THE SUFFERING OF LIGHT: New Yorker, NYT Lens Blog

Alex Webb, "Thessaloniki, Greece, 2003," from "The Suffering of Light" in the "New Yorker," December 19, 2011

Congratulations to Alex and Aperture for the coverage of the current THE SUFFERING OF LIGHT exhibition in this week’s NEW YORKER, WALL STREET JOURNAL, as well as on THE NEW YORK TIMES LENS BLOG, SLATE, the NO RING CIRCUS blog, and an interview with NATALIA JIMENEZ on the MSNBC BLOG.  In addition, THE SUFFERING OF LIGHT  is also included as one of PDN NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2011, one of AMERICAN PHOTO’s BEST PHOTO BOOKS OF 2011, one of the GUARDIAN’S BEST PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS OF THE YEAR, 2011, one of PHOTO EYE’s Best Photography Books of 2011, and one of ELISABETH BIONDI’S choices for 2011 BEST PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS on ELIZABETH AVEDON’S blog.

For those who didn’t get a chance to see the exhibition yet, consider attending Alex’s gallery talk at APERTURE on Saturday, December 17th, from 4-5 pm.–Rebecca Norris Webb

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS:

Alex Webb, “The Suffering of Light,” @ Aperture, New York, through January 19, 2012

Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb, “Violet Isle: A Photographic Portrait of Cuba,” @ MFA, Boston, through Jan. 16, 2012

Alex Webb, “The Suffering of Light,” at the Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, through Jan. 14, 2012

Rebecca Norris Webb and other artists, “Winged Shadows: Life Among Birds,” NDMOA, Grand Forks, ND, through Jan. 15, 2012

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:

January 22-29, 2012: “The Streets of Havana,” a Nordic Light Workshop, is almost full.

Additional Webb Workshops 2012 include:

Sunday May 20 to Friday May 25, 2012,  Brooklyn, New York, “Finding Your Vision Workshop”

Friday, March 9 thru Sunday, March 11, 2012, Singapore, “Finding Your Vision” weekend workshop

Friday March 23 to Sunday March 25, 2012, possible weekend workshop @ Aperture, NY

For more information, please contact Rebecca:  rebeccanorriswebb@yahoo.com.   Ask to placed on the email blog/workshop update list for the latest workshop information.

Rebecca Norris Webb, "Havana, 2007" at MFA, Boston & NDMOA

DECEMBER EVENTS: Alex @ Aperture

Alex Webb, cover of his Aperture monograph, "The Suffering of Light"

UPCOMING EVENTS

––Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011, New York, Aperture Gallery; 6-8 pm

All are invited to the opening reception of Alex Webb’s 50-print exhibition of his recent Aperture monograph of 30 years of color photographs, “The Suffering of Light.”  For more information.

 ––Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011, New York, Aperture Gallery and Book Store, 4-6 pm

Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb will sign copies of their books,  including “The Suffering of Light” (AW, Aperture, 2011), “Violet Isle (AW, RNW, Radius), Istanbul (AW, Aperture),  and their two out-of-print books, “Under a Grudging Sun “ (AW, Thames and Hudson, 1989) and “The Glass Between Us” (Channel, 2006). Link.

 ––Saturday, Dec. 17^th, 2011, New York, Aperture Gallery, 4-5 pm

Alex Webb will give a free public gallery talk about his current exhibition at the Aperture Gallery. Link.

RELATED LINKS/REVIEWS:

–Selection of photographs from the Aperture book,  ”The Suffering of Light,” on Slate.

Review of Alex's book in L'Express

  ONGOING EVENTS:

––VIOLET ISLE @ the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, through Monday, January 16, 2012

A Photographic Portrait of Cuba by Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb.

This exhibition explores photographers Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb’s poetic vision of Cuba, the Caribbean island that—because of the color of its soil—is occasionally known as the “Violet Isle.” The couple became fascinated with the paradoxes of the place some twenty years ago, and made eleven trips to photograph there between 1993 and 2008. They worked individually—Alex capturing the people he encountered on the streets, in courtyards and cafes, and Rebecca recording the interesting animals that she came across—and pooled the results of their labors at the end of the endeavor. Combined, the photographers’ efforts form a rich visual essay, a sort of duet on the lyrical vibrancy and texture of the island’s culture.

Link to the BOSTON GLOBE review of the exhibition.

––Tues., November 29th, 2011 to Jan. 15, 2012, Grand Forks, North Dakota

“Winged Shadows: Life Among Birds,” group show featuring work by Rebecca Norris Webb, Terry Evans, Walton Ford, and other artists.  For more information, please visit the museum’s website here.

