Portfolio

LAUNDRY ROOM - Arkadiusz Kubisiak

 

ARTIST
Arkadiusz Kubisiak

ARTIST WEBSITE
Arkadiusz Kubisiak

LOCATION
Poland

Laundry Room

People with intellectual disabilities make up about 3% of the population of Poland. The same is true for Pionki, a town in Masovian Voivodeship in Poland.

These persons could often be seen wandering the town's streets, prompting city authorities to establish the Center almost 25 years ago to provide them with the necessary assistance. A puppet theater was also created there, where they became actors.

This marked the beginning of a new chapter for them.

The theater is now located in a room that was formerly a laundry room, hence the name “Laundry Room”. 

The actor wears the puppet like a costume to give it personality and bring it to life. The Theater stages classic fairy tales like Cinderella and Snow White. Over all these years, they have prepared and developed eight different fairy tale performances and created numerous puppets.

Most theater plays take place outdoors, primarily for children. The troupe also organizes street parades. Sometimes, they even travel across the country to present a show when invited. 

The Center's staff have created a close-knit team that functions like a family. They organize kayaking regattas and participate in forest cleanup events on World Earth Day. They also exercise at the gym together and celebrate each other's birthdays. Almost everyone knows them, and they serve the community.

Arkadiusz Kubisiak is an independent documentary and portrait photographer. He studied photography at the European Academy of Photography in Warsaw. He participated in numerous workshops, like
Transmission pour l’Image in Perpignan, France.

His work won several awards, for instance, PX3, Prix De La Photographie Paris, Grand Press Photo, National Geographic Poland Photography Competition, SIPA Competition, Tokyo International Foto Award, BZ WBK Press Foto, Honorable Mention at International Photography Award. The work was shown in The Art of Photography Show in The USA, NEY Gallery in Warsaw, Masovian Center of Contemporary Art, Poland, and Warsaw Festival for Photographic Arts, Poland.

Arkadiusz published his work in The Eye of Photography Magazine, Paris, France, Black & White Magazine, USA, Silvershotz Magazine in Australia, National Geographic Poland, Digital Camera Poland, Edge of Humanity in The USA in Duży Format, and anywhere.pl, Live & Travel, Plus-Minus, Rzeczpospolita, Poland and in books: Punished Town, Passing Shadows, and group work Poland and its People, published by Press.

Arkadiusz works mostly on long-term projects.

My Ego Confuses My Heart - Joel Rhymer

ARTIST
Joel Rhymer

ARTIST WEBSITE
Joel Rhymer

LOCATION
Freedom, NH

My Ego Confuses My Heart

At first look, most people would call these pictures “street photography” – candid scenes of day-to-day life. They would be correct.

In many ways though, I consider them to be “anti-street.”

Let me explain.

While I love the energy and chaos of the internet, it seems that much of what passes for street photography in contemporary times are countless hurried and random shots of strangers filling up my social media feeds. It’s a firehose of pained expressions on passersby shot from the hip, contorted bodies, bright flashes in the face, women in revealing clothes, disadvantaged persons without defense, or faceless silhouettes in cold shadows. It seems rushed, derivative, and, at times, aggressive.

Those particular photos often say more about the photographer’s skills as a camera-based predator and the technical qualities of their equipment. The photographer’s name and personality become the subject of attention, and the person being photographed seems to be little more than an object fetishized or exploited in return for likes or follows from a madly scrolling public.

There’s another way. It involves photographing from the heart, and not the head. While my photographs have street qualities, they are not simply unplanned and accidental candids. There’s some modest intention I believe.

In a 2016 New Yorker magazine piece titled “Loneliness Belongs to the Photographer,” Hanya Yanagihara describes the act of bearing gentle and silent witness with a camera. It’s when the photographer willingly and deliberately makes theirself anonymous in order to give visibility to an otherwise overlooked instance in another life.

In other words, a simple and uncomplicated moment in one person’s life becomes recognized as something valuable because the photographer says, “Don’t think about me. Look instead at how fleeting and beautiful life is.”

Names and personalities are irrelevant. Human connection becomes more important...the story and the moment, the common emotion, the shared light.

I especially appreciate photos that seem a little uncertain. Such works require the viewer to pause, to see more thoughtfully, to open up, and to become invested before fully understanding. Ego and aggression are forgotten, and in the space, between seeing and knowing, feeling and empathy flow in. At least for a moment, you are not alone.

Someone once told me, “I can’t look at your photos too long. They make me think too much.” I took that as a compliment.

