Defibaugh, alongside a selective team of scientists, historians, and anthropologists, in collaboration with the National Science Foundation, Nikon Camera and a host of cultural organizations in Greenland, created a modern and multi-media ethnology of life above the Arctic Circle. Living among the Inuit, over 15 months in four progressively remote locations, Defibaugh was able to establish portrait studios and conduct middle school photo workshops with exhibitions of their work, providing a contemporary and interactive visual record of these endangered indigenous people. 

In this book group, Denis Defibaugh discusses, among other things:

Persistence in grant writing - (hint his third attempt was the charm)

The power of collaboration across auspices and professions 

The ability to communicate and form friendship without shared language

The value of embedding in a culture to provide a reflective cultural representation

The wonders of whale meat, reindeer and wolf fish

Santa’s Summer address

Referenced in the episode

North by Nuuk : Greenland After Kent

Polar Field

Uummannaq Polar Institute 

National Science Foundation

Asanninneq - Hans-Ole Amossen Jam 

Nanook - Ingerlaliinnaleqaagut

Music of additional interest:

DeBartali Crew that Hans Ole put together.

Uummannaq Childrens Home singers; traditional music.

Denis Defibaugh https://www.denisdefibaughgreenland.com/about-denis

Engage with J. Sybylla Smith  https://www.jsybyllasmith.com Instagram @jsybylla and Facebook @j.sybylla.smith

Enough, is a visual tapestry delivering moving witness to the pain, beauty, resilience, outrage, wonder and verve radiating from the heart of Brooklyn; thoughtfully woven with original poetry by Dr. Jamilla Lyiscott. Chevalier masterly constructs a virtual time capsule blending insight, concept and document into testimony, chronicling the embodiment of individual and collective agency and a community focusing forward. 

In this book group, Laurent B. Chevalier, and publisher, Kris Graves discuss, among other things:

Using one’s visual voice to advance representation and social justice

The power of being in conversation with your work

Discerning threads and themes from existing work

The importance of image sequencing 

The impact of collaboration towards layering concept and strengthening context

Music being integral to the creative practice 

Referenced in the episode

Kris Graves Projects

Laurent B Chevaliers’ Spotify Playlist

Black Body: Re-reading James Baldwin’s “Stranger in the Village” by Teju Cole, The New Yorker, August 19, 2014

Sharon Olds poem, For You, in text and audio

Seeing in Black Project : Amplifying Black visual narratives and supporting the following organizations:

Know Your Rights Camp

Youth Empowerment Project 

National Black Justice Coalition

Black Futures Lab

The Bail Project

Laurent Chevalier Website | Instagram

Engage with J. Sybylla Smith  https://www.jsybyllasmith.com Instagram @jsybylla and Facebook @j.sybylla.smith

Brody debunks lies and shatters delusions by confronting false narratives and simplistic notions of war. Revealed is the perpetuation of military-created propaganda commonly amplified by legacy formats of the media. War, Brody argues, does not contain moral and noble causes nor glorifies or institutes an ideology; it weaponizes human instincts and makes monsters of everyone. 

In this book group, Ben Brody discusses, among other things:

Self publishing realities aka the brutality of bookmaking

The key factor of the photographers intention 

The import of citizen journalism

Using the medium of the book to layer concept

Essential expertise of book designers 

Artists who use photo vs photographers who use art

Self Licking Ice Cream Cones (see glossary)

Starting your own book imprint

Referenced in the episode 

Kummer & Hermann 

Groundtruth Project

Report4America

Foreverstan Project

Mass Books

Paris Photo/ Aperture Photobook Awards

Ben Brody Website | Instagram

Engage with J. Sybylla Smith  https://www.jsybyllasmith.com Instagram @jsybylla and Facebook @j.sybylla.smith

Confronting the societal and familial taboo of addiction, Keulards courageously shares her journey to understand the impact on her brother, herself and their family. Fifteen years following her brother's death by cardiac arrest in a luxury Berlin hotel room due to his drug use, Keulards literally and metaphorically pulls back the curtain to reveal her exploration and discovery of the human experience of addiction. With this tactile book and a companion multimedia installation Keulards creates an immersive experience.

In this book group,Vivian Keulards discusses, among other things:

Understanding the implications of sharing a family secret

How assumptions slip into facts

Depicting the human side of addiction

The benefits of working with book designers and a publisher

Her crowd-sourcing experience to fund the project

The magic of serendipity 

The role of collaboration

Referenced in the episode

Tonic by Ralf Mohren

Trailer of Christiane F

Poulomi Basu - Blood Speaks

Design Agency PutGootink

Schilt Publishing

Lensculture Review

Book Content

Vivian Keulards Website | Instagram

Engage with J. Sybylla Smith  https://www.jsybyllasmith.com Instagram @jsybylla and Facebook @j.sybylla.smith

Utilizing the name and frame of John Szarkowskis’, Frailey highlights 100 photographers based on Susan Sontags’ premise that photography is an instrument for knowing things, and this is his collection of what he knows. His intention is to provide a platform to repeatedly explore the layered discoveries within a single image. As Frailey notes : “all images traffic in the marketplace of ideas.”

