NUEVA LUZ
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pljolo^rapljic journal Winter Issue
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NUEVA LUZ Vol. 1 No. 2, 1986
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P 1)0 to^raptic journal Editor Charles Biasiny-Rivera Assistant Editor Betty Wilde Designer/Art Director Frank Gimpaya Translator Jose Ortiz Marerro Promotion and Advertising Steve Raddock, Associates East Coast Distributors Total Circulation Services West Coast Distributors Cornucopia Typography Ortiz Typographies Printing Expedi Press Nueva Luz is a photographic journal published by En Foco, Inc. 32 Kingsbridge Road, Bronx, New York 10468, (212) 584-7718. Single issue price is $3.00, yearly subscription is $10.00 in the U. S. In all other countries, single issue price is $5.00, yearly sub scription is $18.00. Portfolios ofat least 15 unmounted prints or copy slides may be submitted for viewing. If mailed, the prints may be no larger than 11”X14”. A selfaddressed stamped envelope and appropriate packag ing must accompany all mailed portfolios to insure proper return. We do not assume responsibility for unsolicited photographs or manuscripts sent by mail. Photographers wishing to deliver portfolios in person must call our office to make arrangements. For adver tising rates and distribution contact Fn Foco, Inc.
Copyright © 1986 by En Foco, Inc. All Rights Reserved Nueva Luz is made possible with funding by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Bronx Borough President, Stanley Simon, New York State Council on the Arts, Bronx Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
Editorial Pa£e E
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I interes engendrado por Nueva Luz ha sobrepasado todas nuestras expectativas. Hemos recibido cartas de apoyo solicitando informacidn desde lugares tan lejanos como Hawaii y Puerto Rico. Es muy grato saber que tanto Antonio Mendoza como Kenro Izu (cuyos portafolios aparecieron en nuestro primer numero) han recibido respectivamente una subvencion Gug genheim y una de la Fundacion de Nueva York para las Artes. Los felicitamos y nos da una gran satisfaccion saber que su talento ha recibido el reconocimiento que todos sabiamos que merectan. La mision de Nueva Luz es la de presentarle al publico en general la obra de fotografos talentosos. Las formas tradicionales de obtener reconocimiento (los editores, los encargados de exhibiciones, las galenas y las universidades) no estan al tanto de toda la extensa labor que se lleva a cabo en las comunidades de los E.E. U. U. Creemos que esta revista puede ayudar a cerrar la brecha. Se ha denominado el mes de febrero como el mes de la Herencia Negra. Este numero presenta la obra de tres afroamericanos y honra el movimiento de patriotas, artistas, pensadores y lideres espirituales negros quienes, frente a un rechazo injusto, se mantuvieron firmes en sus visiones y creencias. Para concluir, recuerden que recibimos con satisfaccion los comentarios e impresiones de nuestros lectores. Dejennos saber su opinion acerca de Nueva Luz.
Xhe interest that Niceva Luz has developed has sur passed all our expectations; we've received inquiry and support letters from as far as Hawaii and Puerto Rico. We were delighted to hear that Antonio Mendoza and Kenro Izu (both had portfolios in our premier issue) have received a Gug genheim and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship respectively. We congratulate them and are pleased that their talents have received the recognition we all knew they de served. The intent of Nueva Luz is to bring the works of talented photographers before a larger audience. The usual en try mechanisms (editors, curators, galleries and universities) are not acquainted with much of the work coming out of America's communities and we feel that this magazine can help to bridge that gap. February is Black Heritage month and this issue which features the work of three Afro-Americans honors the move ment of Black patriots, artists, thinkers and spiritual leaders who have, in the face of unconscionable rejection, followed their visions and beliefs. One last comment, we welcome responses and impres sions from our readers. Let us know what you think about Nueva Luz. Charles Biasiny-Rivera Editor
Table of Coplepl? Editorial........ Jules T. Allen , . DawoudBey . . . Coreen Simpson Commentary. . , Comentario. . . ,
---- pagel . pages 2-11 pages 12-21 pages 21-31 . . . page32 . . . page33
Cover photograph: Coreen Simpson, “Barry”, 1985, from the “B” Boys series.
