“In other places, culture comes down from on high. In New Orleans it bubbles up from the street.” -Ellis Marsalis As we prepare to celebrate our 10th PhotoNOLA Festival, I am reminded of this quote from Mr. Marsalis. Over the past ten years PhotoNOLA has represented the art of photography in a thousand different ways and we have seen just how important it is to our culture and our lives. Last month New Orleans, and the world, lost a true musical treasure. Allen Toussaint passed away after performing a gig in Madrid, Spain. Mr. Toussaint epitomized New Orleans’ soul; he was gentle and dapper while producing some of the funkiest music to ever hit the airwaves. His career spanned six decades and his imprimatur was on hit after hit for many funk and rhythm & blues artists: Fats Domino, Dr. John, Irma Thomas, Ernie K-Doe, The Meters; essentially, the sound of New Orleans from the late ’50’s to the ’80’s.
NOPA presents a solo exhibition by Eliot Dudik, winner of thePhotoNOLA 2014 Review Prize, featuring selections from two bodies of work, in which Dudik documents Civil War battlegrounds and historic reenactments, exploring the connection between culture, landscape, memory, and politics. More info Image: Eliot Dudik – David Paul Davenport, Died 177 times The New Orleans Photo Alliance is seeking a creative and personable Executive Director to lead the organization into its second decade. This marks the first time that NOPA, a democratic organization established by dedicated volunteers, will hire a full-time salaried employee. READ MORE
PhotoNOLA Collectors Club Print
NOPA presents “Desert Suitcase” by Aline Smithsonas our 2015 Collectors Club Print. The image, from her recent series Due West, is a nod to those who move west in search of the promised land. Smithson is an award-winning California-based photographer whose work is published & exhibited internationally. The edition is a museum quality archival pigment print featuring an 8″×8″ image size on 12″×10″ hot press, cotton rag paper, signed & numbered by the artist. Limited to 100 prints (plus five artists proofs), all proceeds support PhotoNOLA programming. The PhotoNOLA Collectors Club series is a fundraising initiative to encourage collecting and offers patrons an opportunity to own works by renowned contemporary photographers at a very accessible price point – $100 plus shipping. PURCHASE NOW PHOTONOLA WORKSHOP PHOTONOLA SEMINAR
PhotoNOLA Gala +
Tina Barney Keynote Lecture Thursday, December 10, 2015, New Orleans Museum of Art Debbie Fleming Caffery’s sixth book, Alphabet, is a collection of 26 black & white photographs, each illustrating one letter of the alphabet. Inspired by Caffery’s granddaughter, to teach her the alphabet through the art of photography, this exquisite hardcover edition is suitable for children and adults. PhotoWALK is a one-night-only portfolio exhibition featuring photographers participating in the PhotoNOLA Portfolio Review. Photographers from throughout the U.S. will share their work in an early evening portfolio walk-through. The 72 portfolios on display will cover every aspect of the photographic spectrum, from antiquarian processes to cutting edge documentary work. The PhotoNOLA Portfolio Review began in 2007 and has grown to attract a national gathering of accomplished photographers who convene to share work with esteemed curators, editors, publishers and gallery owners from the United States and abroad. By fostering the exchange of art and ideas, the reviews support the work of emerging and mid-career photographers.PhotoWALK serves to educate the public by offering the opportunity to view diverse portfolios and interact directly with participating photographers. Presenting photographers include Anne Berry, Patty Carroll, Lindsay Morris, Joshua Dudley Greer and Frank Relle. PREVIEW Image: Anne Berry – Heidi CURRENTS 2015: Featuring 4-5 images by each selected artist, theshow gives viewers a deeper insight into each photographer’s vision and reflects an overview of contemporary photographic practices. From juror Alexa Dilworth, Publishing & Awards Director at the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) at Duke University, “The thirteen series that I’ve selected for this show interested me in the way they construct stories, shift perspectives, incorporate language, and speak to questions of representation separately and in conversation with each other.” The featured artists are: Alia Ali (New Orleans/Marrakech, Morocco), Keliy Anderson-Staley (Houston), JT Blatty (New Orleans), Francis Crisafio (Pittsburgh), Benjamin Dimmitt (Fairview, NC), Matt Eich (Charlottesville, VA), Richard Max Gavrich (New Orleans), Molly Lamb (Quincy, MA), Jennifer McClure (Astoria, NY), Heather Oelklaus (Colorado Springs), Donna Pinckley (Little Rock, AR), Aline Smithson (Los Angeles), Qian Zhao (San Francisco) Image: Jennifer McClure – Untitled 4 Pinhole Ya Ya
 Staple Goods, 1340 St. Roch Ave., NOLA Exhibition Walk Through & Demo Sat., December 5, 12:30 – 2pm
Pinhole Ya Ya is an interactive show that explores the process of photography on a fundamental level through images rendered from lensless cameras. David Armentor creates pinhole portraits to showcase the aesthetics & possibilities of the camera obscura technique in terms of formal portraiture.
