NYU Photography & Imaging - Senior Catalog 2018 by NYU Photography & Imaging

department of PHOTOGRAPHY & IMAGING

SENIOR CATALOG

@tischphoto @tischphoto vimeo.com/photoandimaging/ www.facebook.com/tischphoto tisch.nyu.edu/photo

The Department of Photography and Imaging at NYU Tisch School of the Arts is a four-year BFA program centered on the making and understanding of images. Students explore photo-based imagery as personal and cultural expression. The program offers students both the intensive focus of an arts curriculum, while demanding a serious and broad grounding in the liberal arts. It is a diverse department embracing multiple perspectives, with over 170 majors working in virtually all modes of analog and digital photo-based image-making and multimedia.

4 8 12 16

Natalie Sereda

Maddy VDK

Myles S. Golden

Sang Young Bae

20 24 28

Anthony Tran

Melissa Morano

Qilin Ren

Isa Mejía

Vida Lercari

32 36 40

92 96 100 104 108

Riana Gideon

112 116 120

Marilyn Lamanna

Andrea Edelman

Bayley Baumgarten

Morah Geist

Sam Soon

Alex Trippe

Claire Dorfman

124 128 132 136

Rebecca Arthur

Emerald Chan

44 48 52 56 60 64

Morgan Sloan

Gregory Alders Olga Ush

Philip Garip Abraham Medellin

Francine Hernandez

Agnes Bae Molly Anna O’Brien

Zikora Hyacinth

Zachary Wolff

148 152 156

Colby Tarsitano

68 72 76 80

Jess Stewart

Yashna Kaul

Dylan G. Kenseth

Jilly Anwer

Sam Prasopthum

Ed Shao Sarah Seiler

140 144

160 164 168

Kamana Kamkwalala Arthur Cooke

84 88

Munachi Osegbu Lisa Giris

Rachel Kober

NATALIE SEREDA

A DEAD NAME THAT LEARNED HOW TO LIVE

The afterlife of slavery creates a world where marginality for black people becomes hyperactive; the body then becomes an allegorical site that contemplates what it means to be oppressed through the inheritance of a racialized physical landscape. In this series, A Dead Name that Learned How to Live, through large format photography, performance art, and 3D anatomical sculptures I create a world where all these manifestations fight to subvert the European colonial understandings of who Myles Golden is. In this breadth of work I explore what it means to be black, both as an antithesis to whiteness as well as liberalized constructions of identity: the categorization of race and gender as a marking of access. Reconstructing language visually, spatially, and linguistically this project centralizes blackness as a gender, ethnical, sexual, and geographical identity. Battling not only exterior/interior subjugation through a racialized, gendered, and geographically dislocated framework within the history of America, these photographs act as indexical evidence of my fight for black liberation. Presenting itself within the black body, within the black mind, inside the black soul; black becomes its own realm of selfhood that cannot be contained within the framework of whiteness.

MYLES S. GOLDEN

Axis Mundi is a visual representation of the three realms of our universe. Inspired by an eternal life force, it is a metaphor for the sacred connection between us, the dead, and the deities.

MELISSA MORANO

Presented here are two bodies of work both having to do with queerness. That Side of Riis is a series of portraits of beachgoers at the queer side of Riis Beach, NY. In it, I wanted to capture the sense of freedom and safety that is felt in the area. I also wanted to show some of the beauty that is present in this self-appointed queer safe space of relaxation and recreation.

Ser queer (in English, “Being Queer” or “Queer Being”) is a series NYC. By using a 19th century process to make the images, I am speaking directly to history and implying a revision of narratives. The project is born from my desire to meet other Latinx people and understand how they reconcile both identities. The results are a collaborative attempt at the materialization of identity, and serve as a record of appearance and trust.

ISA MEJÍA

VARIABLE In life, there exists the things which we know: events having transpired, been recorded, and thrown into the conglomeration of human knowledge: the certain and absolute. May we look in a different direction, however, we would see nothing other than the uncertain, an empty timeline whose trajectory can only be hypothesized utilizing the wildest aspects of our imagination: unsolved mysteries and the impending. With the recent heightened push and pull between extraordinary human achievement and sociopolitical tension, it is as unclear as ever before where exactly our civilization may be headed in the upcoming decades. On a scale from utopia to utter apocalyptic chaos, where will our world stand? This interest in the future is the focal point of my senior thesis photography project, which tackles the quintessential aspects of life (cultural, political, environmental, and technological) in the world of the future. Created utilizing my background in fashion photography, this series contains a variety of fictional narratives and scenarios proposing a peek into the unknown.