These photographs represent a 10-year period of time out there in the world. Some deal with individuals in public places. Some show a unique moment or quality of light. In a few, I see humor. In others, the subject is lost in their own world, and I, as the photographer, feel a little lost as well. For me, there’s comfort in returning to the same subway platforms, bus stops, and street corners months or years later. Familiar ground. It’s not a surprise to me if a photograph leads to a conversation, and a stranger becomes a friend.

Most of the time, I see individuals rather than wider scenes. If it tells the story for me, I may crop a photo down to only one subject. It may be a doorman waiting solemnly outside a Texas theater where a benefit for shooting victims is taking place. Perhaps it’s a young couple, looking a little downtrodden, seeking shelter from the cold pouring rain at dawn. It may be a girl in a subway car texting someone she loves.

In any case, I like to believe that despite all the alienation one often feels in our modern world, we can still maintain some sort of connection by noticing one another. What a privilege it can be to look, and look again. On se pose et on regarde nouveau...

To me, a successful photograph is an act of love.

Joel Rhymer’s professional career has always been about experience and its interpretation. For nearly 40 years, he worked as a high school biology teacher, a naturalist in some wild and beautiful places, an executive director with important responsibilities, a scientist, and an environmental educator with significant stories to tell. Photographs were his way to connect with

learners and promote his work.

Over time, however, he began to see photography as an artform instead of just a tool. He wanted the ability to create a photograph with intention - not just photos that simply did a job - something that expressed a deeper and more personal experience. So he quit full-time work at the age of 58 to spend more time with his camera.

Joel and his wife, Elizabeth, live in the quaint New England village of Freedom, NH. They’ve been married for 37 years, and have two grown daughters. He’s had numerous photos published in various places, and many selected for exhibitions across the country. Several of his works are in private collections, and he’s active in a small gallery in his town. He also presents workshops that draw upon not only his photography experience but also a lifetime of teaching others.

the faceless -Ugo Nwagbala

ARTIST
Ugo Nwagbala

ARTIST WEBSITE
Ugo Nwagbala

LOCATION
Riverside, CA

This project is about how beauty can be shown without the face and how color can transform a scene into an ethereal and surreal fantasyland. People with their faces obscured, turning away from the camera, and having reflections take over their face helps to create a sense of distortion, questioning of the self, and thinking of what it truly means to be. The bright colors and soft forms help to offset and challenge the hard philosophical questions that these images seek to provoke.

Ugo Nwagbala is a photographer, musician, and DJ from Riverside, California. His photographic work often features bright colors, contrast, surreal images, and scenes that invoke a sense of longing. His eclectic taste and diverse interests help fuel his work that often deals with challenging his audience to question their beliefs and perspectives.

Karimun - Sandi Johnson

ARTIST
©Sandi Johnson

ARTIST WEBSITE
Sandi Johnson

LOCATION
Salem OR

Situated in the Riau Islands of Indonesia, the mission was to provide access to basic medical care: assessment, diagnosis and limited treatment. Away from the clinic I would wander the village, bridging the language barrier by offering film portraits - the children especially loved carrying around their individual instant photos.


As a Nurse and as a Photographer, the central theme of my work remains the same: to foster authentic connection, however brief, as we navigate the human condition - together.

Planet Solitude - Edwin Martinez

ARTIST
Edwin Martinez

ARTIST WEBSITE
Edwin Martinez

LOCATION
Pomona CA

Planet Solitude is a collection of various photos that depict a feeling of solitude within nature. There are many moments where being alone in a certain landscape can feel calming or blissful. I picked the images that I feel convey that blissfulness of solitude.


Edwin Martinez lives in Pomona, CA. I've been studying the photographic process of film consecutively for about 5 years. My love of film came when I took a photography class in college around 2014. I fell in love with the whole process that I couldn't go back to digital. I started a project of shooting film everyday in 2017 with a holga which started me down the path of shooting street photography. Now everywhere I go I carry one of my 20 film cameras around.

Voir - Robin Luevano

ARTIST
Robin Luevano

ARTIST WEBSITE
Robin Luevano

LOCATION
La Punte CA

Voir for me this word compartmentalized what I was trying to capture. I wanted to capture the way I perceived detail, both physically and emotionally. While the word can simply be translated to "see" or "view" it can also mean to regard or behold, in a wider use of the word it can be to imagine or conceive. 

