James Estrin a pris l’initiative avec ses collègues du Lens Blog David Gonzalez et Whitney Richardson, et Laura Roumanos de United Photo Industries et Photoville, sélectionnant et révisant des milliers de candidatures (gratuites) pour choisir les photographes auxquelles on a ensuite assigné de lectures de portfolio privées avec certains des plus grands photographes, rédacteurs en chef, commissaires d’exposition, galeristes et éditeurs. Estrin a noté que « Nous avons regardé plus de 3500 candidatures pour la lecture de portfolio gratuite de NY parrainée par le Lens Blog du NY Times et CUNY J School et nous avons réduit ça à ceux qui étaient acceptés. La quantité de travail excellent était impressionnante… Je peux fermement affirmer qu’il y a une photographie à la fois merveilleuse et surprenante qui est réalisée dans le monde par des gens de tout âge, race, ethnicité, genre et orientation sexuelle. Je m’excuse auprès de ceux qui n’ont pas été acceptés cette année. Merci d’avoir partagé votre travail. Ce fut un honneur de le regarder de si près. Réessayez l’année prochaine. » Les deux journées ont été remplies de succès, lecteurs et photographes tissant des liens.
Le deuxième jour, sur les huit lectures de portfolios, la plupart étaient des étudiants récemment diplômés, et c’était la premère fois qu’ils participaient à des lectures de portfolios. J’étais impressionnée par la qualité de leurs travaux et j’ai souhaité en partager certains avec les lecteurs de L’Oeil de la Photographie.
Amiko Wenjia Li was born in 1993 in Shanghai. His works have been exhibited internationally including Aperture Foundation; Filter Photo Festival; Pingyao Photography Festival and Royal Ulster Academy; and featured in numerous publications including American Photography 30; Esquire Russia; Juxtapose Magazine and Lens Magazine China. He is the winner of 2014 Center Project Launch Award Juror’s Choice, and the 133rd Royal Ulster Academy Portrait Prize.
Alejandra Carles-Tolra is a Spanish photographer from Barcelona, Spain, living in the US East Coast. The role surroundings play and the threshold between individual and group identity drive and inform her work as an artist, which has been published and exhibited internationally, including CNN, The Huffington Post, Cosmopolitan, Flash Forward Festival and Valid Foto BCN Gallery in Barcelona. She has received several awards and mentions such as 21 New and Emerging Photographers by Lens Culture, Descubrimientos PhotoEspaña 2013 and was a winner of the Biennal D’Art Jove at the Fine Arts Academy of Sabadell in Barcelona.
Esdras Hidalgo, work focuses on exploring the development of visual language systems and the dialogue between individuals and larger societal groups. “COUSINS began when I moved into my uncle’s house in a suburban area of Queens. I began to photograph my cousins to document the periods of development that they were undergoing, as well as to explore how I could push the traditional visual identity of portraiture.”
J. Gray Swartzel, “As an artist and a feminist, I have conducted extensive photographic studies exploring familial history, gender construction, and sexuality with regard to identity fabrication through masquerade. My photographic process has revealed the fluctuating nature of self-representation in relation to perceived identity- the ways in which I present myself and my subjects to the public sphere are in flux and determine the way people respond to me and my work.”
Fernando Palafox, based in Staten Island, NY, is a 2014 graduate of The School of Visual Arts BFA Photography Program. His impressive series, El Otro Mundo: Mexico 2012-2015, explores his family’s past heritage in Mexico, photographing his parents hometowns.
Patricia Voulgaris, an artist from New York, graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2013 with a BFA in Photography. She was chosen as 2014 PDN’s “The Curator” grand prize winner. In « Fragments, » Voulgaris focuses on how memories become abstracted and distorted over time; often fragmental, turning aspects of individual people and places into simple shapes and patterns. Voulgaris reconstructs and deconstructs personal memories in this project, experimenting with negative space, color and abstracted forms.
Claire A. Warden constructed photograph is integral to her arts practice. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including: Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, Rayko Photo Center in San Francisco, the Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Soho Photo Gallery in New York, Agripas 12 Gallery in Jerusalem and Galería Valid Foto in Barcelona. She has received a residency through the Alfred and Trafford Klots International Program for Artists in Léhon, France, Individual Artist Grant Award supported by the Creative Capacity Fund LensCulture’s Top 50 Emerging Talents Award, Photo Boite’s 30Under30 Award and Photobook Melbourne Photoaward finalist. Warden is currently the Artist-in-Residence at Art Intersection in Arizona.
http://esdrashidalgo.tumblr.com/tagged/people
http://www.fernandopalafox.com
http://www.patriciavoulgaris.com
