Browse Light Work’s New Online Collection

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Visitors to Light Work’s website can now explore thousands of photographic works and objects from our permanent Collection in a new online database that expands access to work by former Light Work artists, students, researchers, and online visitors. Optimized for speed, image quality, and overall user experience, this new website will enable visitors to learn more about the Light Work Collection and the history of the organization.

Already an early-adopter of digital technology in the 1980s, Light Work made the Collection fully accessible online in the early 1990s. The new site has been in preparation for over two years, builds on the information available in the previous format, and introduces new search features. This project was made possible with support from David Broda at Syracuse University’s Photo and Imaging Center, The Gifford Foundation, Joy of Giving Something, Inc. (JGS), The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), The Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, and Light Work staff, led by Jeffrey Hoone, Shane Lavalette, Mary Lee Hodgens, and Victor Rivera.

The funding and support is a testament to the archive’s importance and the quality of the work done to make it more accessible to the public. The material in the Light Work Collection has significant research value, and thanks to the redesign of the online platform, these resources will be more widely available to educators, artists, critics, curators, and the arts community. The new participatory approach allows both the online visiting public and internal staff members to locate a desired image, object, or information in the archive more efficiently and accurately.

“The Collection is one of our greatest assets—people, I think, will be thrilled by it. It’s not only beautiful looking, but it’s an incredible resource for artists, curators, educators, and students of photography,” says Mary Lee Hodgens, Light Work’s Associate Director. “They will have the whole Collection at their fingertips.”

The Collection documents Light Work’s history of support for artists and their creative process. In 1979, early participants in our Artist-in-Residence Program began informally donating photographs to Light Work, which accumulated into a small collection. Light Work soon began to invite each artist to contribute work while in Syracuse to establish a permanent collection. The Collection now primarily comprises work made by artists who have participated in the residency and exhibitions as well as Light Work Grant recipients. The Collection represents Light Work’s 45-year legacy of supporting emerging and under-represented artists and boasts an extensive, diverse archive that maps the trends and developments in contemporary photography. Light Work’s Collection database currently contains more than 4,000 items, all of it original work, including color and black-and-white photographic prints, alternative processes, collages, installation pieces, artist books, portfolios, and publications. Exceptional in scope, the Collection covers all genres from documentary to abstract to experimental to conceptual work.

Online visitors will find early work by many artists who have gone on to significant acclaim after their Light Work residencies, winning coveted awards, exhibiting work in prestigious museums, and represented by top gallerists. The Collection has grown over the past four decades due to the generosity of former artists-in-residence and individual donors. The Collection includes many works of major importance from artists such as Dawoud Bey, Zanele Muholi, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman, Carrie Mae Weems, William Wegman, and James Welling.

Explore the richness and diversity of works across the photographic medium. Have questions or need additional support, our collection management staff can provide useful background information and offer guidance in selecting images that best supplement class curriculum or research topics.

Search Permanent Collection

Announcing the 2019 Light Work Artists-in-Residence

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Every year Light Work invites between twelve and fifteen artists to come to Syracuse to devote one month to creative projects. Over 400 artists have participated in Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence Program, and many of them have gone on to achieve international acclaim.

The residency includes a $5,000 stipend, a furnished artist apartment, 24-hour access to our state-of-the-art facilities, and generous staff support. Work by each Artist-in-Residence is published in a special edition of Contact Sheet: The Light Work Annual along with an essay commissioned by Light Work. Work by former Artists-in-Residence is also part of the Light Work Collection.

We are pleased to announce the 2019 Light Work Artists-in-Residence!