ANTHONY TRAN

STUDENT NAME

ANTHONY TRAN

Redemption

Every minute, one million cans and plastic bottles are purchased around the world. But after throwing away a bottle, have you ever wondered where it ends up? When we consume a large quantity of beverages it jeopardizes the environment; however, it creates job opportunities for thousands of people. The cycle of consumption gives rise to a new occupation— the “canners.” An environmental problem provided an answer for people who are living in a dilemma. Redemption is a documentary video that explores the story of canners and the bottle recycle system. 24

QILIN REN

Il Mare Tra Io e Te The Sea Between You and I One of the five towns of the Cinque Terre in

spent his childhood summers there with his uncle

Liguria, Italy, is Vernazza. It is the length of

and cousins. I still have relatives that live in

several city blocks from the train station to the

Vernazza who I've been visiting annually since I

sea and is the home of 300 residents all year long.

was a baby. I was baptized in the town's church.

To the general public, Vernazza is only accessible by boat, by train, or by foot. It's tiny, local, and

Having been born and raised in New York City

rich with culture and cuisine specific to the

though, I often feel conflicted about openly

Ligurian region.

calling Vernazza my second home. Although I speak the language, I don’t know any dialect of

It is also the daytime host of over two million

the region. I am half American and only able to

tourists each year.

visit during the summer. I sweep in with all the other tourists who pour in and out on boats and

Between April and September, visitors from

on trains all day long.

across Europe, Asia, and the U.S. pour in by the thousands each day, stopping by briefly to enjoy

For most who visit, Vernazza is nothing less than

the views, take some photos, and sample some

a tourist’s dream, satisfying fantasies for the

pizza. For better or worse, tourism dominates the

picturesque coastal gem they always wanted to

streets, the economy, and the identity of Vernazza,

put in a frame. Those few who choose to stay the

as well as the other towns in the Cinque Terre.

night, however, get to see the town quiet down to a low purr of Ligurian dialect, nearly all the

My paternal grandfather was born in Vernazza and

tourists having left by sunset with only the locals

spent half his life there before emigrating to New

remaining to socialize in the piazza until late in

York. My father, although born in Long Island,

the night, reclaiming Vernazza.

VIDA LERCARI

Growing up in rural Maine, I fell asleep to ocean hymnals: the lapping of waves against barnacled rock, the sound of clams breathing underneath the mud. In these images, I mythologize the coastal landscape and recreate the sensation of floating in cool water.

ALEX TRIPPE

THE LESS COVETED 36

EMERALD CHAN

Many of the world’s greatest cuisines were born from the need to eat to survive. The need to be creative and make use of any and all ingredients available because it all boiled down to what the landscape could provide and what could be foraged or traded for. As an American brought up within a Chinese heritage, I learned from an early age that many of the dishes I enjoyed were also born from the need to be creative with the ingredients available—tripe, unusual fungi, and chicken feet, to name a few. From some of my peers’ viewpoints, the dishes I love and understood as “normal,” were unappetizing because they looked “gross.” Without the exposure to these ingredients it is certainly understandable why it can be jarring at first glance. For most Americans, there has not been a need to be exposed to these types of food due to the abundance the landscape is able to provide. As a result, the need to adopt these less-coveted cuts of meat or less approachable varieties of vegetables and grains simply becomes obsolete. This lack of exposure to “bizarre,” “gross,” “unappetizing,” ingredients is exactly what I want my work to remedy. The work I have created manipulates these ingredients on display in unorthodox ways that make them visually appealing. In transforming these ingredients into images, wallpaper, and textiles, the viewer is able to enter a space that is approachable in which they can then explore the medium/ingredient that it was created by and potentially come to terms with it. 38

EMERALD CHAN

PORTRAITS FROM HOME In June of 2016, I walked into the Andrew Freedman Home for the first time. En Foco, the organization for which I was an intern, had just been granted a space in the building to use as our central office. Like many of the organizations that are housed in the Andrew Freedman Home, En Foco is a Bronx-based institution. There is a consistency in each space within AFH that counts community integrity and empowerment through the arts as principles in their respective missions. In the year and a half that followed my introduction to the building, I realized that I am bearing witness to a significant and humbling enterprise: a reclaimed property in the South Bronx that fosters space for creation and dialogue around arts and culture in the borough, a home for many people in their artistic and social practices, and a space that serves its community through the passion and love that they return, which furthers its mission and purpose every day.

