June 15-17, 2012 | Honolulu, Hawaii

Instructors: Emilio Bañuelos and Elena Carrasco

Knots
Jennifer Brandon

Interviewed by Kija Lucas

Where does this body of work stem from?

We connect to a favorite blanket, pillow, sweater, to our bed. They become a part of our emotional lives and put us at ease when we are distressed. I had been collecting materials and objects with associations to this connection, looking for evidence of their continual use: threadbare surfaces, stains, broken seams clumsily repaired.  By isolating the objects in the photograph, I hoped to expose, or perhaps evoke, an emotional state that might bring us to those objects in the first place.

I had accumulated of fabrics, threads, batting and other minutia associated with mending and repair, and began to imagine what kind of object I could create that might evoke an emotional situation.

Knots began with those simple materials—fabric and thread—but it was my own hand and action this time, tearing at fabric, piecing it clumsily back together, staining and damaging the surface of these odd little objects that could have been purged or cast aside.

Your work has moved from more recognizable found objects to made objects, why was that a necessary transition?

I’m not sure it’s a transition from one to the other as much as a navigation between the two. I’ve been preoccupied with things falling apart and getting put back together, and the metaphors associated, for some time. In pieces such as An Attenuate Object, the video Falling and the window installation Fallen for instance I had an overt hand in the making and unmaking of the objects. Knots was the first time, however, that the objects were rendered as photographs.

Why do you choose to show these as photographic images rather than sculptural pieces?

I’m interested in the transformational quality of the photograph, in the ability to take something negligible and give it significance, to upend its context and offer new associations. Of course, the photograph invites associations with time and experience, things that draw me to the objects and materials that I use.

What other projects are you working on and where do you go from here?

I’m working on a couple of things right now. Accumulations is a series of images that capture increasingly loose, ephemeral constructions; batting and string barely held together and playing against the frame of the photograph. The other, Studies, is a large series of small images that document the smallest bits of detritus, thread, notions and random bits and pieces that I draw ideas from for larger works.

by Toty Antonio Ruggieri

Even with her strong will and personality, I love her unconditionally, like no other. I know I could survive without my husband, even though I love him. I know he would also be fine without me. But without my daughter, I would be torn to pieces. I can’t even think about it because my eyes well up with tears. I would do anything for her, anything to protect her and I pray that I can give her my best and be the best mommy I can be. I pray that our relationship will even get better as she grows up.

At least, I am always amazed at what she picks up. The scary part is that she picks up everything! Good and bad, I see and hear myself in her sometimes and think, “Oh no, do I sound like that?”. I see my little mirror and have to accept that I had some responsibility for molding her.

I took notice of how many parents would take their children with them to places and never talk to them, so the best advice I would give a first time mom is not to take her child for granted in this respect. Children are smart and absorb everything, we already know that, but how young a child learns language and everything you give her is amazing!

by Dan Farnum

For many recent years the FBI has designated my hometown of Saginaw, Michigan as having the most violent crimes per capita in the country. Flint and Detroit are also frequently listed in the top ten. These photographs investigate the condition of cities and neighborhoods in Michigan after years of economic decomposition. This work documents the people who remain when others fled and the places they inhabit amidst a backdrop of mass exodus.

Primarily I focus on teenagers and young adults: The disenfranchised, the urban pioneers and the hipsters whose youthfulness contrasts the harsh condition of the places in which they are photographed. These pictures capture an approachability and vulnerability in people who are typically misunderstood. Surprising, they have an urge to interact with the camera.

This is an important and pivotal time in the state’s history due to the recent national focus on this area brought about by sky rocketing unemployment, controversial automotive bailouts, and continuing crime. My background as a former resident allows me to view Michigan with a level of intimacy and familiarity that more fully addresses the physical as well as the mental ramifications of living in such a challenging place.

I taught her sign language and before she could talk, she signed the next word in a song that I would sing her to sleep with. That was my first realization of how smart children are if we pay attention to them and give them the tools.

by Dan Farnum

For many recent years the FBI has designated my hometown of Saginaw, Michigan as having the most violent crimes per capita in the country. Flint and Detroit are also frequently listed in the top ten. These photographs investigate the condition of cities and neighborhoods in Michigan after years of economic decomposition. This work documents the people who remain when others fled and the places they inhabit amidst a backdrop of mass exodus.

Primarily I focus on teenagers and young adults: The disenfranchised, the urban pioneers and the hipsters whose youthfulness contrasts the harsh condition of the places in which they are photographed. These pictures capture an approachability and vulnerability in people who are typically misunderstood. Surprising, they have an urge to interact with the camera.

This is an important and pivotal time in the state’s history due to the recent national focus on this area brought about by sky rocketing unemployment, controversial automotive bailouts, and continuing crime. My background as a former resident allows me to view Michigan with a level of intimacy and familiarity that more fully addresses the physical as well as the mental ramifications of living in such a challenging place.

Before she ever talked, I would show her things and describe them to her. I would point and tell her that the object waving high on the pole was called a flag and what colors it was, and that there were many types and what they represented. Anyone who saw and heard me would have thought I was crazy, considering my daughter was not yet a year old.