Carolyn Drake
Carolyn Drake

Kris Graves
Kris Graves

Pao Her
Pao Her

Mark McKnight
Mark McKnight

Meryl Meisler
Meryl Meisler

Rafal Milach
Rafal Milach

Zora Murff
Zora Murff

Sarker Protick
Sarker Protick

Arpita Shah
Arpita Shah

Cian Oba-Smith
Cian Oba-Smith

Jiehao Su
Jiehao Su

Ka-Man Tse
Ka-Man Tse

Cristina Velasquez
Cristina Velásquez

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See past Artists-in-Residence at www.lightwork.org/air
Applications are now open for 2019. Apply at lightwork.slideroom.com

Announcing the Light Work Photobook Award 2018

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We are pleased to announce that the Light Work Photobook Award 2018 has been given to Rose Marie Cromwell, for her monograph El Libro Supremo de la Suerte, which will be co-published this year by TIS Books and Light Work. The Light Work Photobook Award is given each year to an artistic project that deserves international attention. As with all of Light Work’s programs, in selecting the artists to receive this recognition an emphasis is made to highlight emerging and underrepresented artists of diverse backgrounds.

Rose Marie Cromwell is a photographic and video artist who is based in Miami. Her work explores how globalization affects human interaction and social politics and the tenuous space between the political and the spiritual. Cromwell received a BFA degree from Maryland Institute College of Art in Art Photography in 2005, and an MFA from Syracuse University in Art Photography in 2013. Cromwell is a recipient of the Fulbright Research Grant, and a Syracuse University full-ride graduate fellowship. She was named one of “25 Under 25 Up and Coming American Photographers” by the Center for Documentary Studies in 2008, and “One to Watch” by the British Journal of Photography in 2017. She has had solo exhibitions at the Diablo Rosso gallery and the Antitesis Art Space in Panama City, and participated in the 1st Biennale del Sur in Panama City, and Prizm Art Fair in Miami. Cromwell’s artwork has been published online and in print in a variety of international magazines, including the 2014, 2015, and 2016 Vice Photo Issues, The New York Times, Camera Austria, Time Lightbox, ARC Magazine, Musee Magazine, The Oxford American, and The New Yorker. She participated in Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence Program in September 2014.

Rose Marie Cromwell
El Libro Supremo de la Suerte
TIS Books/Light Work, 2018
Hardcover, 192 pages
ISBN: 978-1-943146-12-3
First Edition
Signed by the artist

Rose Marie Cromwell’s debut monograph, El Libro Supremo de la Suerte (“The Supreme Book of Luck”), refers to a little piece of photocopied samizdat that supports a covert lottery in Havana, where Cromwell spent eight years living and photographing. Of the work, Paula Kupfer writes: “In exploring the visual connections between numbers—exact and absolute units of measurements—and the mystical, wayward ways of luck, as embodied by friends and family performing for her camera, Cromwell offers a lyric homage to Cuba, the place that’s shaped her practice and that, moreover, continues defying expectations and interpretations.”

Pre-order a first edition SIGNED copy of our 2019 Book Collectors Offer El Libro Supremo de la Suerte by Rose Marie Cromwell and you will also receive a complimentary subscription to Contact Sheet (a $115 value) for only $75!

Stephen C. Mahan III (1956-2018)

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Light Work was bereaved to learn of the sudden passing of colleague and friend Stephen C. Mahan III, in a July 26 vehicular accident in Manlius, NY.

Mahan, the founding director of the University-based Photography and Literacy Project (PAL) and a teacher in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, was an adventure-seeking force whose boundless verve and compassion was evident in every aspect of his life. For over thirty years he was a vital leader in the Syracuse art and photography community. “His infectious enthusiasm and curiosity touched everyone he encountered and drove him to use his skills in photography to improve and enrich the lives of others,” says Jeffrey Hoone, executive director of the Coalition of Museums and Art Centers at Syracuse University and Light Work.

Mahan participated in many programs at Light Work including receiving a Light Work Grant in 1989 and serving on our board of directors from 2010-2018. But his most enduring contribution to the field was his work teaching literacy and life skills through photography to young students. Beginning with a collaboration with his wife, Mary Lynn Mahan, at the Ed Smith school in Syracuse, Steve went on to teach and mentor a generation of young students so that they could discover value and self-worth by exploring their talents through photography and writing.