I came to a realization that I gravitate toward non-traditional film endings. Happy endings were too open ended for me and I found more closure in an ending that provided the likelihood of "things don't always turn out how you want them to" . Like anyone else I found myself with a group of comfort films, but they all happened to follow this criteria.  And I had to wonder why I interpret films this way and why this preference provided that sense of escapism I could never glean from a traditional arch. So without rewatching any of these comfort films I decided to think about them. What came to mind was never character or plot but it was detail and even feeling that stayed etched in my memory. I wanted to highlight these details the way I remember them and based on memory alone.  It didn't feel right to simply recreate. Everyone interprets differently and the truth is the way I interpret film is the way but film is the way I interpret my surroundings; in detail, in snapshots.

DES-TETAR (2018-2021 - Zaida Kersten

ARTIST
©Zaida Kersten

ARTIST WEBSITE
Zaida Kersten

LOCATION
Barcelona, Paris and Mexico

Des-Tetar (Wean : stop breastfeeding)

The second vitally important moment of separation after birth in people's lives is weaning. It is not only about stopping feeding, but also about separating, about leaving that state of emotional fusion that involves so many affections.

I decided to start weaning gradually when my daughter was two years old. But the reason for stopping breastfeeding contradicted my own feelings and that generated a depression in me. I lived the process as a duel.

When I became aware of my true desire as a mother, I returned breastfeeding on demand. I understood and accepted my dependency and my fear of abandonment…. In the process I learned that the decision to wean had to be agreed upon and accepted by both of us, my daughter and myself. I continued to breastfeed my daughter until she was four and a half years old. We set the date together and did a ritual to celebrate.

Zaida Kersten is a photographer of Spanish-Mexican nationality. She graduated in Journalism from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (2000), she worked for ten years at the Agence France Presse in Paris and began photography after following training at the Center Iris school (Paris 2005-06). A member of the Agence Révélateur (2012-17), she has exhibited in galleries in different European countries as well as in various international festivals (Itinéraires des Photographes Voyageurs, FotOax, Revela-T, Phémina Photo Festival, Arles Voies Off). In 2019 she self-published her first photobook "Uterus" and cofounded the collective AmaZones Collectif. And in 2021 she launches the second edition of “UTERUS.” He currently lives and works in Mazunte, Oaxaca (Mexico).

The Transience of Things - Anne Marie Éluard

ARTIST
Anne Marie Éluard
Valencia, Spain

ARTIST WEBSITE
Instagram
Patreon

"Anne Marie Éluard” is the alias where the contemporary artist born and located in Valencia, Spain; Laura Soriano, hides and carries out an introspection artwork that confronts and exposes her own demons and fears as if in a mirror.

The artist goes behind the camera casting herself as the protagonist of a quest for beauty and why not for her own miseries. Each image exudes beauty, erotism, obsession, provocation, and melancholy in color and b&w self-portraits.

Profoundly influenced by the surrealist movement, the work of Germaine Krull, Ernest J. Belloq or Marghethe Mather, Anne Marie Eluard could easily pass herself as an anonymous character from the Weimar Republic mixed with the endless melancholy of her beloved artist Francesca Woodman."

SELECTED WORKS BY ROSARIO VALDIVIA

SELECTED WORKS BY ROSARIO VALDIVIA

ARTIST
ROSARIO VALDIVIA

ARTIST WEBSITE

Growing up in the Antelope Valley, I watched homes and businesses change from inhabited and open to abandoned and closed. My photographs function as an archive to preserve the memoryof these buildings and the histories they represent. Palmdale city officials declare, “The Antelope Valley is thriving with opportunities,” but limited job opportunities and lack of community support affirm otherwise. Scattered throughout the vast landscape are deserted homes and businesses, money pits and projects neglected by the community. Commercial buildings seem to change occupancy every few months and neighbors come and go from increasingly derelict homes. New buildings and city projects alter the landscape only to be rejected before their completion. Schools and recreational destinations have diminished. Within the Antelope ValleySchool District, a thirty-million-dollarcharter school stands empty, a last-minute decision shutting it downjust before the scheduled opening. 

I used to explore recreational lands – now closed to the public or under ceaseless renovations – and fish the waters – nowdried to ponds,or playas,and dry lake beds. Campgrounds have closed, their decaying residue left on the roadside. I have lived among and within these buildings and landscapes most of my life, witnessing the changes firsthand and photographing them over time. I document these buildings using B&W film with both large and medium format cameras. This process allows me to put more time into photographing these places that were once someone’s home or business and to focus on the space in which these subjects are located, seeking to give each image the respect it deserves.


Rosario Valdivia is a queer Latinx multimedia artist from Montclair, CA. They are currently studying at Cal Poly Pomona to receive their Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication Design. 

