'Close Your Eyes'

British photographer Hester Jones' series 'Call Yourself a Mother' explores "the maternal ambivalent feelings and fantasies many mothers experience towards their children" in a handful of stark and ambiguous constructions. Jones does not include the mother's face, denying us the  look that the mother would be giving and prompting us to question the action taking place.

A graduate of London's prestigious LCC and, among several other exhibitions, with work just shown at 2010 Brighton Fringe, Hester's work can be seen here in the States at the Mpls Photo Center in 'Woman As Photographer: Picturing Life as a Woman' which opens March 4th and coincides with International Women's Day.

I met Norman Borden at an ASMP portfolio review. Says he, "This is a project about smokers - people who are a vanishing breed and often pariahs but who still enjoy the nicotine rush, the feel of a cigarette between their fingers or lips, and how the act of smoking defines them as individuals." I encouraged Norman to continue this project and to photograph in other cities.

The mayor of New York City recently announced that he is enacting a smoking ban in parks, beaches and pedestrianized areas such as Times Square. Thankfully, the NYPD is not going to be collecting $50 fines; apparently the ban will be enforced by the people around you, defenders of public health and morality! "if a person does not stop when you request, then you can call 311 to report it, or you can notify a Parks Department employee or a Park Enforcement officer." I'm renaming these city employees Enjoyment Spoilers as they do a great job ensuring you don't ride your bike, smell the flowers, or just have too good of a time in a public space that you pay for out of your taxes.

We are not at all invested in preventative healthcare. We are not invested in intelligent ways to help people stop smoking. We are not invested in reducing pollution - how about all those cars idling their engines for half an hour while they wait to switch side of the street? There is no shame being attached to that, to a department store air conditioning the street in summer.

How about banning plastic bags Mayor Bloomberg?

Images © Norman Borden

Azhar Chougle is "a fine-art documentary photographer, based in Mumbai, India and New York, NY." He's been keeping me abreast of his work over the last few months with his eloquent, thoughtful submissions.

"The New York city subway always felt like a teleport to me. Descending down the stairs from a concrete jungle and emerging at the edges of urban existence. 'The Last Exit' is a conceptual documentary series exploring the very edges of the subway system." I love the bucolic 6 train platform, and the exit to the Milky Way. 

Also check out Bombay Taxi, Azhar's essay on the individuality of the taxi cabs he takes through India's most populous city.

I love Jaimie Warren. This is my concession for 'Valentine's Day'.

According to his bio, Walker Pickering is a Texan from Texas. He has been a photographer at the Texas House of Representatives and darkroom printer for screenwriter & photographer Bill Wittliff. He currently teaches photography at The Art Institute of Austin as a part-time faculty member and is available for editorial assignments and commissions. So, there.

I love these images from his recent series Nearly West, five prints from which will be on view at the Houston Center for Photography from March 11-April 24, 2011.

Maury Gortemiller submitted his work and website and I was happy to see his various interesting projects, plus the record of his life as a Competitive Apneist. An enjoyable visit. I chose a few images from 'The Natural World'.

"I'm interested in the ways people experience nature, or the natural environment, through various surrogate forms. I'm drawn to all depictions of the natural world, such as art, toys, and things that were once living and are now preserved. However, I'm most interested in what I would call the more unfashionable displays of nature, depictions that are incongruous with the surrounding environment.
 
I'm fascinated with the perceived notion that some artificial element of nature, such as a landscape photograph, placed next to something utilitarian, like a fire alarm, can somehow beautify or make a more attractive display. The impulse to depict the natural environment is a basic impulse; after all, some of the first recorded works of art are depictions of persons and animals.  What strikes me is the endless repetition of contemporary depictions of nature. It's a procession of images that is pointless and hollow.
 
My objective is to fully explore the notion of the hyperreal. In particular, I wish to examine why there is a general preference for imitations of the natural world, and how as a culture many of us derive satisfaction from simulations of the perceived 'real'. I hope to demonstrate the absurdity of these simulations, and the manner in which they ease our anxiety over the loss of a meaningful connection to nature."

Young, hungry, talented and delightful, friend of aCurator Abby Ross was at Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, recently and pulled off some gorgeous portraits including musicians who played with Bob Marley.

Mark Dorf is based in Savannah, Georgia. I'm thrilled this young photographer has his submission skills down pat, and whilst still in school, is surely getting his work out there. Please enjoy his artist statement and thought-provoking imagery.

"Our current landscape is one that is permeated with man made monoliths, sitting on the horizon, reforming the clean line that was once firmly established. The creation of this ever-expanding human footprint encroaches carelessly upon our environment without control at every moment. Creation can be considered one of the most powerful abilities a human possesses, whether it be through the hand of an artist, the architect or businessman, an inherent amount of power and control is given to the creator. However, this amount of control and power can grow to become intoxicating leading to devastating adverse and unseen side effects. However apparent these effects are, they are not always understood and can be ignored and seen as neutral to those who encounter them until it is too late and the potential damage has been done.
 
Environmental Occupations explores humanity's role of creation and its relationship with its environment. The concrete forms seen in the images, influenced by minimalist sculptors such as Donald Judd and Richard Serra, downplay any sort of expression and instead reference nothing but geometry and the dense substance that they are made from. The aggressive shape, material, and imposing presence of the objects contrast greatly against the natural and spiritual landscapes in which they are found, rendering them out of context and providing a skewed image from what is inherently reality. The question arises, where did these forms originate? Was there a creator? What are these things?
 
Though these forms seem to mimic functional urban horizons, they themselves are useless and loom in the landscape with a quiet devastation. The forms look to have been man made, but their sheer size and lack of evidence of construction leave the viewer with a disconnect between a specific creator and the objects - just as we see in our mass produced urban world today. The figures within the images speak to the various roles found in the process of creation, ranging from the originator to the mindless and passive observer, impotent and unaware of his or her surroundings."

"Sovereignty"
 

Simone Rosenbauer is one of the selected artists for reGeneration² and she attended the panel discussion at Aperture last night. A young German living in Australia, she told me about her project 'Small Museum'. She's been to 40, and there are more. Bloody brilliant. More projects on her website.