Since 2010 Steve accomplished this work through PAL a collaborative program among the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University, the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at SU, and the Syracuse City Schools. Located in the Nancy Cantor Warehouse the PAL Project is a model for helping students develop literacy skills by using photography, video, audio recordings, and writing.

photo credit: Carrie Mae Weems

With Steve at the helm, PAL not only offered youth exposure to the photographic medium, he cultivated a safe environment for program participants, a place in which youth, could frame, explore and share visual narratives of the world around them.

Doug Dubois, Department Chair and Associate Professor in Department of Transmedia at Syracuse University, reflected on the unique space Mahan fostered at PAL stating,

“Steve designed, furnished, equipped and ran the PAL Project as a dynamic classroom/community space in the basement of the SU Warehouse. Crammed with art books and magazines, computers of various vintages, cameras of all shapes and sizes, poetry, posters and prints from past PAL projects covering the walls, the space delighted and inspired students and visitors alike.”

Student Work: 2017 ‘Seen and Heard Project’ Photography and Literacy Project (PAL)

In his capacity as director, Mahan also taught the course Literacy, Community, and Media in VPA’s Department of Transmedia. As part of that course, University students had the opportunity to become mentors to city schoolchildren involved in the project The PAL program received national recognition and funding from the Joy of Giving Something, Inc. (JGS) in New York City and the Fay Slover Foundation in Boston among others.

Through his incredible dedication and desire to make the world a better place, Steve touched many people, and as our thoughts go out to Steve’s family, we will do our best to honor his memory in the weeks and years to come.

Stephen C. Mahan III is survived by Stephen and Rosemarie “Riley” Mahan of Geneva, his wife Mary Lynn, daughters Riley and Sadie; two brothers Michael “Mickey” (Deborah) and Joseph “Go”, and sisters Mary Pat Longstreet (Paul) and Jean Marie Shutter (Steve), and beloved in-laws, nieces, and nephews.

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If you wish to send a note of condolence please visit www.gangmemorial.com

Calling hours: 5-7 pm Friday, August 17 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church 310 Montgomery St. Syracuse.

Memorial Service: 11:00 am, Saturday, August 18 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 310 Montgomery St. Syracuse.

In lieu of flowers, a 529 College Savings Account has been established for Sadie. Contributions can be made as follows: Checks payable to College America, memo – FBO Sadie Mahan and mail to Mary Lynn Mahan. Checks can be directed to Light Work at 316 Waverly Ave, Syracuse, NY 13244.

Stephen Mahan’s obituary in the Post Standard can be found here.
SU News article describing Stephen Mahan’s work and legacy can be found here.

Light Work Partners with For Freedoms To Launch Billboard Campaign in Syracuse, NY

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In conjunction with the forthcoming exhibition, Be Strong and Do Not Betray Your Soul: Selections From The Light Work Collection, Light Work and For Freedoms are collaborating on a series of billboard artworks in the Syracuse area. This is part of The 50 State Initiative, an ambitious new phase of For Freedoms programming that culminates this fall. Building upon the United States’ existing artistic infrastructure, For Freedoms has developed a network of artists and institutional partners, including Light Work, who will produce nationwide exhibitions, public art installations, and local community dialogues in order to introduce nuanced, artistic thinking into public discourse. Centered on the vital work of artists, these exhibitions and related projects will model how arts institutions can become forums for civic action.

The 50 State Initiative will include the installation of a series of artist-produced billboards in public and art spaces in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Billboards are going up across the country this fall in advance of midterm elections, while other educational and outreach components of the initiative will occur from September through December. Six of the billboard installations are within the city of Syracuse, New York, and will be in various locations between August 13 – October 7, 2018. The images and text that comprise these billboards aim to provoke conversations in our community that lead to civic engagement. To help easily identify billboard locations and encourage engagement, a free downloadable map with information regarding the works on view will be available to the public.