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Jule? T. Allcp
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Jules T. Allen is a recipient ofa 1985New York Foundation for the Arts Grant and a 1980 Creative Artist Public Service Award. Recent exhibitions include: University Center, Delta College, Michigan; Casa De Monde Gallery, N.Y.C.; Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio; Henry Street Settlement, N. Y C.; Nikon House, N. Y. C.; The Studio Museum in Harlem, N. Y. C. and ABC No Rio, N. Y. C. His work has been published in: Penthouse Magazine, New Art Ex aminer, The New York Times, American Arts, Detroit News, Black Photographers Annual, Black Enterprise Magazine and the Village Voice. He is a member of Vision Photos Agency. Mr. Allen has taught photography at Queens Borough Community College, Jersey City State College and the National Black Theater Alliance. He was co-producer of thefilm 'Americans in Havana, Cuba ” and was manager and curator ofselected exhibi tions at the Camera Work Gallery, San Francisco, California. The photographs featured in this issue are from his <fBoxing Series ” soon to be published in book form.
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Jule? T. Allcp
“Boxing Series”, 1983-85, 10”X15”, Silver Gelatin print.
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Jule? T. Allep
“Boxing Series”, 1983-85, 10”X15”, Silver Gelatin print.
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Jule? T. Allei?
“Boxing Series”, 1983-85, 10”X15”, Silver Gelatin print.
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Jule? T. Allep
“Boxing Series”, 1983-85, 10”X15”, Silver Gelatin print.
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Jule? T. Allcp
“Boxing Series”, 1983-85,10”X15”, Silver Gelatin print.
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Jule? T. Allcp
“Boxing Series”, 1983-85, 10”X15”, Silver Gelatin print.
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Jule? T. Allei)
“Boxing Series”, 1983-85, 10”X15”, Silver Gelatin print.
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Jule? T. Allep
“Boxing Series”, 1983-85, 10”X15”, Silver Gelatin print.
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Jule? T. Allep
“Boxing Series”, 1983-85, 10”X15”, Silver Gelatin print.
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Dawoud Bey
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I Dawoud Bey was bom in 1953 in New York City and is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts. Solo exhibitions include: Casa De Monde, N. Y.C.; Hunter College, N. Y.C.; the Cinque Gallery, N. Y.C. and The Studio Museum in Harlem, N. Y.C.; Selected group exhibitions include: Nikon House, N. Y.C.; the Midtown Y Gallery, N.Y.C.; the Catskill Gallery; Mercer County Community College, Trenton, New Jersey; The Fourth Street Photo Gallery, N.Y.C.; the Catskill Center for Photography, N. Y.; the Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, New York; the Brooklyn Museum, N. Y.; International Center of Photography, N. Y. and the San Francisco Museum of Art. Mr. Bey is a recipient of a 1985 Light Work/Community Darkrooms, Artist in Residence Award, a 1984 New York State Council on the Arts, Individual Artist Project Grant and a 1983 Creative Artist Public Service Program (CAPS) Grant. Mr. Bey's photographs have appeared in: “The Lower East Side; A Contemporary Portrait in Photographs”, Persia Books; Ap pearance Magazine; The New York Times; New York Amster dam News; The Village Voice and the Black Photographer’s Annual.
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Dawoud Bey
“Man in Doorway, 76th St. ”, 1984, 16" X 20" Silver print with image size of 12" X18".
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Dawoud Bey
“The Blue Note”, 1982,16" X 20" Silver print with image size of 12" X18".
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Dawoud Bey
“Dekalb Avenue Subway Steps”, 1984,16" X 20" Silver print with image size of 12" X18".
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Dawoud Bey
“Bronx”, 1981, 16” X 20” Silver print with image size of 12" X18".
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Dawoud Bey
“Office Workers”, 1981, 16" X 20" Silver print with image size of 12" X18"
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Dawoud Bey
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“Madison Avenue”, 1983, 16" X 20" Silver print with image size of 12" X18".
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Dawoud Bey
“Pac Man”, 1983, 16" X 20" Silver print with image size of 12" X18".
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Dawoud Bey
"Brooklyn Luncheonetteâ&#x20AC;?, 1979, 16" X 20" Silver print with image size of 12" X18".
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Dawoud Bey
“The Woman in The Light”, 1980, 16" X 20" Silver print with image size of 12" X18".
