In Conversation: Corinne May Botz, Nona Faustine, and Rachel Zucker Moderated by Michi Jigarjian
In Conversation: Corinne May Botz, Nona Faustine, and Rachel Zucker, moderated by Michi Jigarjian
Wednesday, April 24th | 7pm
This conversation is free to attend by RSVP and will take place at 126 Baxter St. Please RSVP to baxterst@cameraclubny.org.
Suggested Donation $5
To commemorate 2018 YoungArts|Baxter St Resident Corinne Botz’s solo show, Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York will be hosting a conversation between Corinne May Botz, Nona Faustine, and Rachel Zucker, moderated by Michi Jigarjian on Wednesday April 24th at 7pm. Botz’s show, Milk Factory, is on view until April 27, 2019.
In Botz’s photographs, the breast pump and baby photographs on cell phones, which women commonly view in order to stimulate milk flow, are surrogates for the child. Milk Factory reflects some of the ideological contradictions inherent in modern parenthood and government policies. The images are named for the diverse professions of the pumping women. The solitary pumping rooms take on collective power through the accumulation of photographs.
A sustained focus on space, gender, and the body is central to Botz’s practice. Past subjects have included miniature crime scene reconstructions, domestic ghost-sightings, the homes of agoraphobics, personal belongings left after car accidents, everyday objects instrumental in violent deaths, hoarding, objectophilia, and medical simulations. Visualizing lactation rooms represents a natural evolution of her interests. Lactation rooms are everyday spaces that embody deeply felt subjective experiences of motherhood. Symbolically and materially, expressed milk is a substitute for the mother’s physical presence and emotional intimacy when separated from her child. Botz’s photographs offer insight into women’s personal experiences, the maternal body’s status in the workplace, and fundamental socio-political issues pertaining to the family.
Corinne May Botz is a Brooklyn-based artist and educator whose work engages with themes including space, gender, trauma and the body. Her published books combining photography and writing include The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death (Monacelli Press, 2004) and Haunted Houses (Monacelli Press, 2010). Botz’s photographs have been internationally exhibited at such institutions as the Brooklyn Museum; Museum of Contemporary Photography; De Appel; Turner Contemporary; Bellwether Gallery; and Benrubi Gallery. Her work has been reviewed in numerous publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Foam Magazine, Hyperallergic, Bookforum, and Time: Lightbox. She has held residencies at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture; Atlantic Center for the Arts; Akademie Schloss Solitude; Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Mana Contemporary. Botz is the recipient of both the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Jerome Foundation grants. Botz is represented by Benrubi Gallery in NYC.
Nona Faustine is a photographer and visual artist born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Faustine has a B.F.A from SVA, and an M.F.A from ICP-Bard. Her work focuses on history, identity, and representation, evoking a critical and emotional understanding of the past and proposes a deeper examination of contemporary racial and gender stereotypes. Faustine has exhibited work at Harvard University, Studio Museum of Harlem, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn Museum, African American Museum in Philadelphia, Higher Pictures, The International Center of Photography, and many other institutions. Her work is in the collection of the David C. Driskell Center at Maryland State University, Studio Museum of Harlem, Brooklyn Museum, and Carnegie Museum in Pennsylvania.
Rachel Zucker is the author of ten books, including SoundMachine (forthcoming from Wave Books in 2019). Her other books include a memoir, MOTHERs, and a double collection of prose and poetry, The Pedestrians. Her book Museum of Accidents was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. A recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell Colony and the Sustainable Arts Foundation. Zucker teaches poetry at New York University.
Michi Jigarjian is the President of Baxter St at The Camera Club of New York, which operates to create platforms of community engagement and progress for emerging lens-based artists. She brought the organization to its current location and lead its revitalization. She is co-founder of New Draft Collective and Secretary Press. She serves on the board of Art Production Fund, National YoungArts, and Beat the Street Philadelphia. Her site-specific installation work has been commission by the Maritime Foundation. Her books include Writing as Practice, How We Do Both: Art and Motherhood and the three volume series Mold. Jigarjian’s work has been exhibited internationally and she is a 2013 recipient of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Swing Space Residency. She is currently on faculty at ICP-Bard MFA Program.
This exhibition is the culmination of the second year of the YoungArts | Baxter St Residency Program. Baxter St invites emerging lens-based artists to apply for the residency that provides alumni of the YoungArts Program living in New York City the opportunity of a two month residency with workspace accessibility at Baxter St, access for one month to darkrooms at the International Center of Photography, an artist stipend, and mentoring sessions with 2-3 Art Advisory Committee members. The residency results in a two week solo show at Baxter St. As a resident in this program, artists will gain hands on experience, be counseled and supported by specialists in their field of study and work closely with Baxter St in order to present a solo show, which for most residents will be their first exhibition.
The National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) was established in 1981 by Lin and Ted Arison to identify and nurture the most accomplished young artists in the visual, literary, design and performing arts, and assist them at critical junctures in their educational and professional development. Through a wide range of annual programs, performances and partnerships with some of the nation’s leading cultural institutions, YoungArts aspires to create a strong community of alumni and a platform for a lifetime of encouragement, opportunity and support.