It was evening all afternoon.

It was snowing

And it was going to snow.

The blackbird sat

In the cedar-limbs.

–from “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens

Rebecca Norris Webb, Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, in the NDMOA show, "Winged Shadows"

 ––Dec. 1, 2011 to January 14, 2012, Toronto, Stephen Bulger Gallery; 5-9 pm

Please join us for the reception of Alex Webb’s gallery show at the Stephen Bulger Gallery, which will feature a selection of work from his recent book.  For more information.

 

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:

December 17, 2011: ONE-DAY WORKSHOP @ APERTURE

New York, Aperture Gallery , 10-5pm

Do you know where you’re going next with your photography –– or where it’s taking you?  This intensive one-day workshop will help photographers begin to understand their own distinct way of seeing the world.  It will also help photographers figure out their next step photographically  –– from deepening their own unique vision to the process of discovering and making a long-term project that they’re passionate about.  For more information, including how to enroll and pay for the workshop, please visit.

THIS WORKSHOP IS NOW FULL. TO BE PLACED ON A WAITING LIST, PLEASE EMAIL REBECCA: rebeccanorriswebb@yahoo.com

––THE STREETS OF HAVANA: A Nordic Light Workshop

Sunday, January 22, to Saturday, January 29, 2012; possible second week:  Jan. 29 to Feb. 4, 2012

This 7-day workshop will be about street photography in Havana –– using the camera to explore the world of this one-of-a-kind Caribbean city in a direct, spontaneous way.  It is a workshop that will emphasize the development of a unique, personal way of seeing and the development of an intuitive way of editing your photographs. We will also discuss with participants over the week how to take their work to the next level. It’s a workshop open to amateurs and professionals alike.  For more information.

Rebecca Norris Webb, from "Communion" series, from her talk at the Brooklyn Public Library as part of the "Jump Rope Girls Project" in December

NOVEMBER EVENTS: Paris, Munich, Brooklyn

Alex Webb, Kampala, Uganda, 1980, from "The Suffering of Light"

––BOOK SIGNING AT PARIS PHOTO @ THE GRAND PALAIS

SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 4:30 @ APERTURE BOOTH, E26

Join us for a book signing of Alex’s new book, THE SUFFERING OF LIGHT (exhibition opening @ Aperture in New York, Thursday, Dec. 8th), and our joint Cuba book, VIOLET ISLE  (exhibition currently at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, until January 16th, 2012; Radius Books expects VIOLET ISLE to be sold out by the end of the year).  We will post other book signings and activities we’ll be involved in @ Paris Photo –– which this year celebrates African photography –– as we finalize our schedule.  Here is a link to more Aperture book signings at Paris Photo this year, including a signing by one of Rebecca’s favorite photographers, Rinko Kawauchi.–Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

––ALEX WEBB LECTURE IN MUNICH

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH.   For more information (only in German), please follow this link.  Alex will be speaking as part of a conference.

––REBECCA NORRIS WEBB  @ THE BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY

Rebecca will join a group of filmmakers, writers, and other photographers involved in the Brooklyn project, “Jump Rope Girls,” a project started by journalist, SUSAN HARTMAN, for an article she did for The New York Times 23 years ago about a group of girls who were expert Double Dutch jumpers at a time when their Brooklyn neighborhood was particularly troubled.  A generation later, Hartman — with a group of documentary filmmakers and photographers — has continued to follow three of the four young women and their extended family and community, including Savannah (below), whom Rebecca has been photographing this past year, a process that’s taking her back to her photographic roots –– she started out in photography photographing children at play in New York, influenced by the street work of Helen Levitt and the portraits of Sally Mann.–Alex Webb

Information:

Jump Rope Girls, 23 Years On

Wed., November 30, 2011    7:00 pm    Free

Brooklyn Public Library     10 Grand Army Plaza   MAP IT

2/3 trains at Grand Army Plaza

Refreshments by Salsa Catering.

Rebecca Norris Webb, "Communion," Brooklyn, 2011

WEBB WORKSHOP UPDATE: TWO NEW WORKSHOPS

––ONE DAY WORKSHOP @ APERTURE, NY: Saturday, December 17, 2011
––CUBA: STREETS OF HAVANA, Nordic Light Workshop: JANUARY 2012

Alex Webb, Havana, 2009, from "Violet Isle"

––ONE-DAY WORKSHOP @ APERTURE, NYC

with Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

Saturday, December 17, 10-5 pm; includes public gallery talk with Alex Webb about his Aperture exhibition, THE SUFFERING OF LIGHT from 4 to 5 pm.