CLAIRE DORFMAN

Working with New Jersey-based suburban chickens, Morgan Sloan focuses on the dichotomy between food source and pet within a growing backyard chicken movement. Each portrait celebrates the hens and roosters who have inspired her with their willful personalities and outrageous styles. These studio-style portraits speak to the complexity of each individual chicken in all of their fullfeathered glory.

JERSEY 44

MORGAN SLOAN

CHICKS 45

MORGAN SLOAN

Drawing inspiration from cinematic cues and dealing with themes of personal identity, as well as memory and loss, these images work as a vignette which is autobiographical in nature. Heavily influenced by the written word, my work beyond these selections focuses on exploring traditional poetic vocabulary and developing narratives to expand them visually.

PHILIP GARIP

Auto - Reforma Sever the body in half. and uproot the soul.

The homeland.

Carefully seize the trunk

Sow the roots in their original soil. Witness the emergence of life restored.

ABRAHAM MEDELLIN

Auto - Reforma

el espejo de la lluvia

yo, tu y el

“good night, sleep tight” About two years ago, my brother fell into a depression that turned into a drug addiction and, eventually, a state of psychosis. For a long time I struggled with losing the big brother I had so dearly idolized growing up. He was the emotional shelter I retreated to when our parents, who were constantly at odds with each other, argued throughout the night. As a young girl, I was afraid to sleep alone, the biting, despicable insults thrown back and forth echoing throughout our otherwise silent household. I would bring my blankets and pillows into his room and set up camp for the his bed. His room was my safe haven and his words were my melatonin, the only things that could comfort me into a peaceful night’s sleep as I drifted farther and farther away from our bitter reality and into the quiet of my subconscious.

AGNES BAE

I was studying abroad during the beginning stages of my brother’s addiction and depression, and when I returned home in the winter of 2016, he was no longer at our parents’ house battling his demons. From being admitted to a rehabilitation center in California, to being homeless on the beautiful beaches of Santa Monica, to sitting in a River Falls, Wisconsin, Andrew would be gone for a while. During his absence, and now as a young woman, I again found it time found brief consolation and momentary romantic interests. I soon found myself in a yearlong emotionally and mentally abusive relationship out of the deeply embedded fear of sleeping alone, of being alone, and without him. Today, he will never be the brother I once had, but I able to return the long overdue favor of uttering “Good night, sleep tight.”

AGNES BAE

I use photography to release emotions and ideas I am too afraid to speak of. From bullying, self-hate, and my conflicted upbringing, my photographs take inspiration; representing what I was never able to be then, and am still understanding how to be now. I use photography as an illusion for myself. It is my storyboard to create a narrative I normally can never tell through words. Stories of what I want to retell in order to influence the next generation from my experiences, while I release myself from obsessing over the facts of being.

MOLLY O’BRIEN

I take inspiration not only from my life, but the media, as well. We are in a time that being engulfed within social media and fame is an inevitable aspect of our lives. Whether we want to know what is happening, or we choose to know what is happening, it will

not go away. This truth has constantly shifted my focus in my professional work to be apart this Zeitgeist, and to make it my own as the definition changes. I use the idea of what “pop culture” has become, and the ways the media lies to viewers, as a point of education

through contradictions, attempting to make the fake real and keeping the real real as a point of consistency in my work. Making art while also making visual culture as honest to my vision as possible, to represent the ideas that constantly infiltrate my creativity.

