Welcome to femLENS’ June Photography Industry Recap! The Recap is intended to give you a bi-monthly update on exhibitions, the most relevant dialogues about the ethics of photography, introduce you to interesting articles, and finally, bring some photographic inspiration from the industry right to you. It aims to be accessible, global, relevant and useful – let us know if you think we hit the mark in the comments!
Industry
Exhibitions
Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam will be hosting a Special Exhibition from 24 June 2022 – 8 January 2023 “Through the lens of – Photographers from the African Photojournalism Database”. This collection features the work of nine male and seven female photojournalists.
The French documentary photography festival, ImageSingulières, will be open until 12 June in Sète. Blind magazine writes about the festival here.
Ethic
On 30 May, a Facebook post from ‘Not a Day Without a Picture’ displayed bite-marks on the arm of female award-winning photographer, Irina Popova. She reports being assaulted by a fellow professional, Gueorgui Pinkhassov, who works with Magnum, who stated that it had been a ‘joke’. Magnum Photos has launched an investigation into the incident, which has been stated publicly on their website, here. This is the latest in a number of ethical and abuse scandals surrounding Magnum Photos.
The conversation about MSF’s lack of identity protection of a rape victim continues on @duckrabbitblog on Twitter. The author states and displays evidence on 8 June that the photo of the victim’s surgery contains her name within the URL. Follow @duckrabbitblog to follow the thread.
A femLENS community member, who has published and exhibited work, reached out due to confused feedback she received from an award-winning photographer who reviewed her work in a globally recognised workshop. She contacted us to understand the feedback received, and after both an explanation from our community and research, she returned to the award-winning photographer to request further feedback. At which point, the photographer changed their critique to state that the way in which she told her story was ‘boring’. Not only did this photographer have similar pieces on display, “they also could not give actionable or constructive critique”. Has this ever happened to you? What would it have meant to you to have a supportive community to turn to?
Articles
On 8 June, Amateur Photographer published an article about the shocking “Napalm Girl” photo, a photo which shows children running from a napalm bomb, the reality of the Vietnam war, and the girl in the photo – 50 years later.
On 30 May, Fstoppers published an article titled “5 Things to Consider to Improve Your Street Photography”. Embedded in the article is a helpful video to walk you through the topic.
PHMuseum published an article by Ellen Smeets, “Sculpting Perfect Human Attraction” which explores the body ideal, our relationship to it and the impact of surgical intervention on the body through photo.
Aesthetica magazine highlights the beautiful portraiture of Atong Atem’s, in Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria, in its “Who Are You” Exhibition. “Atem photographs people of African heritage living in Australia, using luminously bright and patterned backdrops to do so.”
On 6 June, The Art Newspaper published a book review about Gerry Badger’s “Another Country: British Documentary Photography Since 1945”. The author states, “At times while reading Another Country I wanted to know more”.
Inspiration
Photography Life published an article titled “Staying Motivated in Photography” on 2 June. You can check it out here!
Check out PhotoShelter’s highlights of the week on Twitter for more useful links and events.