$225; $175 for full time photography students and Aperture members

Do you know where you’re going next with your photography –– or where it’s taking you?  This intensive one-day workshop will help photographers begin to understand their own distinct way of seeing the world.  It will also help photographers figure out their next step photographically  –– from deepening their own unique vision to the process of discovering and making a long-term project that they’re passionate about.

A workshop for serious amateurs and professionals alike, this one-day workshop will begin Saturday  morning with reviews of each photographer’s work, serving as a jumping off point for a larger discussion about various photographic issues. Alex and Rebecca, a creative team who often edit projects and books together –– including their book and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, exhibition, “Violet Isle: A Duet of Photographs from Cuba” –– will explore with the class a series of topics, including the process of photographing spontaneously and intuitively; how to photograph in cultures other than one’s own; how to edit photographs intuitively; the emotional and psychological implications of working in color vs. black and white; the difference between images in a book and images on the wall; and how long-term projects can evolve into books and exhibitions. Participants should be prepared to ask questions, as these concerns will help shape the ultimate direction of the workshop.

This one-day workshop is for documentary photographers, street photographers, art photographers, and others who photograph the world with a camera –– not for those who dramatically alter their photographs digitally.  

WHAT PHOTOGRAPHERS SHOULD BRING: About 30 photography prints (can be inexpensive 5×7  or 8×10  work prints; we are most interested in the image not the quality of the print).  For those who are working in a series or on a long-term project, feel free to bring one or two projects.

Class limit: 20

To enroll for the workshop and pay the workshop fee (there is a discounted rate for full-time photography students, Aperture Patrons, and SNAP! members), please follow this link to the Aperture site. For more information, contact Rebecca at rebeccanorriswebb@yahoo.com.

––THE STREETS OF HAVANA with NORDIC LIGHT

Sunday, January 22, 2012 to Saturday, January 28, 2012; possible second week, Jan. 29-Feb. 5 

Havana workshop, organized by Norway’s Nordic Light Photography Festival.  For more information, follow this link.

Rebecca Norris Webb, Havana, 2008, from "Violet Isle"

OCTOBER EVENTS: DC, Oslo, and Brooklyn

Alex Webb, "Matamoros, Mexico, 1978," from the book, "Crossings"

Please let us know if you can join us this month in DC, OSLO, or DUMBO, Brooklyn, at one of our slide talks/book signings.  You’ll find the details of all the slide talks below.

For those interested, you’ll also find information about our October (Brooklyn), November (Munich), and December (Toronto) workshops at the end of this posting.––Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

UPCOMING WEBB SLIDE TALKS AND BOOK SIGNINGS:

• THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6TH, WASHINGTON, D.C., 6:30 PM
• MONDAY, OCTOBER 10TH, OSLO, NORWAY, 5-8 PM
• SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23D, DUMBO, BROOKLYN, 5 PM

A PHOTOGRAPHER’S JOURNEY

A CONVERSATION WITH ALEX WEBB

Join us for this captivating conversation between photographer Alex Webb and Juan García de Oteyza, curator of our current exhibition Mexico Through the Lens of National Geographic and former director of the Aperture Foundation in New York City.  Webb will present his most recent monograph, the Suffering of Light, which is largely drawn from his work in Latin America; provide insight into his fascinating photographs of the US/ Mexican border that are featured in the exhibition; and have a conversation with García de Oteyza about the important role of photographs and photographers in shaping our understanding of people and places.

Copies of The Suffering of Light and Violet Isle will be available for purchase by cash or check before and after the talk.

OCTOBER 6, 2011 | 6:30 PM

MEXICAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE

2829 16^th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20009

 

FREE ADMISSION

SEATING IS LIMITED

RSVP RECOMMENDED:

RSVP@instituteofmexicodc.org     

Rebecca Norris Webb, “The Sky Below,” from the upcoming book, “My Dakota”

AN EVENING OF PHOTOGRAPHY WITH ALEX WEBB, REBECCA NORRIS WEBB, AND JOSH LUSTIG

Host of the Evening Event: Norwegian Photographer Rune Eraker

Fritt Ord

Uranienborgveien 2, Oslo
Monday, October 10th,  from 17:00-20:00

Free and open to the public

This Oslo event will be hosted by Norwegian photographer Rune Eraker. Along with Alex and Rebecca Webb, Josh Lustig from Panos will also be speaking about the role of photo Agencies today as well as various ways to cultivate long term projects. There will be a debate and Q/A session after the talks.