MOLLY O’BRIEN

My journey begins during my freshmen year at 7 East 10th Street, commonly known as The Bronfman Center for Jewish Life at NYU. It has since served as my synagogue, library, dining hall, and my second home. My work within Jewish undergraduate communities on the campus of NYU and around the globe has been an integral part of my college experience, inspiring me to open my ears, my heart, my soul, and my mind. Throughout this journey, I have been incredibly fortunate to photograph inspirational students and learn about their Jewish perspectives. This body of work is a sampling of answers to my favorite question, “How do you connect to Judaism?” Photographing these subjects, I had the opportunity to push and pry several of my Jewish peers to reveal impressions from years of emotions and feelings, resulting in authentic representations of their responses in the form of images and vocal tracks. During the crafting of these pieces, I learned about facets of Judaism I had not previously explored. I engaged in some of my all-time favorite discussions, really getting under the hood of the car of what Judaism meant to each of my subjects. Ultimately, I began to reflect on my own connection to Judaism, initiating my personal internal soul searching mission. Simply stated, you won’t be catching me eating bacon anytime soon.

ZACHARY WOLFF

Rind and Flesh My work is ultimately an exploration. Growing up with an autoimmune disease, attempting to gain weight was a constant battle. Now at the age of 21, I have finally reached a healthy body weight. I use my work as a tool to come to terms with my new shell and the feelings of alienation it causes. By becoming both the artist and the art, I am forced to confront my own form and the power of the nude female body.

STUDENT JESS STEWART NAME

JESS STEWART

CORAL REEFS: NOT AN OBITUARY “You’re so lucky you got to see the Great Barrier Reef before it died!” my friends innocently exclaim to me as I show them photos of the natural wonder. “Luckily, it’s actually not dead,” I answer. Not yet, at least. Despite the copious articles that have circulated in the past year claiming the death of the Great Barrier Reef, researchers around ever coral bleaching events took place in 2016. However, coral does have the ability to recover. The main issue is that its survival directly depends on how healthy the coral was pre-bleaching. tourism, humans are the undermining cause of reef damage, destruction and decline. We are also the only creatures on Earth with an ability to change this fate. In addition to reducing local threats, we can also strengthen reef ecosystems in seemingly unconventional ways. For centuries, scientists and governments have been sinking man-made structures to promote marine life. These purposefully-sunken structures, including shipwrecks, oil platforms, bridges, and more From a freshwater quarry in Pennsylvania, to a saltwater sanctuary in the Florida Keys, and several wrecks in between, I am exploring these reefs with my dive gear in one hand and my camera in the other. Rather than operating my camera as an autopsy tool, I am photographing to shine light on thriving underwater habitats and marine life. By using the photograph as evidence, reefs can be brought to the surface of conversation surrounding conservation, inspiring positive change through action. 72

JILLY AWNER

Imaginary Body is a project made to show the beauty of the female

IMAGINARY BODY

body from different perspectives. The series starts with vague close-up portraits of single elements of the female body, and gradually steps back to incorporate more elements. The photographs expand to wider and wider angles of view to stimulate the imaginations of the audience, and at the same time rely on such imaginations to promote the development of the series. By the end, the physical figure is extended to a more conceptual symbol, and finally the soul representation of beauty.

ED SHAO

COUNTLESS RINGS Countless faces cloud my day, and I draw one each night. A chain of nights awake, one melts into the next. I draw a portrait every night to focus my mind, to reflect upon the day, and to distract from worry of the next. The practice offers me a finite ending to my day. Routine seems to welcome sleep. I pair each face with a photograph. The photographs are somehow a nod to their paired portrait. Most of these photographs were taken in the midsts of a bad insomniac wave. This project served as a meditation of sorts. I am trying to teach my body to sleep on its own. Staying with different family members for a few months this past summer, nothing seemed familiar and sleep was difficult. I spent most mornings walking around, photographing spaces that seemed familiar to home.

