or simply turn on the faucet and have clean drinking water, all of those things and many, many more are made possible with government support. All of these essential things are the benefit of living in a free society. In order to keep America free there is no doubt that the government should support free speech.

If you can control and limit free speech, then you can control people, and that is real power. Freedom, and especially freedom of speech, so clearly defines who we are as Americans. We are a country with over 300 million citizens who are encouraged to speak their minds and there will always be opposing viewpoints on most issues and subjects. One of the great roles that artists play in our society is to ask difficult questions of how we are negotiating our progress as a culture. Artists celebrate the joy and triumph of the human spirit and illuminate the darkness and despair of our struggle. The only way for us to continue to move forward is to allow ideas to be contested in the public arena and to keep expression and speech free.

There will always be subtexts of whose voice or what group is being attacked when censors try to prevail, but any attack on free speech is an attack on us all, and that is what must be resisted at all costs. In the United States we all need to unite to preserve free speech.

—Jeffrey Hoone, executive director

Image: Ted Wathen, War Memorial Coliseum, Syracuse, NY, 1981.
From the Light Work Collection.