Several months ago Laura Heyman, a professor in the Transmedia Department at Syracuse University, asked us if we could help support a project she had planned for the Ghetto Biennale in Haiti. We have a small endowment fund to support mid-career artists and decided that this would be a worthwhile project to support, and we offered her our assistance.

André Eugene, Jean Hérard Céleur, Rònald Bazile, Pierre Isnel Destimare, Leah Gordon, and Myron Beasley organized the Ghetto Biennale in Haiti’s capitol Port-au-Prince to ask the question, “What happens when first world art rubs up against third world art?” Heyman joined an international group of artists who started with this basic question, and the Biennale took place November through December of 2009.

For her project Heyman was interested in exploring formal portraiture that followed the example of artists like Mike Disfarmer, James Van Der Zee and Seydou Keita, who used the commercial and utilitarian aspects of their practice to portray their subjects with a consideration and respect that was both clear-eyed and beautiful.

Aware of the many cultural complexities of representation she had many questions, candidly stating, “I was highly conscious of everything that stood in the way of a real exchange between a subject from the first world and a subject from the third world—race, class, opportunity and lack of opportunity, agency, the ability to move freely through the world; all of the things that make communication difficult, as they are always present, but rarely discussed. […] What I found when I arrived in Haiti was that I was working within a community of fellow artists and their families and neighbors.”

Less than a month after Heyman returned from Haiti, the devastating earthquake struck causing unimaginable destruction and loss of life. Heyman is planning to return to Haiti within the next several months to offer her small part to the relief effort and to extend her project that has now become part record and part memorial.

This Fall Light Work will exhibit work from her project in our main gallery and publish the work in an issue of Contact Sheet. A selection of Heyman’s black-and-white portraits can now be viewed on Light Work’s website along with Heyman’s artist statement and a list of organizations that need donations for the ongoing relief and recovery efforts.

Image: Laura Heyman, Margaret Denis, 2009

Today we shipped out a box of prints headed for Dubai. It may be the farthest that any prints made in Community Darkrooms have ever traveled from Syracuse.

The images in the package are from the series Baghdadi Mem/Wars, by January Light Work Artists-in-Residence Sama Alshaibi and Dena Al-Adeeb. This powerful series, which incorporates video and photographs, investigates the physical, intellectual, and emotional effects of torture. Both artists were born in Iraq and make this work from a personal perspective. Above is Still-Chaos, one of three suites that comprise the project.

Baghdadi Mem/Wars will be shown in conjunction with Art Dubai, which opens to the public on March 18.

Click here to find out how you can apply for the Light Work Residency and here to see the hundreds of artists who have been residents In Syracuse.

I met photographer Jamey Stillings recently in Los Angeles. At the end of our conversation about his Colorado River Bridge series, he gave me a really nice leave-behind: a 56-page custom published magazine featuring his project. For those who still believe in the value of a paper leave-behind beyond the business card, a magazine like this looks very professional but is not so expensive to produce that people have to pry it out of your hands.

MagCloud works pretty simply: After registering, you upload your designed page files as pdfs, they make a full-size proof FOR FREE, and then you can publish as many editions of your magazine as you want at about 20 cents a page. You can put your magazine into their store where others can buy it on demand, too. I talked later with Jamey about his experience with MagCloud, and their service sounded impressive. They worked closely with him through several rounds of proofs to get the values of his night images just right.

Although we look at a lot of work online these days, a well produced magazine can serve as a lasting reminder of your project.

—Mary Goodwin

Congratulations to the 2010 Light Work Artists-in-Residence, who were selected from a pool of over 400 applicants. Thanks to all who submitted materials and showed patience throughout the process.

We’re very pleased to host the following Artists-in-Residence in 2010:

Sama Alshaibi and Dena Al-Adeeb
Keliy Anderson-Staley
Gerard Gaskin
Ayana Jackson
Christian Patterson
Simon Rowe
Lenard Smith
Zoe Strauss
Brian Ulrich
Shen Wei

Our renowned residency program features a $4,000 stipend, a free place to stay for the month, 24-hour access to our facility, and generous staff support. Light Work was founded in 1973 as a non-profit, artist-run organization. We provide direct support to artists working in the media of photography and digital imaging through residencies, publications, exhibitions, a community-access digital lab facility, and other related projects.

Image: Gerard Gaskin, from the series Lefrak City

Up until today, it’s all been speculation. Finally, we will get our first peek at Apple’s newest device, find out what it’s actually called, and hopefully get a real sense of what it will mean for the future of media delivery. For photographers, this could mean a whole new market for their work, plus a way better way to show people their images on the fly. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. For now, enjoy the last moments of day-dreaming and check out this great list of sites and twitter feeds that will be following the event live from San Francisco 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern.

Update: Well, maybe they could have worked on the name a little more? But the iPad is a fine looking machine. Only time will truly tell what impact it will have for photographers, but even in its first day, the iPad has breathed new hope into publishing. We’ll keep you posted as details continue to unravel, and of course, if we manage to get our hands on one.