SARAH SEILER

My love affair with art started from a young age, as I spent most of my young years experimenting with every visual and performative medium. Growing up inspired by MTV and classical fine artists like Monet and Remedios Varo, I was about 14 when I discovered Steven Klein, Mert Alas, Tim Walker, and Guy Bourdin, and understood the synthesis between those two worlds. I will never forget that day I found myself looking at the March 2012 edition of W Magazine and stumbled upon Steven Klein's editorial “Institutional White.” I realized that fashion photography is its own art form with depth and a lyricism that tells the story of materialism, capitalism, fame, and beauty, and how they can ruin us while simultaneously fulfilling our deepest carnal desires, bringing our innermost dreams to life. I strive to use an almost folkloric, suspended reality in all of my images, creating stories from my own fears and desires that can be manifested freely to an almost obnoxious extent. A maximalist expression of emotion and intent. When I do this, I am free to exist in my own metaphysical space, liberated from social and societal standards and pressures. For me, this form of expression is the dismantling of my own personal matrix. 84

MUNACHI OSEGBU

interactions of color For a long time I’ve been obsessed with the way colors arranged themselves in my photographs. It began with my street photography – I would notice colors and gestures repeating throughout a composition, or encounter an entire landscape composed of just one color. Sometimes, the longer I looked at a photo, the more red things I would see, or yellow, or green. The more I studied color, and learned about the ways colors interact with each other, the more apparent this obsession became in my work. These color photos aren’t necessarily something I search for. It’s a phenomenon that seems to follow me; it’s something I’m always aware of. This is a series that is forever ongoing, as I don’t think it’s possible for it to ever be finished.

LISA GIRIS

Basement Freakshow is a video collection documenting fictional characters enacting strange behaviors. The name is derived from the idea that as humans we all have dirty secrets and habits we try to conceal from others because they are perceived as socially unfit. The perspective of this project is as if the “freak” was filming her/himself performing their eccentric activities in the privacy of their home, made for their eyes-only. The work draws inspiration from abstract artists such as Tom Rubnitz and Shaye St. John, as well as from TV shows including “The Eric Andre Show” and “Tim and Eric Awesome Show.” My mom always told me not to date the perfect guy who saves his toenail clippings in a mason jar in his closet. 92

MADDY VDK

Disconnection This project was intended to portray the disconnections within oneself, as the title suggests. In psychological terms, individual has three levels of consciousness: superego, ego, and id. Superego is the part of oneself that performs as a self-critical consciousness, by reflecting social standards. Id is one’s instinctive impulses. Ego is the one to struggle between the two others. Within one’s mind, one can experience disconnection among one’s thoughts; one’s social standard, religious belief, morals, and one’s hypocritical actions. I viewed internal conflicts as broken TV, that buzzes and randomly changes channels to find the right one. 96

SANG YOUNG BAE

My photographs are intentional and I am always mindful of how the intricacies of my subject’s identities and histories converse with mine. In pursuing research about the history of incarceration in America—one that is steeped in systemic violence, racism, and an overall disregard for femaleness—and by listening to women who have experienced the system firsthand, my photographs find their place.

My images pay homage to the individuals I have connected with through my involvement as a mentor and women’s rights advocate. I build relationships with my subjects and document them in a way that best represents their individuality. The majority of my work, and the focus of my thesis project, is a documentation of women from Hour Children, an organization that works with incarcerated women to help them successfully and comfortably reenter society. I have spent hours listening to stories, visiting women in their homes and at their work places, and getting to know their families through intimate events.

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RIANA GIDEON

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RIANA GIDEON

103

We see what is at surface level, not always looking at what is truly there. Tricked by the way things are portrayed to us in the media, advertisers gain and we lose. The photos we see every day that convince us of beauty and the standards we must uphold are curated to create illusions of a fairytale world. Concealing and disguising items of beauty, I employ tools of the advertising industry to explore and question our environment of obsessive need to change ourselves and strive for perfection.

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ANDREA EDELMAN

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ANDREA EDELMAN

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MORAH GEIST

109

Until I was 14, I trained as a classical ballet dancer. I thought that I had no place in the professional dance world until my high school dance teacher opened my eyes to the profession of dance photography, and affirmed that I would always be a dancer, no matter my skill level.