“Our hope was to spark dialogue about our collective civic responsibility to push for freedom and justice today, as those before us pushed for freedom and justice in their time through peaceful protest and political participation.”

— Eric Gottesman

Thursday, September 20 at 6pm, For Freedoms co-founder Eric Gottesman will join us for a gallery talk about the process of curating Be Strong and Do Not Betray Your Soul and how this thematically intersects with the For Freedoms campaign artistic and art ideals.

201 South Geddes and West Fayette Street (digital billboard)

700 East Washington and Almond Street

201 South Geddes and West Fayette Street (digital billboard)

201 South Geddes and West Fayette Street (digital billboard)

Butternut and North Salina Street (side 1)

Butternut and North Salina Street (side 2)

In appropriating the billboard format, these by award-winning artists invite the viewer to engage critically with the messages their work presents as well as with the medium of political and commercial advertising itself.

Former Light Work artists-in-residence Eric Gottesman and Hank Willis Thomas started For Freedoms in 2016 as a non-partisan platform for civic engagement, discourse, and direct action for artists in the United States. Inspired by Norman Rockwell’s 1943 paintings of the four universal freedoms that Franklin Delano Roosevelt articulated in 1941—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear—For Freedoms seeks to use art to deepen public discussions of civic issues and core values, and to clarify that participation, not ideology, is the bedrock of citizenship in American society. For Freedoms is part of a rich history of artists employing means of mass communication to provoke political discourse. For Freedoms believes art and artists play important roles in galvanizing our society toward a more representative and transparent government.

—

Free Public Programs

Be Strong and Do Not Betray Your Soul:
Selections from the Light Work Collection
August 27 – October 18, 2018
Kathleen O. Ellis and Hallway Gallery at Light Work
Reception: Thursday, September 20, 2018, 5-7pm

Gallery Talk: Eric Gottesman
Thursday, September 20, 2018, 6pm
For Freedoms co-founder Eric Gottesman will share back-story about the inception of the For Freedoms and use his curatorial selections from the Be Strong and Do Not Betray Your Soul exhibition as talking points to ignite a dialogue about the various socially relevant topics.

Be Strong and Do Not Betray Your Soul: Selections from the Light Work Collection exhibition and related programming are partially supported by a grant from The Central New York Community Foundation (CNYCF).

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To request high-resolution images for press reproduction and interviews, contact Light Work Promotions Coordinator, Cjala Surratt directly at (315) 443-9933 or cjala@lightwork.org

Collector Spotlight: Kenneth Montague of The Wedge Collection

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One of the wonderful things about Light Work’s Fine Print Program is the affordability our limited-edition prints by artists. This has allowed for photography lovers of all kinds, from around the globe, to begin or grow their collections and support a good cause at the same time.

Many serious collectors and institutions are regular subscribers to Contact Sheet, by way of our Fine Print Program, and have discovered new artists in the process. We love having the opportunity to visit our collectors in person and to see Light Work prints in their amazing collections. Recently, we had the pleasure of visiting Dr. Kenneth Montague in Toronto, who has been a longtime advocate for the organization.

“I have acquired important photographs for my personal collection through Light Work’s Fine Print Program—Carrie Mae Weems, Deana Lawson, LaToya Ruby Frazier, and Zanele Muholi—among many others. My most recent purchase was this quietly powerful print by John Edmonds (Phantom, 2017). These affordable works have greatly enhanced my perspective on contemporary photography, and added value to my growing collection.”

– Dr. Kenneth Montague | The Wedge Collection, Toronto

Take it from Kenneth…

Now is a great time to begin or grow your personal collection!