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Coreel) Simplon
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Coreen Simpson is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Tech nology and Parson's School of Design. Recent exhibitions in clude: The Hatch-Billops Collection, NYC.; The Franklin Furnace, N. Y. C.; The Cinque Gallery, N. Y. C. and Oberlin College, Ohio. She has also exhibited at The Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, N. Y. C.; The Studio Museum in Harlem, N. Y.C.; the University of Massachusetts; Internation al Center of Photography, N. Y. C.; The Bronx Museum, N.Y.C.; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.C. and the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C. Ms. Simpson's photo graphs have been published in Stern Magazine, The New York Times, Village Voice, Glamour Magazine, MS. Magazine, Es sence Magazine, New York Amsterdam News (New York/Paris), American Art, Black American Lit. Forum, Heresies, River Stix, Black Enterprise Magazine, Encore Magazine, The Black American Record and Art News. Ms. Simpson is also rep resented in “The Language of Clothes", Random House, New York, “Harlem on My Mind", and “Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow", Harper and Row.
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Coreel) Simplon
Richard, 1984, il“X14” Silver Gelatin Print.
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Coreel) Simplon
Guy with Doo Rag, 1985, 11 ”X14” Silver Gelatin Print.
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Coreel) Simplon
Norman, 1985, 11”X14” Silver Gelatin Print.
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Coreel) Simplon
Howie, 1985,11 ”X14” Silver Gelatin Print.
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Coreel) Simplon
William and Sam, 1985, ll”X14”Gelatin Print.
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Coreel) Simplon
Vito, 1985, 11 ”X14” Silver Gelatin Print.
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Coreel) Simplon
Larry and Ijineek, 1985, 11”X14” Silver Gelatin Print.
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Coreel) Simplon
Jamien, 1985,11”X14” Silver Gelatin Print.
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Coreel) Simplon
Helene, 1985, 11”X14” Silver Gelatin Print.
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THREE SEERS
he cliche of photography-as-window has been taken about as far as it can go, but the promise of a fresh view out into the world is always tempting. We are finally beginning to understand how important it is to acknowledge what we can learn from “other” cultural orientations and daily experiences. For the minority artists, however, there remains a legitimate fear of exclusion, a fear that their art won't be taken seriously as Art if even the most subtle “otherness” changes the view. The mistake, of course, is to claim that a common base in reality makes everybody see the same way. Stereotypes—cutouts not yet fleshed in—emerge from that assumption and are as applica ble to photographs as to people. The three artists featured in this issue of Nueva Luz—Jules Allen, Dawoud Bey, and Coreen Simpson—shed light on Blackness in very different ways. “I believe in the integrity of the unmanipulated black and white silver print, ” says Dawoud Bey (so his manipulation takes place in the composition). “Photographers are very rigid. They treat the medium like it was sacred . . . I don't want to be impeded like that, ” says Coreen Simpson. Simpson's portraits are confrontational. She likes “flamboyance and excessiveness'' and if she isn't flaunting it with color and scale, she is doing it through her subjects. Her upfront “B” Boys are often printed huge (3 X 5'); like the night life that is their medium, they are often wild. Not wild in the expressionist sense, but in the power sense. Style is power, and their style is unmistakable, from headgear to body language. When they look into Simpson's lens, they seem empowered by the strength of her art; at the same time, since they clearly trust her, there is an element of wistfulness, of vulnerability, that recalls the social discriminations of daily life that tend to cut people down to size. Here, instead, they are monumental. Where Simpson's work is a direct interaction between subject and photographer, Bey keeps a certain distance. His figures are usually seen from the back, often headless, or moving quickly past. Even the one exception in this series—the praying woman—has closed her eyes and thus closed us out; she is somewhere else. Bey says that to be a photographer one must be in love with life. And light . .. “Dark and light is a metaphor for life itself; the known and the unknown. ” His people are dwarfed by the impersonal architectural spaces, and then they are “saved” by the light that follows them. Jules Allen, like Bey, deals with people in places, but iffor Bey the place (or the overview) takes precedence, for Allen it is the people and their interactions. Where Bey seeks out dramatic lighting, Allen seems to avoid it. His “BoxingPortfolio” lives where it was shot. The compositions are almost casual and the solo portraits are intense—both reflections of the mood of the gym he has studied. More than the other two photographers, Allen takes on the “so what's happening here, any way?” aspect of photography. The internal politics of relationships is also implied but not explained in the other group pictures. More than any other art, good photography can embody what is seen. And as those who con trol the dominant culture know all too well, seeing is believing. Works like these help us to see for ourselves, the way we never would see for ourselves, which is what communication is. Lucy R. Lippard
Lucy R. Lippard is a writer and activist, author of books on art and politics, contem porary issues and artists. She is co-founder of Heresies, Printed Matter and P.A.D.D. (Political Art Documentation/Distribution) and has curated and organized exhibitions in the United States, Canada, Europe and iMtin America. Ms. Lippard has written art criticism for Art in America and a weekly column for the Village Voice.