SELECTED WORKS BY JAKE MARTINEZ

Selected Works by Jake Martinez

ARTIST
JAKE MARTINEZ

ARTIST WEBSITE
JAKE MARTINEZ

Growing up in the Antelope Valley, I watched homes and businesses change from inhabited and open to abandoned and closed. My photographs function as an archive to preserve the memoryof these buildings and the histories they represent. Palmdale city officials declare, “The Antelope Valley is thriving with opportunities,” but limited job opportunities and lack of community support affirm otherwise. Scattered throughout the vast landscape are deserted homes and businesses, money pits and projects neglected by the community. Commercial buildings seem to change occupancy every few months and neighbors come and go from increasingly derelict homes. New buildings and city projects alter the landscape only to be rejected before their completion. Schools and recreational destinations have diminished. Within the Antelope ValleySchool District, a thirty-million-dollarcharter school stands empty, a last-minute decision shutting it downjust before the scheduled opening. 

I used to explore recreational lands – now closed to the public or under ceaseless renovations – and fish the waters – nowdried to ponds,or playas,and dry lakebeds. Campgrounds have closed, their decaying residue left on the roadside. I have lived among and within these buildings and landscapes most of my life, witnessing the changes firsthand and photographing them over time. I document these buildings using B&W film with both large and medium format cameras. This process allows me to put more time into photographing these places that were once someone’s home or business and to focus on the space in which these subjects are located, seeking to give each image the respect it deserves.

Jake Martinez is a photographer based in Palmdale, CA. He began his photography practice while pursuing a BA in Psychology at California State University, Northridge, which lead him to pursue my master’s in photography at CSUN. Jake’s work is influenced by firsthand experience witnessing detritus left behind in the Antelope Valley and watching homes and businesses change from inhabited and open to abandoned and closed. He is interested in preserving the memory of these buildings and how the psychology of place affects those who live in these areas.

SICILY #2 - MASSIMO GURCIULLO

Massimo Gurciullo: Sicily #2

ARTIST
Massimo Gurciullo
Italy

ARTIST WEBSITE

Massimo GURCIULLO  born in Sicily (1961). In 1982 he moved to Paris and began his profession. Mainly nudes and portraits represent for many years (more than 30) the main subject of his work.

Exhibits in France, Italy, Spain,Romania, Switzerland. Realizes books of photography, the first "NUDI" presents the nude works of the period 1982-1983

"Portraits Cycle N ° 3" is a handmade artist's book in 100 signed and numbered copies. It is a book about portraits in the studio, an analogical work that GURCIULLO personally prints in the darkroom.

Then comes the 2012 book "Portraits ... 30 ans" which collects the first 30 years of his studio portraits.

In 2013 he leaves the studio and goes into the street with a digital device. After 4 years, the book "Sicily" is published by the Portuguese publisher The Unknown Books.”Sicily # 2” is a new magazine, with annual issue, published by the small publishing house Fototeca Siracusana Libri. Sicily #2 will be released towards the end of 2021.

Since 2013 he is also curator of the photography festival in Sicily in the Fototeca Siracusana gallery in Siracusa  (Sicily) and in 2021 the photofestival ESTATE FOTOGRAFIA is in its fifth edition.

SAN BERNARDINO LIQUOR - AMY ZAPATA

AMY ZAPATA - SAN BERNARDINO

ARTIS
Amy Zapata

ARTIST WEBSIT
Amy Zapata

Amy Zapata received her Master’s in Art from Cal State Northridge in photography and video digital art. She is a photographer, installation artist and documentary filmmaker working in San Bernardino and Los Angeles. Her documentary work has been shown internationally and in various shows in Los Angeles and New York. Her photography and video work focus on her hometown of San Bernardino, emphasizing on the neighborhoods and people, as well as highlighting the Drag Scene in DTLA. Currently she’s working on various video projects, as well as Pochx, a multimedia art event. Amy is also currently working on a video documentary series highlighting the diverse Latinx Queer population.

COLORLESS- XU JiaQi 徐嘉琦

XU JiaQi 徐嘉琦- COLORLESS

ARTIS
XU JiaQi (徐嘉琦)

ARTIST WEBSITE
XU JiaQi 徐嘉琦

XU JiaQi (徐嘉琦) b. 2000, is a Chinese photographer from Shenzhen, China. Xu’s photographic work is based on communication, observation and feeling of reality.

”Society and environment in which we live is the reality and the inspiration for creation”. It was destiny that brought Xu to photography, using it as a tool to record the state of life, but now feels photography has become the state of life itself.