I want everyone to enjoy dance as much as I do. When I photograph dancers I want to bring out the best in them. I make sure the positions are correct, and I strive to make dance photos that portray movement, even in a still photograph. Choreography is a living and moving art which transcends the correct positions and focuses on the transitional moments where the dancers can breathe and truly feel the movement. In photographing dance, the flow of the movements breaks the constraints of the frame, allowing the emotion to be felt. 110

MORAH GEIST

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I AND ME

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MARILYN LAMANNA

113

This project, titled “I and Me,” deals with the dynamic connection between the past and present self, and viewing situations from different perspectives. Photography has always been an introspective journey for me. My work often evokes themes of identity, as well as visualizing change, and for this series I aimed to bend the boundaries of time and space in order to create a narrative in which past and present exist in one realm. Recalling our memories, whether they are triumphs or failures, is how we grow, and it’s a universal process of self-reflection that forces us to acknowledge our own existence.

The title of the series is based off the quote by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “I and me are too often in conversation.” The work is a visual conversation between two versions of the self. It cultivates an image of identity, but also highlights the complexity of time and space, and how malleable the two are within the framework of our minds.

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MARILYN LAMANNA

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For one to know peace and joy, one has to also know suffering and pain. There have been moments in my life where I have felt hopeless, fearful, and alone, but without those experiences, I would not be able to understand how wonderful the feelings of being hopeful, courageous, and connected to others are. New York: the most chaotic and vibrant city buzzing with life. Every day I pass hundreds of people, unaware of their stories, their pasts, their circumstances. Unaware of who they are beneath the surface. Having gone through some experiences that were emotionally draining, it has been necessary for my health and peace of mind down. Exercise, a walk in nature, or meditating can provide daily relief, but the heaviest things, the worries that work their way back into my thoughts require a little more. I attended the Rise Lantern Festival in Nevada last year, and was deeply moved and inspired by the coming together of all kinds of people with the intentions of healing and of supporting others with compassion. In my daily grind, sometimes it is hard to remember that most likely every single person walking on the street is going through something challenging—such is the nature of life. I wanted to provide an outlet and give support to strangers and family members to release what has been weighing them down, have the opportunity to be seen, and to ceremoniously join with them in their intentions to let go. Normally balloons are associated with clowns, birthday parties, or something lighthearted and silly, but the person a physical representation of their issue, their challenge. There is a great feeling of relief when their eyes can no longer spot the balloon in the sky, and I want to bear witness with my camera to their courage and intentions to move forward. My spirits were lifted as much as theirs with this gratifying project. 116

BAYLEY BAUMGARTEN

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BAYLEY BAUMGARTEN

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SAM SOON

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SAM SOON

123

The House That Built Me After the passing of my mother in the summer of 2014, my family and I set off to grieve disjointedly as I moved to New York City and began studying at New York University. I had a battle with the relationship to my family and home and used the privilege of being away from them as a reason to forget about the life we built together and the battles we went through. My extended family often persuaded me to move on, and encouraged me that that house was not my home; but I couldn’t disconnect my upbringing and felt the need to recollect my childhood and the relationship with my siblings and stepfather. After my sister had her son, I felt his miracle was enough reason to put the pieces back together, he was the platform to a new beginning and prevented us from falling apart. These images depict a view of our new dynamics after the loss of my mother, and in addition to new ties that my nephew brings.

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REBECCA ARTHUR

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REBECCA ARTHUR

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Since the mid 2000s, the disparity between the lower and middle class has dwindled to an almost immeasurably thin line. Stories of students defaulting on their school loans are growing to be much more commonplace than before. Upon graduation, certain students have amassed a debt within a stone’s throw of a mortgage; sometimes, upwards of 300,000 dollars, after interest.

CHILDREN OF THE MIDDLE CLASS

Stories of Donald Trump’s orange skin, Colin Kaepernick’s knee, and Beyonce’s twins have averted our eyes from the tragedy that is occurring to students across the county on a massive scale. Parents can’t bear the financial burden and their children cannot afford monthly payments to their loans when they amount to 75 percent of their income. 128

GREGORY ALDERS

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Dropping out, joining the army, or working a dead-end job all seem to be a now common choice amongst young adults across the country. Friends, family, and classmates that I know personally have met this fate. This photo essay serves to explore these stories, specifically in my hometown, and get to the core of why this is happening to our nation's students. According to the government, these families make "enough" to be disqualified from aid, but don't make enough to fully take on the brunt that is educational loans.