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TRES VIDENTES
a fotografia-como-ventana es una frase gastadisima, pero la promesa de una nueva vision del mundo es siempre atractiva. Por fin estamos comenzando a comprender lo importante que es saber aceptar lo que podemos aprender de “otras” orientaciones culturales y ex periences diarias. Los artistas de grupos minoritarios tienen miedo — legitimo, por cierto — a quedar excluidos; miedo de que su obra artistica no se aprecie seriamente como Arte si la vision queda alterada por aun la mas sutil extraheza. El error claramente consiste en reclamar que hay una base comun en la realidad que obliga a todo el mundo a observar de la misma manera. De esa aseveracion surgen los estereotipos — muhecos de papel sin ninguna profundidad — y estos son tan aplicables a las fotografias como a la gente. Los tres artistas que figuran en este numero de Nueva Luz — Jules Allen, Dawoud Bey y Coreen Simp son — iluminan el concepto de negritud de formas muy diferentes. Dawoud Bey nos dice: “Creo en la integridad delpositivo sin manipulacion en bianco y negro sobre nitrato de plata”. Por lo tanto, su manipuleo se lleva a cabo en la composicion. Coreen Simpson nos informa que “.. . los fotografos son muy rigidos. Tratan el medio como si fuera sagrado. No quiero sentir ese estorbo”. Los retratos de Simpson presentan una confrontacion. A ella le atrae “lo ostentoso y lo excesivo”, y si no lo exhibe mediante los coloresy las dimensiones, lo hace a traves de sus individuos. Ella imprime a menudo los retratos de sus Chicos “B” en grande (3X5); y tal como la vida nodurna de su mundo, ellos son frecuentemente extravagantes, no ala manera impresionista, sino en el sentido de poder. El estilo es poder, y el estilo de ellos es inconfundible, desde los tocados hasta el lenguaje del cuerpo. Cuando ellos se enfrentan al lente de Simpson, parecen cobrar autoridad por la fuerza del arte de ella; y ala vez, ya que confian en ella, hay tambien un aire de anhelo y de vulnerabilidad que nos hace recordar los prejuicios sociales en la vida diaria que tienden a privar de importancia a la gente. Aqui, en cambio, ellos son monumentales. Mientras que la obra de Simpson es el resultado de la interaccioh direda entre el individuo y el fotografo, Bey se mantiene a una cierta distancia en su obra. Sus figuras aparecen usualmente de espaldas, a menudo sin cabeza o pasando con rapidez. Aun en el retrato que es la excepcion de esta serie — la mujer rezando — ella tiene los ojos cerrados. De esa forma ella nos excluye, ya que se halla en otro mundo. Bey mantiene que para ser fotografo uno debe amar la vida. Y la luz .. . “La oscuridady la luz son metaforas para la vida en si; lo conocidoy lo desconocido”. Sus individuos se encuentran empequenecidos por los espacios arquitedonicos impersonales, y los redime la luz que los sigue. Jules Allen, al igual que Bey, utiliza personas en lugares; pero si para Bey el lugar (o la vision general) toma precedencia, para Allen lo esencial es la interaccion de la gente. Mientras que Bey busca una iluminacion dramatica, Allen aparenta rechazarla. Su “Portafolio del Boxeo” vive en el lugar donde se fotografio. Las composiciones parecen logradas casi al azar, y los retratos personales son intensos: ambos reflejan el estado de dnimo que el percibe en el gimnasio que ha estudiado. Allen, mas que los otros dos fotografos, estudia el aspedo de “tque es lo que pasa aqui?” de la fotografl'a. La politico interna de las relaciones queda tambien implicita, pero no aclarada en la otra fotografia de grupo. Mas que otro arte, la buena fotografia puede encarnar lo que se observa. Y, como bien lo saben quienes controlan la cultura dominante, hay que ver para creer. Estas obras, y otras como ellas, nos ayudan a ver por nosotros mismos asi como nunca veriamos por nosotros mismos; y esto se llama comunicacion.
Lucy R. Lippard, escritora y activista, autora de libros sobre arte y politica. problenuis amlempordmm y artistas. Ella ha cofundado Herejias, Impresosy D.D.A.P. (Documentacihn y Distribution de Arte Politico). Se le ha encargado la organization de exhibiciones en los Estados Unidos, Canada, Europay America Ijitina. Lippard ha escrito piezas de critica de arte para Art in America v es la autora de una columna semanal para el Village Voice.
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