Light Work’s Online Benefit Auction: April 17 – May 1 on Paddle8

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Raise Your Paddle and Bid! Light Work is pleased to partner with Paddle8 to launch an online benefit auction of more than 60 limited-edition, archival fine prints, and signed books. Bidding is available through our auction partner Paddle8 April 17 through May 1, 2018. Proceeds benefit Light Work and support our mission of supporting emerging and under-represented artists working in photography through residencies, publications, exhibitions, and a community-access digital lab facility.

For this unique online auction, we are offering hand-selected Fine Print and Book Collector auction lots curated by Phil Block (Deputy Director for Programs,ICP), who co-founded Light Work with Tom Bryan in 1973. All purchases include a one-year subscription to Contact Sheet. The 2018 Light Work benefit auction catalog boasts an offering of diverse works by internationally acclaimed and award-winning photographers. Bidding begins between $300 and $1,500.

The auction includes works by John Edmonds, Matt Eich, Lida Suchy, Wayne Lawrence, Zanele Muholi, Paul D’Mato, Christian Patterson, Doug DuBois, Lucas Foglia, Ann Hamilton, Leslie Hewitt, Mark Klett, Shane Lavalette, Andrea Modica, Mark Steinmetz, William Wegman, James Welling, and more!

We thank you, as always, for your continued support of the hundreds of artists that have called Light Work home over the past forty-one years. With your support, we will continue to do this valuable work for many more years to come. Thank you.

Please visit our auction to view all lots, and start your bidding!

Phil Block, a long time photographer, founded Light Work with Tom Bryan in 1973, serving as its director for the next ten years. The organization offers space to artists for studio work as well as exhibitions for aspiring photographers. Block curated more than 60 solo and group exhibitions of photography during his time with the nonprofit. We thought of ourselves as being facilitators, catalysts, not as being curators or directors, Block told FK magazine, a journal of Latvian and international photography. We were partners with the artists. Our job was to serve them, and, of course, our success was based on their success. The more we could help them to be successful in what they did, the greater our success would be. Since 1982, Block has worked with the International Center of Photography in New York City, first as associate director and now as deputy director of exhibitions and education.

Reception Recap: 2018 Newhouse Photography Annual

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By Andrea Henderson

2018 Newhouse Photography Annual is on view in Light Work’s Hallway Gallery through July 27, 2018. Exhibiting student photographers include Marianne Barthélemy, Colleen Cambier, Bryan Cereijo, Haoyu Deng, Kathleen Flynn, Shweta Gulati, Chase Guttman, Shuran Huang, Joshua Ives, Evan Jenkins, Zachary Krahmer, Fiona Lenz, Tingjun Long, Claudia McCann, Todd Michalek, Moriah Ratner, Jessica Sheldon, Erika Sternard, Ashley Tucker, Austin Wallace, and Cassie Zhang.

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Selfies with artists, echoes of laughter, and brief photo-explanatory conversations filled the Light Work Hallway Gallery on March 29, 2018, as students, staff, and community members took in the 2018 Newhouse Photography Annual. Light Work proudly hosted the exhibition of more than 25 stills by graduate and undergraduate students from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications Multimedia Photography and Design Department. Their work—talented in vision and accomplished in technique—covered a range of topics, including images from the Syracuse refugee community, holiday traditions, and various styles of portraiture.


 
Light Work partnered with Newhouse’s MPD department to encourage students to create quality work in the community and to then produce a group show in this space to exhibit their work to the general public. The last time Newhouse students showcased work in the Light Work Hallway Gallery was 11 years ago, but Lorraine Branham, Dean of the Newhouse School, said she is delighted to return to Light Work and hopes that the next such collaboration occurs well before another decade passes.
 

 
Photography graduate student Zachary Krahmer traveled to Colombia last year and captured photos of the women and men fighting in the civil war there and the aftermath of the battles. He chose to use wet plate photo processing to create images that document conflict resolution groups within Colombia. Krahmer shot more than 80 stills, but for the Light Work exhibition he chose two from his series, Santa Lucia, Ituango Municipality, Colombia/Maritza, Member of the 18th Front of FARC, Colombia, days before demobilization.
 