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GREGORY ALDERS

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[Per]ception is a fashion series of triptychs, exploring the visual ideas of divergent identities, repetition, and multipolarity.

observed from different angles —no

viewpoint

correct,

many interpretations. In this series, the artist’s emphasis is on total control; of the most importantly, perspective which

turn

determines

impressions. The photographer is setting the image, like a painter, depicting scenes on a blank canvas — with purpose and discipline.

otherworldly

detached

trip-

tychs, this editorial aims to reveal how versatile, or even

depends on perspective which can often limit one’s perception. Intentional distortion is used in this sequence to multiply the gradually changing through distortional movement. This changing its totality. 132

OLGA USH

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OLGA USH

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FRANCINE HERNANDEZ

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IT WASN’T UNTIL I MET PAIN FACE TO FACE, THAT I REALIZED

I AM STRONG BUT NOT ON MY OWN, FOR NOW I KNOW WHO I AM

AND TO WHOM I BELONG. THERE LIES MY PEACE.

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ZIKORA HYACINTH

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ZIKORA HYACINTH

143

The Image World A photograph is too many things. Is it a reminder of the sitter, or the one whose memory it belongs to? On the day of my grandfather’s funeral, his eldest daughter had hesitated before taking one last photograph of him. I wondered what that image meant. Months earlier, his youngest had travelled to India to visit nanaji who was unable to recognize her. To break the silence, we had spoken about seva—the Sikh teaching of selfless servitude, about how in family we have the privilege to practice seva too—first the parents for their children and then again the other way. I couldn’t serve my father in his final days, but I attend to him now through his photographs. The ongoing project is my seva for my father. It is also a consideration of the shifting nature of photography and record keeping, and a contemplation on the concepts of memory, family, mourning, melancholia, and the very many things in between. As Susan Sontag has noted, “In the real world, something is happening and no one knows what is going to happen. In the image world, it has happened, and it will forever happen in that way.” The project lives online at the-image-world.com.

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YASHNA KAUL

Animation still, 1986 Montages no. 3 & 4, 1989 Hands of God, Digital album spread, 2005

(above) (left) (next)

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YASHNA KAUL

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Querida Cuba In the spring of 2017, I spent the shortest three months of my life in Cuba. I was overwhelmed by the island, its people, and every fleeting moment of my sojourn. Despite the familiar geopolitical complex and societal matters that define Cuba’s history and contemporary culture, I was captivated by aspects of simplicity everywhere I turned. Immersed in a world of exotic traditions and mesmerizing people, I was compelled to capture profound moments, intricate details, and fleeting beauty. I began to form a noncoventional vision of Cuba, one revealed in its simple graces. When I returned this fall, my earlier impressions were confirmed. “Querida Cuba” re-contextualizes the island and its culture. Paired with accounts of personal experiences, these images convey my sense of the realities and depth of the culture I saw.

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COLBY TARSITANO

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COLBY TARSITANO

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THREADS OF QUEER DISCOURSE Is it possible to be non-confrontationally queer? In the Northeast and on the West Coast, some queer young adults have now grown up without being stigmatized as a result of their sexuality, gender identity, and presentation. The millennial generation often views AIDS as a relic of a bygone era; the rate of new HIV infections peaked in 1997, while annual AIDS deaths peaked in 2004. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was implemented in 1994 and repealed in 2011, while gay marriage was legalized nationally in 2015. Though today we stand near the high water mark of queer acceptance in the United States, we continue to wrestle with a government that endorses anti-queer policy, hate speech defended by educational institutions as “free speech,” and a legal climate wherein people can be fired for their gender identity and sexuality in 27 states. Queer existence is itself a radical act, even in progressive communities where a queer person’s daily existence may not suffer the aggressions of stigmatization. When the national government supports an anti-queer agenda, queer existence is itself a radical act, even in progressive communities such as San Francisco and New York City. Generationally, we are removed from the direct legacy of the queer rights movement that grew out of the Stonewall Riots, from the millions whose deaths help normalize, even embrace honestly, the undeniable humanity of queer lives. Regardless of this disconnect, we share in the collective history that contextualizes our daily existence, despite the erasures that obscure its full depths. These collected experiences uncover what was before obscured, restoring pieces of the patchwork quilt of queer experience from Stonewall to today.