For more information: Fritt Ord website

WORKSHOP UPDATE:

1. There is one place left in our most advanced workshop, THE PHOTO PROJECT WORKSHOP 2011, the last week of October in Dumbo.  All former Webb Workshop photographers are invited to apply, but others will be considered as well.  For more information, follow this link of the Magnum Events page, or contact Rebecca directly at rebeccanorriswebb@yahoo.com.
2. We’re holding a two-day photography workshop in Munich, November 15 and 16th.  Here is the link (only in German at this time).
3. There are only three spots left in our upcoming workshop the first weekend of December at the Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto.  You can read more about the workshop here, or contact Natalie directly at the gallery: natalie@bulgergallery.com

WOODSTOCK: Webb Slide Talk Saturday, August 27th

Alex Webb, cover of "The Suffering of Light," Aperture, 2011

Please join us on Saturday, August 27th, at the CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY AT WOODSTOCK, for our slide talk and book signing, “Together and Apart,” at 8pm.

You’ll also find a new audio piece about our “Violet Isle” exhibition at the MFA, Boston, at this link.

We’ll have more soon about Alex’s upcoming Aperture show later this fall in New York, as well as September gallery openings in Chicago and Boston.––Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

WEBB WORKSHOP UPDATE 

There are two spaces left for the BOOK WEEKEND WITH RADIUS BOOKS the third weekend in September in Santa Fe, which will involve both David Chickey, the prize-winning book designer and creative director of Radius Books, and Darius Himes, Radius editor and noted photo book expert. Please contact me at the below email ASAP if you’re interested in attending. Former Webb Workshop participants are invited to apply without submitting a portfolio, but other photographers will be considered as well.  For more information, please visit this link on the Magnum Events page.  This workshop is not only a great way to support your own long-term project, but also Rebecca’s upcoming “My Dakota” book as well.–Alex Webb (email: rnorriswebb@yahoo.com)

TWO EVENTS: London

Alex Webb, cover of "The Suffering of Light," Thames&Hudson (UK)/Aperture (US), 2011

Hope to see some of you who can make our joint slide talk, “Together and Apart: Photographs by Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb,” at Host/Foto 8 on Tuesday, June 21st, which will also include a book signing of “The Suffering of Light,” Alex’s new book from Thames and Hudson/Aperture.  It starts at 7 pm, but the doors open at 6:30 pm.  Please leave us a comment if you can join us. 

And we hope our friends in London have a chance to see Alex’s show at  Magnum Print Room at Magnum London, which will be up until July 29th (you’ll find the exhibition hours at the link above.)  Magnum London has some signed books for those who are interested.

Lastly, we enjoyed meeting everyone at our weekend workshop in East London.  Please stay in touch.  In 2012, we plan to do a longer, six-day workshop in East London, probably the first week in July 2012. --Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

UPCOMING PHOTO PROJECT WORKSHOPS WITH ALEX AND REBECCA:

––Book Weekend with Radius Books (and the Webbs):  Friday, Sept. 23, to Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011, Santa Fe, NM

–- The Photo Project Workshop: Sunday, Oct. 23, to Saturday, Oct. 29th, 2011, New York

All former Webb Workshop participants are invited to participate, but others will be considered as well.

Rebecca Norris Webb, "Violet Isle" cover, Radius Books

NEW BOOK: Book Launch @ Aperture, June 1st

Alex Webb, cover of "The Suffering of Light" (Aperture), with an essay by Geoff Dyer

 

Please join us to celebrate the launch of Alex’s new book, The Suffering of Light, at Aperture at 6:30pm, which will include a conversation with photographer and critic Max Kozloff and a booksigning afterwards. (To take a look inside Alex’s new book, follow this link to the PhotoEye site.) And here’s a link to a portfolio of Alex’s work from the new book on the La Lettre site, courtesy of the Robert Klein Gallery in Boston, which will have a joint show of our work on Saturday, September 17th, from 2-4pm.

And below you’ll find a rough, homemade video of our Violet Isle show at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, an exhibition mentioned in The New York Times on Sunday and reviewed in The Boston Globe on Tuesday, May 31st.   For those who are part of the “Two Looks” online community, please let us know if you get a chance to see Violet Isle at the MFA, Boston, which will be up until January 16, 2012.

By the way, if you visit the MFA by June 16th, be sure and stop by and see the photography show, “Conversations: Photography from the Bank of America Collection,” which includes work by such noted photographers as Lee Friedlander, Diane Arbus, Julia Margaret Cameron, Wright Morris, Alec Soth, William Eggleston, Robert Frank, Mitch Epstein, Larry Sultan, Mike Smith, and Helen Levitt.–Rebecca Norris Webb

Notes on “The Suffering of Light” @ Time.com

Alex Webb, "Erie, Pennsylvania, 2010," from "The Suffering of Light"

Perhaps it’s the poet in me, but I love the irony of being able to hold in my hands a series of intangible moments — and Alex’s new book of 30 years of color work is no exception.  