 
For the Newhouse Photography Annual display, students chose to shoot a wide variety of subjects. Shuran Huang said the community always inspires her to produce photos that reflect the souls of societies and the people who add life to common activities. This explains her affinity with Collin’s Barber and Beauty Shop, a three-generation African-American salon that has serviced the Syracuse community for half a century.

A large crowd including faculty and local photographers attended and expressed enthusiasm about the students’ work. And so did Dean Branham, who walked through the exhibit greeting students with excitement and satisfaction.
 

 
She said the photographs, “show us how many great possibilities there are for collaboration and what great opportunities there are for our students. And I hope going forward that we will make the most out of these kinds of opportunities. I’m so proud of the work that they have done here.”
 
During the formal part of the reception, Light Work director Shane Lavalette acknowledged the Newhouse students’ work and expressed his gratitude for their participation. “This really shows the diversity of not only photography now, but of visual storytelling, and I’m excited to follow the work of all the students.”
 

 
To see all the images, visit the Hallway Gallery at Light Work in the Menschel Media Center on Waverly Avenue. The 2018 Newhouse Photography Annual exhibition will be up until July 27, 2018.
 

Light Work at The Photography Show 2018, Presented by AIPAD

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Light Work is proud to exhibit at the longest-running exhibition dedicated to the photographic medium, The Photography Show presented by AIPAD, April 5-8, 2018 at Pier 94 in New York City.

Find us at The Photography Show to view and purchase limited-edition prints from our Fine Print Program, as well as a selection of signed photobooks. All purchases will begin or renew your subscription to Contact Sheet!

For a preview of what we’ll be showing, visit our profile on Artsy.

See you soon, NYC!

Light Work Receives 2018 NEA Art Works Grant

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National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Jane Chu announced on Wednesday, February 7 that Light Work is one of 936 not-for-profit national, regional, state, and local organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. In its first 50 years, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded more than $5 billion in grants to recipients in every state and U.S. jurisdiction.

Today, the NEA announced awards totaling more than $25 million in its first major funding announcement of the fiscal year 2018, including an Art Works award of $40,000 to Light Work to support Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence Program and production of Contact Sheet: The Light Work Annual. The Art Works category focuses on the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and the strengthening of communities through the arts.

“It is energizing to see the impact that the arts are making throughout the United States. These NEA-supported projects, such as this one to Light Work, are good examples of how the arts build stronger and more vibrant communities, improve well-being, prepare our children to succeed, and increase the quality of our lives,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “At the National Endowment for the Arts, we believe that all people should have access to the joy, opportunities, and connections the arts bring.”

Light Work’s director Shane Lavalette commented, “Thanks to the National Endowment for the Art’s sustaining support of our residency program, we are able to offer today’s emerging and under-recognized artists the time, space, and resources they need to develop their important new work. We’re continually grateful to the NEA for their recognition of Light Work as one of the leading arts organizations in the country.”

Every year Light Work invites between twelve and fifteen artists to come to Syracuse to devote one month to creative projects. Over 400 artists have participated in Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence Program, and many of them have gone on to achieve international acclaim. The residency includes a $5,000 stipend, a furnished artist apartment, 24-hour access to our state-of-the-art facilities, and generous staff support. Work by each Artist-in-Residence is published in a special edition of Contact Sheet: The Light Work Annual along with an essay commissioned by Light Work.

For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

To learn more about the 2018 Artists-in-Residence, read our announcement on the Light Work Blog.

To become a supporter of Light Work yourself, consider making a contribution by beginning or renewing your subscription. We encourage you to help us achieve our goal of matching the NEA’s generous support. Contribute today and get something back in return. Browse limited-edition prints, signed books, and Contact Sheet at  www.lightwork.org/shop

All subscriptions will assure that you receive the NEA-supported issue of Contact Sheet: The Light Work Annual 2018 next summer. Preview spreads from Contact Sheet 192: Light Work Annual 2017 online here.