In this book group, Stephen Frailey discusses, among other things:

developing sensibility

exploring styles outside of comfort zones

transitioning from one body of work to another

animating still lives

degrees of appropriation

Referenced in the episode

John Szarkowski - Looking at Photographs 

Book Review - Hank Willis Thomas 

Jeanine Michna-Bales

Thomas Demand

Playboy, Braille Edition - funded by U.S. Congress since 1985

Arnika Dawkins Gallery

Dear Dave - for a signed copy of the book

Stephen Frailey Website | Instagram

Engage with J. Sybylla Smith  https://www.jsybyllasmith.com Instagram @jsybylla and Facebook @j.sybylla.smith

The result of a post college grant landed Meyer in Swaziland, now Eswatini, as a journalist  exploring the reality of a country with the world’s largest HIV population. He began with a job in a candle factory, spending two years without access to the internet. Led by curiosity and his ability to create community Meyer developed the framework to honor and amplify the visibility of the African gay man. 

In this book group, Meyer discusses, among other things:

blending craft and technology 

allowing process to drive concept develop

the process of creating a book

the African LGBTQ community 

Millhook Residency 

a glimpse into his next project

Resources:

Millhook Residency

Rock of Hope 

Health Plus 4 men

Bridget Riley

Yoon Ji Seon

Meyers’ Process 

Kyle Meyer Website | Instagram 

The result of a post college grant landed Meyer in Swaziland, now Eswatini, as a journalist  exploring the reality of a country with the world’s largest HIV population. He began with a job in a candle factory, spending two years without access to the internet. Led by curiosity and his ability to create community Meyer developed the framework to honor and amplify the visibility of the African gay man. 

In this book group, Meyer discusses, among other things:

blending craft and technology 

allowing process to drive concept develop

the process of creating a book

the African LGBTQ community 

Millhook Residency 

a glimpse into his next project

Resources:

Millhook Residency

Rock of Hope 

Health Plus 4 men

Bridget Riley

Yoon Ji Seon

Meyers’ Process 

Website | Instagram 

Engage with J. Sybylla Smith  https://www.jsybyllasmith.com Instagram @jsybylla and Facebook @j.sybylla.smith

The result of a post college grant landed Meyer in Swaziland, now Eswatini, as a journalist  exploring the reality of a country with the world’s largest HIV population. He began with a job in a candle factory, spending two years without access to the internet. Led by curiosity and his ability to create community Meyer developed the framework to honor and amplify the visibility of the African gay man. 

In this book group, Meyer discusses, among other things:

blending craft and technology 

allowing process to drive concept develop

the process of creating a book

the African LGBTQ community 

Millhook Residency 

a glimpse into his next project

Resources:

Millhook Residency

Rock of Hope 

Health Plus 4 men

Bridget Riley

Yoon Ji Seon

Meyers’ Process 

Website | Instagram 

Walsh lays bare the issues which confront fair representation, including limitations caused by censorship, complacency, race and gender inequity. A conversation that lands on answering the question “what is conflict photography?”, with an attempt to enlighten our sense of collective awareness and lessening the distance between us and them. 

In this book group, Walsh discusses, among other things:

what is photojournalism and how is the later perceived by a Western audience

politics of representation 

the impact of the historically Western, white, male gaze in documentary photography 

grief fatigue

technology and war 

desensitization and public disengagement caused by a lack of empathy 

Referenced in this episode

The Enough Project

VII Peace Project

Everyday Africa/ Everyday Projects

Verbatim Photo

Drik Picture Library

Arab Fund for Arts and Culture

The GroundTruth Project

Generation Human Rights

A Culture of Safety Alliance

See my Fall 2020 review in ZEKE, The Magazine of Global Documentary, here.

Lauren Walsh Website | Instagram 

Engage with J. Sybylla Smith  https://www.jsybyllasmith.com Instagram @jsybylla and Facebook @j.sybylla.smith

Self described as a painter, with a digital palette made of images, Forman discusses her inspiration, and her background, that led her to create the images captured in her book. The breaking of rules, constraints and the frame is discussed as a quiet revolution found within her works. 

In this book group, Fran Forman discusses, among other things:

The conceptual impact of photomontage

Being a digital painter

Surrealism and cinematic choreography as muses

Defying constraints of one’s medium

Referenced in the episode

Taika Waititi - The Art of Creativity 

Music - Michael Haneke 

Maxfield Parrish 

Fran Forman Website | Instagram

Engage with J. Sybylla Smith  https://www.jsybyllasmith.com Instagram @jsybylla and Facebook @j.sybylla.smith

This book, like England, is generous, respectful and exploratory. The Winter Garden Photograph, which is foundational to the text, is described as a childhood image of Barthes’ recently deceased mother, Henrietta. England posed this query to a handful of colleagues, what to you is a reimagining, an homage or a reflection of this elusive photography? 

In this book group, Odette discusses, among other things:

The Winter Garden Photograph 

Englands’ process using: materiality, gesture and happenstance

a seeding question, and over 200 sprouting responses

the collection of essays contributed by a multitude of English contemporary photo curators and historians

Referenced in this episode 

A Photograph Never Stands Alone by Teju Cole

Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs by Sally Mann

Memories, Dreams and Reflections by Carl Jung

Odette England Website | Instagram

Engage with J. Sybylla Smith  https://www.jsybyllasmith.com Instagram @jsybylla and Facebook @j.sybylla.smith