One might think of washing as monotonous, but Sivan Askayo's 'Laundry' series is a delight: sometimes sea creatures, sometimes notes on a stave. Sivan has been to Madrid, Barcelona, London and Buenos Aires, to snap anonymous smalls.

"Laundry project begun in the vibrant alleyways of Tel Aviv's Jaffa neighborhood and has become an ongoing project, taking me to Madrid, Barcelona, London and Buenos Aires to snap the anonymously displayed drying clothing. The project, that was named 'Intimacy under the Wires' reveals images of laundry both intimate and unconfined while their snoopy character makes laundry, a seemingly prosaic subject, all that more intriguing."

I spent a long time wading into Sonja Thomsen's work. Although each of Sonia's series warrants its own feature, I decided to chose from across Oil, Water and Re:Current. I encourage viewers to visit Sonja's own site where the layout and information add to the appreciation of her work.

Thomsen has been widely exhibited across the US since graduating from San Francisco Art Institute in 2004. Currently, images from "Oil" can be seen as part of the exhibition Earth Now: American Landscape Photographers and the Environment at the New Mexico Museum of Art, now through August 28, 2011.

View the full screen magazine photo feature.

"The winter of 2006 diverse circumstances came together, in which oil seemed to be the unifying factor. Trying to navigate my relationship to this war, my family, and my consumption of noxious petroleum I began photographing oil. I remain captive of this elusive and complicated substance that affects our economy and politics."

"Re:Current considers time and its cyclical nature through an installation including projection, thirty-seven still images, and motion sensitive light boxes. Conceptually the installation points to time's ephemeral constancy and considers how the stillness of a photograph can represent and distort this seeming contradiction."

"Churn is a series of 7 photographs of Lake Michigan in winter. Watching the quiet surging under the surface of water is a visceral experience. I am drawn to the aggressive movement hovering under the surface and the contrasting soft palette of the water." / "Swept is a series of 12 photographs of a white river. Each image is taken seconds apart capturing the water's response as the wind so sporadically dances across it. Each moment is its own and through the sequence one can see the invisible." / "Surface is a series of 17 images. The series explores the potential of waiter and the seductiveness of looking. Small puddles of water become glass, dense fog, toxic haze, bodily fluid, and primordial soup in my viewfinder. The unfathomable potential of water to sustain life is a phenomenon that preoccupies me."

Not only are our friends at Snap Galleries exhibiting my friend and long-time business partner Michael Putland's Triptychs this month (nice amount of press guys!), they're also showing Iain MacMillan's Abbey Road Beatles session, and offering the rare prints as a set. Evidently, owner Guy White busted out his loupe:

"One of my favourites is a mysterious lady in a purple top who appears deep in the shadows on three of the six frames. Who was she? She probably doesn't even know that she was there that day - but someone will know who she is. During our research, we have discovered a dozen other bystanders, just like her. It's fascinating to me to think that if a different frame had been chosen as the cover, some of these other characters might have been on the album sleeve. It's also interesting to have a set of photographs with the actual frame numbers visible, so we can establish with absolute certainty the order of the images."

The full story plus an online catalogue can be viewed on Snap's website but of course if you're in London you must go and see in person.

I met photographer and fellow Brit Lucy Helton at an ASMP portfolio review last year and was thrilled to bits and really impressed when she emailed me about this new venture.

Sombra Projects was co-founded by Lucy, Tiana Markova-Gold and Tom White and is "a platform for documentary photography and socially conscious art. Utilising multiple methods of distribution including community-based projects, online showcases, site-specific exhibitions, print publications and affordable fine art prints, our goal is to make documentary photography accessible to as wide an audience as possible.  Working with contributors from various disciplines, we aim to present documentary-based work in innovative ways, enhancing the experience of the viewer and providing an arena in which engagement and debate are both welcomed and encouraged."

These are from their latest featured project: Fondation des Jeunes Haitiennes Optimistes, photographed by Tiana Markova-Gold with words by Jocelyne Firmin.



© Tiana Markova-Gold

Maria de la Iglesia was born in Madrid and currently lives in London. She took a Bachelor Honors Degree in Photography in Dublin Institute of Technology and a Master in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at London College of Communication. There are several very interesting projects on her website but I was most taken by 'Pueblo'.

In Maria's words "'Pueblo' is a portrait of a Spanish village in 2010. The pictures create an intimate, sometimes absurd representation of a remote village in a period of economical crisis. Elderly people are the protagonists facing the decline of the population. The land shapes the village and its characters, suspending them in an age from long ago.  This is a place where animals roam the streets and death is ever present, a place that refuses to accept modernity, preferring to stay close to the ghosts of tradition... 'Pueblo' is not only a personal journey into the absurd, but it has also become an exploration of the human condition. It is a visual and psychological observation that looks with irony and dark humour at the individuals themselves in a context of contrasts."

View the full screen magazine photo feature

Main street, 2010  © Maria de la Iglesia

The opening at Sejong Museum of Art last week kicked off a two month-long exhibition there, with two more venues in Korea in the offing. 'The Exhibition of the Great Portraitist's Work KARSH' is a large and beautifully laid-out show; our fine art representative Jason Christian sent these photos of the venue. More info at the Visit Korea website, and a review here.

"Aperture Gallery and sepiaEYE present 'Wind', a solo exhibition by internationally acclaimed Korean photographer Jungjin Lee featuring twenty-five stunning panoramic landscapes. A limited-edition artist book, as well as the artist's first trade book, co-published by Aperture and Sepia, accompany the exhibition. Beautiful in their composition and physical execution, Lee's images present metaphors for an interior state of being and the forces that shape it. Lee's landscapes are imbued with an elemental vastness, at once powerful and serene. The Wind exhibition will coincide with the annual Asian Contemporary Art Week (ACAW) festivities held in New York. Museums, galleries, curators, and artists will be involved through the ten-day run of the festival."

Opening reception, March 24th. aCurator has the hots for this piano photograph, if you're buying.