Light Work, UVP, and PAL Project Awarded Grants from Joy of Giving Something, Inc. (JGS)

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Light Work, Urban Video Project (UVP) and Photography and Literacy Project (PAL Project) are pleased to announce the receipt of $300,000 in grants from the Joy of Giving Something, Inc. (JGS). Distributed over the next three years, the funds will support education initiatives, artist residencies, and exhibitions dedicated to the photographic arts. Light Work will receive $150,000 and PAL Project and UVP will receive $75,000 respectively.

The JGS grant will help Light Work continue to realize a core vision of supporting emerging and under-recognized photographers who are exploring different photographic narratives and technical approaches to the medium. Light Work Director, Shane Lavalette stated, “We’re absolutely honored that JGS has recognized Light Work to be among the nation’s most impactful artistic programs, and are thrilled to receive this significant award at a moment in which the support of creative work by artists is as crucial as ever.”


Stephen Mahan (right), director of SU’s PAL Project, discusses a photo with a Fowler student. photo credit: John Dowling

PAL Project Director, Stephen Mahan, spoke to the opportunity for growth the grant affords the organization. “With this generous grant from JGS Inc., PAL Project’s Syracuse University mentors will continue and expand their ongoing mission to give voice and empower Syracuse city youth through the use of photography and creative writing. Application of this grant towards scholarships, exhibitions, publications and photographic equipment will foster the development of our student’s potential and self-esteem, giving our students greater opportunity to utilize their creativity, energy, and voice in self-satisfying and socially relevant directions. This funding allows us to grow the Project into a more robust curriculum with a wider reach. We are very thankful.”


Installation view of “Fireworks (Archives)” by Apichatpong Weera

In anticipation of the grant announcement, Urban Video Project Director, Anneka Herre stated, “UVP is truly excited to receive this recognition and support from JGS to put towards the strengthening of our uniquely public moving image exhibition and events programming. Given both current threats to funding in the arts and the importance of public art in creating dialogue, these funds come at an opportune time and mean a great deal to us.”

Established in 1999 by the late Howard Stein, The Joy of Giving Something, Inc. (JGS), is a foundation dedicated to the photographic arts. The Joy of Giving Photographs from the JGS collection are made available as loans to major museums around the world. JGS is also committed to advancing the arts in education. Working in partnership with museums, schools, and community organizations across the country, JGS has established scholarships to support students pursuing post-secondary studies in photography or media art. Additionally, through its Resolution program, JGS provides opportunities for teens to publish and exhibit their work in the context of social awareness.

Reflecting on this legacy Light Work, Executive Director, Jeffrey Hoone stated, “Over 20 years ago I worked with Howard Stein to form The Joy of Giving Something, Inc. (JGS) as a charitable institution to support programs in photography and forward-looking projects in the arts. Before Mr. Stein passed away in 2011, JGS supported a wide range of exhibitions, publications, and educational programs. Mr. Stein generously donated his substantial photography collection to JGS and through a series of auctions, the Foundation has raised funds to continue the charitable work in the arts that Mr. Stein started so many years ago. As a board member of JGS, it is a great honor to continue the good work of Mr. Stein and to be able to support the next generation of image makers and forward-thinking artists.”

Light Work and Urban Video Project Artists Awarded MacArthur Foundation ‘Genius’ Grants

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Light Work and Urban Video Project congratulate 1985 Light Work Artist-in-Residence Dawoud Bey and 2010 Urban Video Project (UVP) artist Trevor Paglen on winning the prestigious MacArthur Foundation 2017 “Genius” Grant!