To see a slide show of images  – including the one above from Erie, Pennsylvania, which was the last photograph Alex took for THE SUFFERING OF LIGHT during a road trip with me driving from New York to South Dakota last summer, and, appropriately, the last photograph in the book — and to read Alex’s notes on the bookmaking process, please follow this link to TIME.COM, where you can also leave your comments.

In addition, here’s a link to an excerpt of the Geoff Dyer essay about Alex in the book, an excerpt recently posted on the GUARDIAN website.

For those in the New York area, please join us for the book launch of THE SUFFERING OF LIGHT at Aperture Foundation, 547 W. 27th on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1st at 6:30pm, which will include a conversation with noted critic Max Kozloff as well as a book signing. Alex and I hope to see many of you there.–Rebecca Norris Webb

TWO VIEWS: Alex at Alcobendas

Alex Webb, "Fort Sherman, Panama, 1999" from "The Suffering of Light"

Alex and I are in Alcobendas, Madrid, this week for the opening of his exhibition, “Selecciones: 1975-2004,” which was the result of his winning the Premio Internacional de Fotographia Alcobendas last year.  For our friends in Spain, hope you can help us celebrate Alex’s opening at the Centro de Arte Alcobendas at 7:30 pm on Thursday, May 12th.

For the TWO VIEWS column this month,  below is another one of my rough, homemade videos of our curating a wall of the exhibition this afternoon, even though we were somewhat jetlagged from a night flight from New York (Talk about intuitive editing!). And secondly, above you’ll find a rather mysterious image of Alex’s from his Alcobendas exhibition — and one that’s also in his new book — that was taken in Ft. Sherman, Panama, in 1999, a photograph of a U.S. military jungle warfare training camp.

Lastly, I’d like to leave you with a quote I came across this evening from one of my favorite poets, the Spanish poet Lorca, a quote which seems a fitting end to our first day in Madrid:  ”Only mystery allows us to live, only mystery.”–Rebecca Norris Webb

TEXT AND IMAGE: World Poetry Day

To celebrate WORLD POETRY DAY, we’ve decided to post one of Rebecca’s prose poems from her first book, “The Glass Between Us,” both in English and in Chinese, the latter thanks to the wonderful translation by fellow photographer and translator, Monica Lin, who is based in Hong Kong.  We are dedicating the poem to all the Chinese photographers we’ve met — both in the Hong Kong workshop, at our Hong Kong slide talk, and through the TWO LOOKS online photographic community.  In addition, since the poem takes place in the Caribbean, we decided to pair it with a relatively unknown photograph of Alex’s from Puerto Rico, which will appear in his new book, “The Suffering of Light.”–=Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

Alex Webb, Pinones, Puerto Rico, 1990, from the book "The Suffering of Light"

Reflections: 4

Sailing in the Caribbean, I catch a mahi mahi.  It takes two men to lift its four-foot body from the sea.  On the hot teak deck, I watch the creature shift its tint, from teal to indigo to aquamarine, like having a tiny sea, beautiful and raging, at my bare feet.  As it flips and flops, I feel a little afraid of this great hulking dying thing.  I wish it would fly.  I wish it would be still.  I’m ashamed how hungry it makes me feel.

Within minutes, I slip a piece of deep red sushi between my lips.  The   freshest fish I’ve ever tasted, it is heavy and sweet and otherworldly, like a slice of mango or sex in the sun after swimming in the turquoise Caribbean.  What I hope my own death will taste like.—Rebecca Norris Webb, from the book, “The Glass Between Us”

镜像：4

航行在加勒比海，我捕到一条马头鱼。把这四英尺长的大家伙从海里拖上来竟需要兩個男人。在滚烫的柚木甲板上，我看着這個造物变换颜色，从湖蓝到靛蓝到海蓝，像我赤裸的足邊一處小小的海洋，美丽而狂暴。看着它拍打翻滚的样子，我突然有点害怕这个垂死的大家伙。我希望它飞。我希望它静止。我为自己因它而饥肠辘辘感到羞愧。

几分钟后，一块深红色的生鱼片滑进我的双唇。这是我尝过最新鲜的鱼肉了，它厚实、鲜甜、超凡脱俗，如同一片芒果，又像在宝石般的加勒比海水中暢泳之后開始的性爱。真希望自己的死亡也有同樣的味道—Rebecca Norris Webb, translated into Chinese by Monica Lin, from the book, “The Glass Between Us”