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American Photographer

Jon Feinstein

In this episode of PhotoWork, Sasha and photographer, curator, and writer, Jon Feinstein discuss the evolution of Humble Arts Foundation, the organization he co founded with Amani Olu, and how Humble represents Jon’s strong desire to democratize the art world and create opportunities for more people. Jon and Sasha also talk about some of the recent events in Jon’s personal life that has made his own work more urgent and emotional. They also reminisce about the first time they met and mutual affection abounds.

Zora J Murff

In this episode of PhotoWork, Sasha and photographer, Zora J Murff have a conversation about the myriad of discriminatory practices embedded in the art world that have worked to exclude artists of color and how the current push for inclusion leads one to wonder if newly created opportunities are really here to stay. Zora discusses how the pandemic has lead to new ways of engaging students and looking at their work and how we should hold on to much of what we have learned during this time.

Kristine Potter

In this episode of PhotoWork, Sasha and photographer, Kristine Potter discuss the various choices Kristine made that lead to her studying with and working for Mark Steinmetz and Philip-Lorca diCorcia, both significant relationships to her artistic practice, and the ways in which her eventual move to Nashville, Tennessee afforded her room to breath, leading to increased creativity. Kristine discusses her Dark Waters project and its connection to the Murder Ballads of the region and her penchant for subverting gender expectations in her work.

Doug DuBois

In this episode of PhotoWork, Sasha and photographer, Doug DuBois talk about the influence photographers Larry Sultan and Jim Goldberg had on Doug’s artistic development while he was in grad school in San Francisco. Doug discusses his long term project, My Last Day at Seventeen and the complex, always evolving, responsibility he feels for how the teenage subjects, now adults, were represented. Doug’s openness, honestly and good humor bring warmth and breadth to this conversation.

Gillian Laub

In this episode of PhotoWork, Sasha and photographer / filmmaker, Gillian Laub, talk about the patience needed to let a certain type of project take shape. Gillian discusses her HBO Documentary, Southern Rites, and explains why still photography alone was not enough to tell that story, and she reveals the importance of trusting her editor in the book making process and making hard cuts to beloved images. This is an incredibly warm and cozy talk between two old friends who share lots of thoughts and feelings with one another and, of course, the listeners.

Todd Hido

In this episode of PhotoWork, Sasha and photographer, Todd Hido, have a wide-ranging conversation about Todd’s roles as an artist and an educator. Todd shares his ideas about how students should follow the John Cage rule and “ Find a place you trust and try trusting it for a while”, and how, as a student himself, he had to push back against a critique to make his work less subjective! Todd and Sasha find common ground through cinematic influences and the desire for hope as a motivator to keep working. There is much to love and learn from in this episode as Hido is extremely generous with his hard won wisdom.

Jess T. Dugan

In this episode of PhotoWork, Sasha and photographer, Jess T. Dugan, speak with one another from their respective recording booths, better known as closets. Jess and Sasha discuss why Jess went to Columbia College Chicago specifically to study with Dawoud Bey, how working at a museum when she was younger has been beneficial to her subsequent career as a fine artist, and just how much people can really know you through your art work. Jess and Sasha also have a candid conversation about the strengths and differences between Jess’s two most well known bodies of work.

Adam Katseff

In this episode of PhotoWork, Sasha and guest, photographer, Adam Katseff, have a conversation about influence, the tricky part of trying to identify oneself as an artist, and the importance of acknowledging your own successes. Sasha and Adam talk about the process of creating his exquisite landscape series’, The Dark Landscapes and Rivers and Falls, and its connection to both early western landscape photography in the U.S, and abstract expressionist painting. In our introduction, Sasha and Michael talk about why Sasha is in her closet and how New Jersey is one step from the great beyond.

Kris Graves

In this episode of PhotoWork, Sasha speaks with her friend Kris Graves who is a photographer and the founder of Kris Graves Projects, a collaborative publishing house for photography that addresses contemporary social concerns. Kris talks about being a Black photographer in the contemporary art world and makes a surprise announcement about a new platform for artists. Sasha and producer Michael Chovan-Dalton start this show with a somewhat longer introduction to provide some more background about Sasha and her connection to this first series of guests for the show.

Bryan Schutmaat

In this episode of PhotoWork, Sasha speaks with Bryan Schutmaat who, in 2020, received the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship. As Sasha likes to describe the show, it’s a talky and touchy-feely version of her book, Photo Work: Forty Photographers on Process and Practice, and she and Bryan talk about his process and practice as well as his thoughts about the art world in general and what it means to call yourself an artist.