Heather Oelklaus features selections from her homemade/toy pinhole camera collection. Each camera is paired with an image she created using the tool. Seth Boonchai explores the distinctive characteristics of lensless photography using a video approach; the videos explore Seth’s childhood immersed in the culture of the deep South intertwined with a Thai Buddhist upbringing. Image: View from inside a camera obscura
Bill Yates: Louis Sahuc: 20/20 In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Photo Works New Orleans presents 20 large-scale photographic prints of the most iconic and timeless images of Louis Sahuc’s own French Quarter neighborhood, presented in conjunction with PhotoNOLA.
Living in the Chelsea Hotel
December 9, 2015 – January 30, 2016 Built in 1883, the Hotel Chelsea quickly became the most famous and notorious hotel in the world. It has been a center of artistic and bohemian activity, with notable residents like Ethan Hawke, Phillip Taaffe, Sally Singer, Milos Forman, Rene Ricard, and Joseph O’Neill. This photographic collage of 76 images and vignettes was gathered by longtime hotel resident Linda Troeller prior to the hotel’s restoration. Genius Loci A three-person exhibition of photography and video with works by Antone Dolezal, Lara Shipley, and Paul Thulin, who share “interest in the storytelling traditions of the rural woodlands of America.” Image: Antone Dolezal, Spook Light Road, archival pigment print, 30”x 37”, ed. of 10  Roman Alokhin: Queen SelmaOn Display: Front Gallery: December 10 – February 14
Back Gallery February 18 – April 10
This exhibition contains 27 black and white limited edition 16×20 gelatin silver prints taken between 2008 (Obama’s election) and 2015 (50th Anniversary of the Bloody Sunday March of 1965) in Selma, AL.
Time/Frame Inspired by photography’s inextricable relationship with time, this selection of pictures from the museum’spermanent collection invites an intimate reflection on the concept of time and our place within it. Image: [Untitled] (Waterscape with Rocks), 1979, Warren Neidick, Chromogenic print, Gift of Clarence John Laughlin The mission of POY International is to recognize excellence in documentary photography and photojournalism, within still photography, motion photojournalism (videography) and visual editing in both print and online formats. Cell Phone Photography IV: Moving Past the Camera Juried by Meri Aaron Walker, a veteran photojournalist and printmaker based in Talent, OR who now works exclusively in iPhoneography. SUBMIT NOW Having spent 35 years as a biological scientist Don Norris knows a thing or two about the close examination of a subject; with his portfolio, Southern Vernacular he brings this same formalistic inquiry to his photographs of single southern buildings in a landscape. Recently these elegant and spare images caught the attention of Alan Rothschild who heads the Do Good Fund, a charity that assembles a premier collection of carefully selected southern photographs for the purpose of bringing them to small venues to share with groups that would not necessarily have access to original, premium art. The Fund bought seven of Don’s photos. Renew Your NOPA Membership |
Broken Land|Still Lives
Linda Troeller:
The New Orleans Photo Alliance depends on your contributions to provide dynamic photographic programming, education and funding throughout the Gulf South. NOPA strives to be a cultural stimulus which fosters economic and artistic growth while preserving the rich and diverse photographic culture of New Orleans and the southern region.