“Light Work Executive Director Jeff Hoone was thrilled to see former Urban Video Project and Light Work artists among the list of this year’s grant recipients, stating, “The visual arts have always been very important to the cultural climate of the University and we are very proud that the MacArthur Foundation has recognized so many of the artists who have participated in the programs at Light Work and the Urban Video Project. It is a great benefit for our students to have had contact with these important artists, and we look forward to building on these strengths and successes in the future.”

Each of the 24 “Genius” Grant recipients are selected for having “shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.” Grant Fellows will receive a $625,000 award from the foundation “as an investment in their potential,” paid out over five years with no strings attached.

The 2017 “Genius” Grant awardees join an illustrious cohort of former Light Work and Urban Video Project affiliated artists, including Robert Adams, Wendy Ewald, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Ann Hamilton (UVP), Alfredo Jaar, Inigo Manglano-Ovalle (UVP), Fazal Sheikh, Cindy Sherman, Bill Viola (UVP), Carrie Mae Weems, and Deborah Willis.

Reflecting on this legacy, Light Work Director Shane Lavalette stated,

“For over forty years, Light Work has been an important place for artists from around the world to conduct artistic research, develop new projects, and exhibit their work as part of our programs in Syracuse. The MacArthur Foundation’s continued recognition of numerous artists whom we’ve had the pleasure of working with underscores the significance of the work they have contributed to the field and the value of supporting such creative minds. We certainly can’t take any credit for their genius, but we’re thrilled to get to know so many brilliant artists and to be able to be a part of their legacies.

Dawoud Bey, “Jason,” from The Eatonville Portfolio, 2003

Dawoud Bey was selected by the MacArthur Foundation Grants committee for his “expansive approach to photography that creates new spaces of engagement within cultural institutions, making them more meaningful to and representative of the communities in which they are situated.” He participated in a Light Work residency program in 1985. In 2009 Bey’s photographs were part of Embracing Eatonville, a group exhibition in the Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery in Syracuse University’s Schine Student Center. Bey’s limited-edition archival print, Five Children, was part of the Fine Print Program, and selected images from his body of work are part of Light Work’s expansive permanent Collection.

Born in Queens, Dawoud Bey began his formal training by apprenticing to local commercial and fashion photographer Levy J. Smith and later studied at the School of Visual Arts. He completed his undergraduate work at Empire State College and his MFA in Yale University’s graduate photography program. A former Guggenheim and NEA fellow, Bey is currently Distinguished College Art and Associate Professor of Art at Columbia College Chicago, where he has taught since 1998.

The Studio Museum in Harlem hosted Bey’s first one-person exhibition in 1979. He has since had numerous exhibitions worldwide, including The Art Institute of Chicago, The Barbican Centre in London, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, and the Yale Art Gallery in New Haven.

Installation view: Trevor Paglen “Code Names”

Trevor Paglen was selected by the MacArthur Foundation Grants committee for his “documentation of hidden operations of covert government projects and examining the ways that human rights are threatened in an era of mass surveillance.” Paglen’s Code Names was part of Urban Video Project’s architectural video installation at the Everson Museum of Art in 2010.

Paglen is an artist, writer, and experimental geographer whose work deliberately blurs lines between social science, contemporary art, journalism, and other disciplines to construct unfamiliar yet meticulously researched ways to see and interpret the world around us. His visual work has been exhibited at Pittsburgh’s Andy Warhol Museum, Berlin’s Transmediale Festival, Philadelphia’s Institute of Contemporary Art, the Istanbul Biennial (2009), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and the Taipei Biennial (2008). Numerous publications have also featured his work, including Aperture, Art Forum, Modern Painters, Newsweek, The New York Times, and Wired. Paglen has received grants and commissions from Art Matters, Artadia and the Eyebeam Center for Art and Technology, and Rhizome.org. He is the author of three books. He holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in geography from UC Berkeley.
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For more information about these and all of Light Work’s artists, please visit our Artist Index, Artist-in-Residence Program, Exhibtions,Chronology, and Collection.