BAM Artists and the Culture Wars of the 80s and 90s

Triptych (Eyes of One on Another), Photo: Maria Baranova

By Susan Yung

Triptych (Eyes of One on Another), coming to the Howard Gilman Opera House June 6—8, is a paean to photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, whose work was key in the culture wars of the 1980—90s. The Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, and its Director Dennis Barrie, were acquitted of obscenity charges stemming from an exhibition of Mapplethorpe photographs. Bryce Dessner, who composed the score for Triptych, grew up in Cincinnati and recalls, “I was told by the authorities that I was not allowed to look at Mapplethorpe’s photographs—that these tremendous works of art were not art at all, but pornography … Barrie was jailed and art was put on trial in municipal court. It was a huge moment for me.”

Remembering Robin Holland

Robin Holland. Photo courtesy the artist.

BAMcinemaFest pays tribute to photographer Robin Holland, who passed away early in 2018. Holland was a prolific and respected portrait photographer whose subjects included American and international independent filmmakers, award-winning actors, musicians and composers, dancers, artists, and more. Her work was featured on the Sundance Channel and at George Eastman House, MoMA PS1, the Berlin Film Festival, and New York Film Festival. From 2013 to 2017, Holland donated her time and incredible talent to BAM as the official portrait photographer for BAMcinemaFest. View her work at BAMcinemaFest, below.

What is it then between us?

Photo: Stefan Killen

In the fifth stanza of Crossing Brooklyn Ferry—from which Matthew Aucoin’s new American opera takes its name—Walt Whitman asks, “What is it then between us?” First published in 1855, the poem speaks powerfully to the importance of solidarity in a national moment plagued by rivalry and violence.

Last week, we partnered with pinhole photographer Stefan Killen to capture unique, dreamlike portraits of Crossing’s cast and creative team. The deliberately lo-fi process engages the camera obscura phenomenon to create images with a nearly infinite depth of field—all without the use of a proper lens on the camera box. After the photoshoot, we asked each of them to answer Whitman’s prompt—to define, in their own words, what it is then between us, and what that phrase might mean presently in 2017. Their thoughts and portraits are shared below:

DanceAfrica Visual Art: Omar Victor Diop's The Studio of Vanities

by Holly Shen

While DanceAfrica is anchored in the tradition of dance, the festival is also an opportunity to celebrate other vital components of African culture and diaspora, including visual art. In 2014, BAM Visual Art began an initiative to bring fine art into the DanceAfrica mix, inviting artists to create a new piece or exhibit work during the festival weekend. This year, BAM is thrilled to present a series of four recent photographs by Senegalese artist Omar Victor Diop.

Aminata, 2013, from the Le Studio des Vanités series, 35.4 x 35.4 inches, pigment inkjet print
© Omar Victor Diop / Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris.

Initially working in commercial photography and fashion, Diop established himself as a fine artist with his first major series, Project Diaspora, a collection of striking self-portraits that explore personal identity and collective narrative in African history Diop’s latest project, The Studio of Vanities, is an attempt “to portray a generation which endeavors to showcase the African urban universe and its blossoming art production and exchanges.” Four portraits from The Studio of Vanities series will be on view in the Dorothy Levitt Lobby of BAM's Peter Jay Sharp Building (30 Lafayette Avenue) during this year’s festival.

Documerica, Then and Now

by Jessica Goldschmidt

With the U.N. pronouncements on climate change as a backdrop to this third week of the Next Wave Festival, it seems the time is right to do some soul-searching about when and how our country's relationship to the environment got so convoluted. Cue Documerica, a world premiere by string quartet ETHEL that takes as its inspiration an EPA project of the same name.

Documerica (the project, not the production) was a landmark collaboration between government and visual artists, echoing the Farm Security Administration's documentation of the Great Depression.

On the surface, Documerica was meant to portray what project director Giff Hamilton called "the human connection" to the environment. More than 70 photographers were contracted by the EPA over a period of six years (1971—1977) to photograph America's relationship to our land. Cities, farms, small towns, industrial hubs, and national parks: all were fodder for the artist's interpretation, and all were considered part of the American "environment."

Eight Movies About Photographers

Jamel Shabazz Street Photographer opened today, and because we know BAM filmgoers are diligent about their favorite pastime, we thought they might want to do some pre-show preparation. Below, find eight movies (with some bonus ones in the descriptions) about photographers that we recommend as companions and context.

Bill Cunningham New York
Perhaps closest in subject matter to Jamel Shabazz Street Photographer is this ingratiating documentary, a tender portrait of a photographer and his city. Learn why Cunningham's meticulous approach to layout can be maddening to his editors, what the differences are between shooting street fashion and gala events, and where Cunningham has the same modest lunch every day.

Contact Sheets from the BAM Hamm Archives

Isabella Rossellini, circa 1978

There is something beautiful about holding a contact sheet.

As a practice, the printing of contact or proof sheets began in the 1930s, and they were used as a way for professional photographers to quickly edit a large number of shots, and for amateur and student photographers to study their own work. Many of the photographers working with digital cameras these days (which is to say, most photographers) will instead use Photoshop or Lightroom to make digital contact sheets. But the processes of editing and study have changed in step with technology, and contact sheets as we know them have become a thing of the past.