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DYLAN G. KENSETH

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DYLAN G. KENSETH

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The Art of Pleasures

The Art of Pleasures gives an inside look into the realities of both sex workers and people within the BDSMkink community. As artists, business women, and educators, they are challenging the stigmas surrounding sex work, and are changing the way people think about and view an industry and community that many are unaware of or shamed for indulging in. The photographs are set in each model’s home or space, allowing them to create their own aesthetic where they are able to tell their own stories on their own terms. As the photographer, I take a back seat as the models engage in the day-to-day activities they usually do. The project is accompanied by a zine that provides more depth into each model’s profession, industry, community, and information about overall sexual wellness. The sex industry has always been heavily debated, going back to the feminist porn wars, when many feminists believed sex work should be abolished, while others claimed it contributed to a woman’s sexual liberation and freedom of choice. Since the rise of the internet, the adult industry is now easily accessible, therefore it is important that we as a culture start addressing how to make the industry safer, more ethical, and inclusive. I hope my project can educate, enlighten, and encourage exploration into a world that is not going anywhere anytime soon. 156

SAM PRASOPTHUM

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SAM PRASOPTHUM

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Untitled My goal in creating this work is to honor my father and deepen our relationship to one another. In having conversations with him about parts of his past that I’ve never known I think that I am allowing him the opportunity to open up to me not only as his daughter, but as a friend in adulthood, while allowing myself the opportunity to see my father simply as a man. It’s not always comfortable for him, not only is he reserved as a person, but in our culture, parents don’t typically treat their children as friends, or share certain parts of their past with them. Much of what’s discussed brand new to me. I know who my father is, and I know I’ll never know everything about him, but at least through us taking the time to talk about his life, his shy and modest shell can crack, which I am

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STUDENT KAMKWALALA KAMANA NAME

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KAMANA KAMKWALALA

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think the flower has fallen was an experimental project based around archives of my family’s photographs and writings. While using time-present original photographs to make connections, conversations, and stories, I wanted to process a space of memories and images that act as both imaginative yet very real. 164

ARTHUR COOKE

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ARTHUR COOKE

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roadside shrine Positioned between physical familiarity and mental estrangement, Roadside Shrine maps fleeting understandings of a place and time conceived through intermittently gathered scenes. Framed by freezing windows in the back seat of my parent’s car, the series reconsiders memories generated as a passenger on dusk-cloaked and slush-covered winter roads.

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RACHEL KOBER

Envisioning an exchange among space, place, and changing personhood, new figures occupy the hazy nostalgia of a world previously defined by familial characters. Indexing enduring back roads, tree lined and punctuated by well-used and wrecked vehicles, the non-linear narrative notes the passage of time, while alluding to the isolation of an ephemeral geography.

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FACULTY 2014-2018

Ulrich Baer Matthew Baum Caitlin Berrigan Wafaa Bilal Terry Boddie Isolde Brielmaier Kalia Brooks Mark Bussell Iliana Cepero Sandrine Colard Michael Connor Yolanda Cuomo Erika deVries Mia Diehl Thomas Drysdale Sean Fader Cate Fallon Kara Fiedorek Nichole Frocheur Mark Jenkinson Whitney Johnson Melissa Harris Elizabeth Kilroy Astrid Lewis-Reedy Elaine Mayes Susan Meiselas Editha Mesina Charles Nesbit Lorie Novak Paul Owen Christopher Phillips Shelley Rice Fred Ritchin Joseph Rodriguez Bayeté Ross Smith Jeffrey Scales Deborah Willis Cheryl Yun-Edwards

STAFF Mike Berlin

Edgar Castillo Brandy Dyess Niki Kekos Patricia McKelvin Mary Notari Karl Peterson Caleb Savage

Allyson Green, Dean, Tisch School of the Arts Deborah Willis, PhD, Chair, Department of Photography and Imaging

THANK YOU

This catalog was designed and produced by Bonnie Briant and Bobbie Richardson in collaboration with the students in the Senior Directed Projects courses.

Printed by Fort Orange Press, Albany, NY Copyright © 2018 New York University Tisch School of the Arts 721 Broadway, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10003 www.tisch.nyu.edu/photo tischphoto@nyu.edu 212-998-1930

new york university TISCH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS