Exhibition #1
L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
MY WAILING TREE by Ana Elisa Fuentes
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Ana Elisa Fuentes says, "The theme of this call is Relationship. This call was like a pebble cast in a placid lake.. so many ripples and variations. 

As the ripples I arrived at the three images presented to this call. I began my career in photography as little girl starring at the hand-colored family portrait that hung prominently in my family home. My grandmother gave me my first camera - a Diana camera she bought at J.C. Penny. Little did I know then that this camera would be come the staple that it is now. 

Not born into wealth or privilege I applied myself in photography as a trade or craft. Like any trade person I learned the mechanics and details of my craft and honed my skills. I learned traditional black and white film developing and darkroom technique; in addition to E-6 and C-41 processing and printing. While most move forward in our digital age, I found myself wanting to go back in time; back to the roots of image making. The images presented here are an attempt to this call of relationship to myself as a photographer and to the outward relationships that sustain me intimately, emotionally and sensually spiritual.

While art photography has been my secret passion; I've earned my bread and butter through photojournalism - specifically for newspapers and agencies: such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, Reuters, and Getty Images.

In my photojournalism I've sought the more human side of news which has landed my images in the archives of the United Nations; the archival library of HH Dalai Lama; the Indigenous Women's Network; the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation;  Direct Relief International; the American Jewish World Service; the U.S. National Fish and Wildlife Service;  I've received accolades, honors, and commissions from the Melkweg gallery in Amsterdam; the California Council on the Humanities; the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission; the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center Museum with a one-woman exhibition during Women's History Month; inclusion in the *Voices* exhibit at the United Nations in honor of the First Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

About this image:
In times of grief, in order to heal that sense of rawness and naked emotion, I've often sought comfort in nature. Hiking and breathing in the fragrance of coastal Bay Laurel filled me, replenished and assuaged me. Literally taking in the tree this image is a composite of the tree's bark in detail while imploring the tree to take me in."


https://anaelisafoto.wordpress.com 

http://mytrainwindow.tumblr.com 

I am currently building a website at: http://anaelisa.visura.co 

About: https://about.me/anaelisa 
http://anaelisafoto.wordpress.com 
twitter: @anaelisafoto
ricochet: xx2krjk5sysdflwe
 
L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
PEARS by Ana Elisa Fuentes
The original image was recorded on my canon digital camera but my minds eye saw a Pictoral image. This image is my humble tribute to the school of Pictorialsim and the photographers of influence: Gert
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
THE NAKED TRUTH by Ana Elisa Fuentes
Resting at 8,000 feet at Lone Pine Lake, on Mount Whitney in California. After looking further exploring, I found my beloved unaware of me and my camera. He looked so still, natural, truly at rest in
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
REGARD 5-10-2018 by Anna Grevenitis
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Anna Grevenitis says of her series, 'Regard', "My daughter Luigia was born thirteen years ago with Down Syndrome. 

As we try to go about our lives in our community like everybody else--getting ice cream after school, buying sneakers, going to the library--I often catch people staring, gawking, side-glancing at us invasively. 

With this series "regard" I decided to create scenes for the viewers to see "how we live". 

To emphasize control over the images--and my environment--these tableaux are meticulously set, lit up with speedlight, and purposefully developed in black and white. Yet their banality expresses routine acts: bathing, eating, laundry day. In each scene, I invite the viewers inside our ordinary lives to watch, yet I guard our lives, and the viewers are caught gawking--via the direct gaze at the camera. 

Through the direct, return gaze, I establish a relationship with the viewers; their motive is questioned. In "regard" I create, set up, show, guard and re-claim the normalcy of our lives, one image at a time."

Anna Grevenitis (b.1974 Colmar, France) After devoting most of her formative years to language and literature, earning two Master's degrees in English and American Literature and teaching literature and composition on CUNY campuses around New York City, French-born Anna Grevenitis commenced her photography journey twelve years ago. Except for a few basic classes that got her started, she has been teaching herself the medium. 

Anna Grevenitis is interested in photography as an act of establishing visual memory, over time. Long term works have chronicled memories of her daughter and son, of people and places in her life, of herself. Documenting transformation is the focus of her process.

Over the years she has showed her work in a few group shows in New York (BWAC, Brooklyn) and internationally in Iceland twice. Recently two of her photographs have been selected to appear at juried shows at the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, in Tampa, Florida and at the Center for Photography in Houston, TX. Watching her children see themselves in the pictures on gallery walls has been the highlight of the artistic process.

The circle is complete when this happens; everything falls into place and more understanding and documenting happen right there on the spot. 

www.annagrevenitis.me 
 
L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
REGARD 5-25-2015 by Anna Grevenitis
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
REGARD 8-13-2017 by Anna Grevenitis
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
SUBJECT 14 by Collin Allen
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Collin Allen says of his series, 'Naked Cellphone Photos', this is a creative project that explores the ways people share private identities and their own bodies through text messages, social media, and other digital platforms. 

Naked Cellphone Photos is the documentation of my interactions with people who met me in the studio—modeling for an artist—to allow me to photograph them in response to a call for participation. 

The project explores the psychology of people who are willing to share images of their bodies, but not their names, with strangers in person and/or virtually. The duality of the self—in relation to society, social media, digital platforms. 

The photos that were created during the course of this multi-year project were done with a cellphone and all editing was also done on the same phone. The images are edited to crop them for anonymity.  An important aspect of the project is the widespread nature of this type of documentation, a form that people produce prolifically on social media, the internet, etc.

The creation of the work represents a new direction in contemporary imagery.  I also created a 208 page book, the addition of the narrative along with the images humanizes the models/subjects. These are our friends, and neighbors and co-workers."    

These are part of my "Naked Cellphone Photos Project" and my newly finished book. I have just finished the book which includes 26 subjects. 

The titles of the works are  listed as Subject 14, Image 1, Subject 12, Image 11, and Subject 15, Image 5. Because of the amount of finished works and maintaining anonymity all works are listed as Subject # and the order of the photos listed in their section of the book.

The entire project was done with a cellphone, including the editing. The subject of nude photography can be a hard subject to understand. The digital world we live in has created a new way we build relationships and share our lives.

This can be very complicated and that is why at the end of the project I set out to create the book that helps to explain the subject and to help people connect with the subjects in the book. Please feel free to ask questions and a Rough Draft PDF copy of the book is available upon request.

As of right now I don't have a website, but you can view some of my work on https://www.instagram.com/allenworks/"

Collin Allen a native Wichitan has been active in the local arts community for more than twenty years. He has been involved in the arts programs at both Butler County Community College, Wichita Area Technical Collage, and Wichita State University and expanded his knowledge base in sculpture, painting, and photography.

While exploring industrial methods of production. Collin was an artist in residence at the Go Away Garage at 508 S. Commerce St. Wichita Ks. for over eight years and has been part of multiple group and solo art shows. In addition, he has been part of the Wichita Arts Alliance.  Currently Collin is using Go Create at Wichita State University as his main studio working on new processes to create art in engineering environment with industrial tools. Collin has also been commissioned many times for large works for commercial property’s nationally and for collectors.
 
L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
SUBJECT 12 by Collin Allen
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
SUBJECT 15 by Collin Allen
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
THE DREAMER by Florin Firimita
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Florin Ion Firimita says, "In this post-everything world, I am trying to secure a frail form of immortality for my dreams. 

I take photographs in order to know myself and to know the others. I believe that Beauty still matters. Yet, I am not interested in reality perceived through a  cinéma vérité prism.

For twenty five years I lived in Eastern Europe in a socialist-realist country where the only escape was through dreaming. In this context, I have always been interested in a type of mystery (Borges refers to it as “magical ambiguity) where the mundane is mixed with fantasy and where the viewer is invited to complete the image. 

Each photograph should be a journey of self-discovery. The ideas of the labyrinth as a symbol for our relationship with the world and also as a structure deliberately built in order to confuse us, fascinates me. Time (frozen with every click of my shutter release button) and blindness are my companions and my reality enhancers."

Florin Ion Firimita is a visual artist, educator, filmmaker, and writer. He took his first photograph at the age of three using a Soviet made Zenith camera. His interest in image making could be traced back to his father’s modest amateur photo lab in Bucharest, Romania, where he was entrusted with mixing chemicals, developing film, and printing black-and-white images at the age of six.

After his parents' death, he continued to study painting and drawing and kept taking photographs while holding jobs such as welder, grave digger, janitor, window decorator, and security guard. 

After relocating to the United States in 1990, Florin’s photography, mixed media work, and writing have been featured in hundreds of galleries and art magazines in Argentina, France, England, and the U.S. The Art of Leaving, a film about his art, was released in 2003. Based on almost 3,000 pages of journal entries, the film took three years to make and was the official selection of seven international film festival such as Santa Fe, Durango, New York, Chicago, and also Montreal’s 23rd Festival International du Film Sur L’Art. 

His artwork could be found in many private and public collections in Europe, Australia, and the United States. Between 1990 and 2018 he participated in over 400 solo and group exhibits. His photography has been featured in prestigious publications such as Dodho (Barcelona), L’Oeil de la Photographie (Paris), Monovisions (London), and Fujilove (Switzerland). Most recently, Florin’s photography was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art/ Grand Palais in Paris. In 2010, 2012 and 2013, at Carnegie Hall in New York City, Scholastic awarded him three national gold medals for art pedagogy.

His photography is represented by the GADCOLLECTION Gallery in Paris, France.

www.florinfirimita.com
L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
THE LOVERS by Florin Firimita
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
TRINITY by Florin Firimita
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
THE PRECAUTIONARY TALE OF GOATMAN by Greg Banks
Honorable Mention
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Greg Banks says of his series, 'An Explanation of Sympathetic Magic', "God, witches, devils, mythical creatures, speaking in tongues, snake and fire handling, and raising the dead all exist in the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky.  

For this body of work, I am appropriating family photographs, as well as vernacular images, to tell supernatural stories about my family history and the region that I come from.

My work weaves together a personal narrative with the folkloric history of that area. Photoshop and the unpredictability of smart phone applications are used in a similar way to how a folktale unfolds. Each app is manipulating the story as a person might exaggerate a tale when they pass it along.

By assembling family photographs and appropriating historical images, I am constructing stories with contemporary tools for manipulation and passing them along as visual folklore."

Greg Banks is a nationally shown photo-based artist and instructor, currently teaching at Appalachian State University. He received his MFA in photography at East Carolina in May 2017. 

He received a B.A. in photography and a B.A. in fine art from Virginia Intermont College in 1998.  In 2017, he was one of only seven artists chosen for the Light Factory’s Annuale 9. Greg’s work was among the top 5 most popular, on the online magazine “Don’t Take Pictures” in 2017. 

Greg combines everything from IPhone images to historic 19th century processes, gelatin silver printing, painting and digital printing. His current creative practice investigates family, folklore, memories, Appalachia, as well as history and religion. 

www.greg-banks.com  
 
L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
FAMILIAR ELEGY ON WALLINS CREEK by Greg Banks
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
TRACING MY LINEAGE TO THE SERPENT by Greg Banks
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 "Happiness, Empathy, Compassion, A SMILE and at times Envy, Heavy, Wants, Desires...  MY HEART"
UNTITLED by Heather Williamson
FIRST PLACE
"Happiness, Empathy, Compassion, A SMILE and at times Envy, Heavy, Wants, Desires... MY HEART"
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Curator Timothy B. Anderson says, " I like this image because it was the only one to indicate hope, the promise of a future, and the relationship between generations. Nice job!"

Heather Williamson: "
First, please allow me to say thank you Timothy. You have no idea how much just noticing means to me...Or maybe you do:) "

Anderson asks: “Were you placed there for a purpose, or was it just a random shot?”
 
Williamson: "Hmm. That word “purpose” can be tricky. I alone don’t know, so maybe? I will say Tim, when I received the email from Laurie stating the image had been chosen it literally saved me. That's what my work does, save me Tim. I ain't sure if that's the purpose, but it just does."
 
Anderson: “Were you looking for the dichotomy of the tattooed man and his (?) young daughter (?)?”
 
Williamson: "I’m sure at the time, behind the wheel and driving, I wasn’t sure of anything because I was only looking with eyes and feeling a lot... 
Or maybe I wasn’t feeling at all and that’s why I stopped looking. Happens ya know. 
World has a way of showing and redirecting me. In this case, I was seeing. I saw. 
*It’s a young boy I believe. I saw the child’s gaze, “I speak that” I probably thought. 
Wanna know a secret? Wordless is my fav."

Anderson: “Were you in search of a more positive spin on the category?"
 
Williamson: "Categories are real hard for me Tim. Submitting my work has been a learning process. I don't think one way and I sure as hell don't feel one way... All the time. When I submitted I did what I can do, choose 3 without deciding, then cut the kite. My submissions embodied 3 perspectives I can have with this word “Relationship”..."
 
More about Heather Williamson:
She says, "
Hello, my name is Heather
It's been some years to say my name and feel good about it .

Many lives I've lived and had to rid (in just this lifetime) and I've realized...

My name is most important...
It can be the name associated with the ones who are forgotten.
And it can be the name I go to when I have forgotten about myself.

Photography is the air I breathe 
It allows me to feel something other than me.

But also allows me to see something that is me in everything.

When I feel uncomfortable 
If I don't want to feel a certain way 
Or if I'm not feeling at all 
The subject(s) of my work offer me courage.

Strength empathy humility and freedom 
They assure me... 
"Heather, continue"

Most shots are after-while-and-before I'm about to snap die "lose it" and fly... 
Far away from this world these ways these laws (controlling) and this pain. 
But somehow someone or something appears and I'm saved.
Feelings are also what makes my name
They are just as valuable as is thinking...

When I'm behind the camera
No one is aware of the pain in my mind and if anything.

The pain gives way to understanding 
And for that amount of time I feel certain
So maybe you can imagine why... 
Why it's important for me not to tell you 
How to feel or what to think and/or say
I want to see and show what is 
What you and I just may be... Intrinsically 

It's my privilege.
I will wait..."

Growing up Lakota (with Gypsy roots)
Under the politically active and watchful eye of her adoptive grandmother

Heather collected and redeemed many qualities while absorbing endless ways and points of view.

After her grandmother's death she found herself catapulted into emancipation at the age of 14. This would also be the year she dove deeper into film photography.

In 2003 Heather moved to Los Angeles which became her home for the next decade

In LA she embraced photography music film and writing while also working along-side others for commercials music videos indie films and photo shoots

Towards the end of 2012 she found herself isolated and severely depleted.
Upon her return from Cuba, her passion for life diminished into a life barely alive...

She says, "I found myself isolating, not knowing where to go or who I was or becoming. How does anyone know what to do when they see someone's face change?  I was so afraid. I stopped everything. I stopped making."

In 2014 after multiple moves, suicide attempts and hospitalizations Heather found herself in the California Desert where she would be in treatment for over a year.

She learned while being there the most valuable piece of currency is her name.

A long drawn out dusty and dirt road lay ahead but she didn't mind.
Why? Because she also realized
Your name is just as valuable as hers

In the present the subject of all her work is herself (you) No longer is anyone far from her. For she too (has) is waiting in government lines below poverty lines and trying to make sense of self and time...

Galleries-

PHIL STERN 2012
R&R GALLERY 2011/12

Awards-

2014 ANALOGUE PORTRAIT PROJECT WINNER
2018 NY PHOTO CURATOR HM

Publications-

GENLUX MAGAZINE 4.14
HAMBURGER EYES NUMBER 32 3.18
NY PHOTO CURATOR 4.18


 
L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
RAZOR'S EDGE by Heather Williamson
“Razor’s Edge” Struggle, Pain, Suffering, Fear, Melancholia... MY MIND"
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
THE STATE OF BEING CONNECTED by Heather Williamson
“The State Of Being Connected” The intrinsic(ness) of “it” all. I find the horse helps me like no other. Return to who I be, Horse reminds me, what I am, wholeheartedly... Nature, Ah yes"
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
DUPLICITY by Laura Barth
Second Place
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Laura Barth says, "I have never been particularly good at long, drawn out conversations.

I tend to be better at things that are brief, direct, and to the point. What I love so much about photography is that you can say so much without having to say anything at all, and that there are so many photographic “words," all around us at any given time, that we can use.

I tend to think my photographic style is much like my preferred conversations: direct (but not without empathy or feeling), hopefully eloquent, sometimes awkward (but in a way that makes you laugh or think), lively, and always imbued with an appreciation of the conversation itself and its participants."

Laura Barth is an artist, musician, and horticulturist currently living in Blacksburg, Virginia. Primary media include photography (digital and analog), charcoal, watercolor, and mixed media.

Career Highlights:

Finalist, Fusion Online Art Gallery. "Cityscapes" June 2018.

Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR. “Color Space: Contemporary Photography” exhibition. June 2018.

Winners Circle, Contemporary Art Gallery Online “All Botanicals” exhibition/competition. Photography and digital art category. 2018.

Photographer for the International Society for Horticultural Science’s International Symposium on Growing Media, Soilless Cultivation, and Compost Utilization in Horticulture, Portland, OR. 2017.

www.barth-vader.com
@_barth.vader_
 
L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
HIGHWAY YAWEH by Laura Barth
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
MASTICATE by Laura Barth
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
FANNIE CONNECTIONS by Leslie Sheryll
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Leslie Sheryll says, "I am a visual artist and photographer who grew up in New York, and is currently living in Jersey City, New Jersey. I received a BFA, in photography from the Kansas City Art Institute. 

My work explores the male / female relationship in a phallocentric society. I appropriate 19th century tintypes of women which I scan and alter and use as my starting point creating a new narrative upon old beliefs that are still current today. Each woman is given a name from the era in which she lived, thereby giving each woman a personal identity. 

I have won the 10th Edition of the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards For Woman Photographers in the alternative process category and was a finalist of the 7th and 8th Edition of the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards For Women Photographers. Recently I was awarded the Grand Prize Winner selected by Darren Ching of KlompChing Gallery in conjunction with NYC4PA. My work has been shown in numerous group shows in the United States and Europe.

Series title: Con.nec.tions

After years in a relationship things change. When that happens one wonders what it all meant. 

There are many questions.

I looked up the meaning of connections in the dictionary:

-a relationship in which a person is linked or associated with someone else.

-to join, fasten together; unite or bind:

-the space separating or connecting two points 

Then there are the questions going forward

Who am I now ?

Who was I ?

Who will I be ?

Life is complicated" "

www.lesliesheryll.com
L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
FREEDA CONNECTIONS by Leslie Sheryll
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
LISSIE & LACY CONNECTIONS by Leslie Sheryll
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
STILL 011 by Mayela Rodriguez
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Mayela Rodriguez says, "In December of 2016 my father lent me one of his microSD cards.

Upon further inspection, I discovered that the card held forgotten footage of my father flying his toy drone. In the ten minutes of footage, a profound drama unfolds between my father and his piece of consumer tech. Excitement and happiness as the drone takes off is balanced with frustration and disappointment as it continuously falls, plummeting to the roof, grass, and pavement.

Between these snippets of pure success and comedic failure, I was taken by how the drone’s camera seemed to perfectly capture the essence of my father. It was hauntingly beautiful. Also captivating was the incorrect timestamp at the bottom right corner of the footage: 2018/08/07. For a minute I could not help but indulge in the idea that the footage was perhaps a premonition of the future. Although this was not the case, this mistaken fantasy added a profound sense of otherworldliness to an otherwise banal moment.

These three images are film stills I captured from the found drone footage as part of a larger project called “MOVI0002: Portrait of My Father”. Sifting through the footage, I was intrigued by how the perspective of the drone becomes my own; whenever the sky was visible, it was clear to me that the drone was immobilized while views of the landscape spoke of achievement. I was especially intrigued by the presence of my father throughout the footage.

I wanted to capture specific moments when the drone’s field of vision becomes obstructed by my father. In moments of distress the appearance my father’s bent over form, his extended hand, or even the prongs of an avocado picker manned by my father offer moments of safety, connection, and compassion. And in the moments of flight when the drone climbs further and further into the sky, my father’s legs shrinking into the topography of our neighborhood, I cannot help but sense an inexplicable sadness grow within me mirroring the growing distance.

These images explore my inability to separate myself from the drone, myself from my father; in its purest sense, these images come to exist as a visual metaphor of my own relationship with him.

On a finally, on August 7th of this year, in homage to the erroneous timestamp on the original footage, I plan to reenact the flight. Instead of my father manning the drone, I will take his place. By doing this, I hope to further explore my relationship with my father."

Mayela Rodriguez is a practicing artist currently residing in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Born in Santa Barbara California in 1993, Rodriguez was exposed to art at a young age. In 2011, Rodriguez moved to the Bay to pursue a degree in Art Practice at the University of California, Berkeley.

Through sculpture, photography, and social engagement Rodriguez’s current work focuses on the intersection of generational histories, personal experience, value, and labor. Rodriguez has showed in several group shows throughout California and Michigan, including the Worth Ryder Art Gallery, the Radiance Community Center, and Popps Packing. Rodriguez will receive her M.F.A. in Art from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in the spring of 2019.

Career Highlights
Education


2019 M.F.A. in Art | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2015 B.A. Art Practice with Honors | University of California, Berkeley

Edited List of Group Shows

Tension  | MFA Studios | Ann Arbor, MI | 2018
Generation  | Worth Ryder Art Gallery | Berkeley, CA | 2018
Collective Memories  | Popps Packing | Detroit, MI | 2017
Artists Live Here  | Pro Arts Gallery | Oakland, CA | 2016
Parking Lot Art Fair | Fort Mason | San Francisco, CA | 2015
Prelude | 347 Gallery | Berkeley, CA | 2015
So-So | Worth Ryder Art Gallery | Berkeley, CA | 2015
The Creative Consciousness | Radiance Community Center | Oakland, CA | 2013

Residencies
Obracadobra | Oaxaca, Mexico | 2018
Martina Johnston | Berkeley, California | 2015
Art School X Artist Residency | Berkeley, California | 2014

Edited List of Work Experience
Listings Project | 2016–Present
Freelance Graphic Designer | January 2014 – Present

www.mayelarodriguez.com
Instagram: @_m_a_r_
L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
STILL 035 by Mayela Rodriguez
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
STILL 043 by Mayela Rodriguez
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
MY MOTHER IS DYING 1 by Mica England
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Mica England says, "My mother is not the ideal cancer patient. 

She will never be a sanitized inspirational story.  My mother is dying.  She does not celebrate her cancer journey.  This is not her learning experience.  She is impatient, resentful, dejected, and other forbidden emotions.  She does not entertain euphemisms; she acknowledges absolutes.

But too often do others seek to co-opt her own narrative.  Too often do they inject artificial sentimentality, absolute recovery, and forced positivity into her narrative.  Too often do they force hope where there is little.  My mother is dying.

This is my mother’s narrative, disclosed with an honest approach.  One that embraces her anxieties and ridges, her wrinkles and outrage, her discolorations and despair.  A collaborative approach reclaiming her agency thru tender intimacy.  An approach that presents her struggles, as well as her strengths.  An approach that refuses to deny that death is a part of life.  

My mother is dying."

Mica England is an artist from the San Francisco Bay Area. Growing up in such a diverse and inclusive environment played a fundamental role in shaping her photography, politics, and personality. She is very much a product of her environment, embracing her non-binary, queer, and mixed race identity. Mica uses both “she/her” and “they/them” pronouns.

Mica considers herself a writer first, photographer second. As a child, the written word flowed naturally for her, while she stumbled and stuttered to verbalize those same complex thoughts. Even now, the development of a concept precedes its imagery. Each project is a confluence of the seen and the unseen; the visual and the written; the external and the internal. The outward constructed photographic scene often contradicts with its prose, grounded in internal reflection. This results in multiple, yet equally valid, versions of her photography, as well as her own reality.

Each body of work is an inherent and unconventional self-portrait, exploring nostalgia and identity thru deep, painfully critical introspection. Mica candidly probes her current mental health as well as her childhood, weighted with parental abuse and comorbid mental disorders. Art is her primary outlet to compartmentalize her disordered thoughts, yet Mica struggles to cathartically create in a society quick to accuse artists of romanticizing their own mental illnesses, while at the same time expecting those artists to suffer for their art. 

For her, art is also merging aesthetics with activism. Art is not made for its own selfish apolitical sake, but for the sake of educating and inspiring others – namely fellow artists on the path of the Suffering Solitary Artist. Art is not bound to suffering; artists should not expect or endure suffering just for their art. Instead, she achingly extracts her present and past toxic thoughts for others to join her on the path to healing and future recovery.

Career Highlights:

Mica graduated from Academy of Art University in May 2017 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography.  She was ranked in the top 5 among photography undergraduates and acted as BFA Photography Student Representative her last 3 semesters.  Her work has been featured in several juried shows, including Academy of Art’s Spring Show in both Fine Art Book Arts and Photography.  She is now focused on documenting her mother’s experiences with stage 4 breast cancer thru my mother is dying, an ongoing series that was selected for AAU’s coveted portfolio review. As well as The Recovery Archive, chronicling mental health, stigma, and recovery on Instagram. She has gone on to become stARTup Art Fair’s Content Curator and General Admin.

www.micaenglandphotography.com/work/
L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
MY MOTHER IS DYING 3 by Mica England
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
MY MOTHER IS DYING 5 by Mica England
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 Honorable Mention
HOMELESS VIEW by Michael Depue
Honorable Mention
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Michael Kenneth Depue takes great interest in exploring the abstract, the historical and finding the hidden meaning. 

Michael's craft benefits from developing a series of nine or ten pieces which allows him to explore a concept, develop a theme and tell a story. Some of the series you will find on his website will be added to throughout his entire life.

Besides his love of painting, one of his passions is collecting photography from 1860-1960. Most of which is by unknown photographers. Recently he has been working on digitally manipulating these historic images embracing a then-and-now theme. His goal is to create recognition for the collection and build on it  so that one day he will give it back to the community by donating it to the Smithsonian.

Each photograph is a moment in time that has become significant and communicates with visual storytelling that is left to individual interpretation. Michael's storytelling has just scratched the surface and his passion continues to add substance to embrace all forms of media. Stories are gifts that are felt for lifetime.

About this image: "Our relationship with the city is one of community contrasted with fears of crime and the unknown. Mindful of the Transamerica building location, I captured this image of passersby and couldn't help but think of the homeless population and the perspective, from their point of view, the image offers."

Career Highlights:

2018 "Connections", San Diego Museum of Art Artist Guild Juried Exhibition -  May 31 - July 2

2017 First Annual National Juried Exhibition Wausau Museum WMOCA - Honorable Mention, Oct 6 - Dec 29

2017 "Dangerous Lullabies III", National exhibition in Crystal Lake's historic Dole Mansion - Oct 6 - 26

2017 “The Image of the Savage”, Rome - Italy at space Millepiani International Juried Exhibition- May 23 - 31

2017 “Retro Future”, Treat Gallery pop up exhibition - Manhattan, New York - May 11

2016 "Chaos", Arc Gallery San Francisco National Juried Exhibition - May 7 - June 25

2016 "Fashion", The Studio Door San Diego National Juried Exhibition - March 5-27

2015 "Borders", San Diego Museum of Art Artist Guild Juried Exhibition - Honorable Mention, Oct 30 - Nov 22

2015 "World Wheels Into Richmond", Art Works Richmond International Juried Art Exhibition - Sept 18-27

2015 "Cosmos: Imagining the Universe", Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center In Association with the Smithsonian Institution National Juried Exhibition - February 13 - July 26

www.MichaelDepue.com
 
L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
ARCHITECTURAL CONTRAST by Michael Depue
"Our relationship with architecture deals with where we live, work and play ranging from turn-of-the-century Victorian to iconic Modernism that defines a city's signature skyline."
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
MIMICKED LANDSCAPE by Michael Depue
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"Our relationship with the landscape is evident in this image in the way the roller coaster mimics the mountains. The image offers an interesting contrast with the ability to ski down a natural mountain or roller coaster down a man-made mountain."
L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
THE ASCENDED SELF by Nikola Djukich
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Nikola Djukich says, "The three photographs represent three stages of the relationship we build within and with our Selves.

Fascination with the body; with human expressiveness, inner being, emotion – ascending and subliming banality. 
The beauty of overflowing morbidity. 

Sarcasm. 

Religiousness. 

Spirituality, expressed through blasphemy. Overstated sexuality; exhibitionism. Sex as a full feature, as a weapon, pointed finger or a slap. 

Stimulating decadence of fine taste: portraits of emotions, hidden beneath a kitschy glaze, packed in glittering cellophane, represented through fairy tales - reflections of the current state of the inner being in taking another identity and hiding their own; deluding the Self. 

Philosophy. 

Game archetypes in symbiosis with hidden symbolism."

Showing strong art and creativity tendencies, as the primary form of self-expression, Nikola Djukich draws as long as he can remember himself.

In 2009 enrolled in the “Graphic Design” programme of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. As suggested and supported by several professors, Nikola deepens his attitude towards self-portraits and their creation. Technically it transcends the drawing, as the primary form, and passes into a passive form of performance - a poetically shaped photograph, complemented by a certain symbolism.

​In 2010 – first solo photo exhibition, entitled "Pseudomechanic", held in Kulturni Centar Zrenjanin. In the same year, the artist puts his academic education on hold in search for himself through other forms of art. For the next couple of years, he spends his time in the theater, working as an actor, costume designer, set designer, sound-engineer.

In addition, since 2011 he has been creating experimental music.

In 2014 and 2015 he is actively returning to drawing, experimenting with different mediums and techniques, creating the artworks, presented in 2015 at the exhibition entitled "Roots", held in Novi Sad.

2016 - In collaboration with the Belgrade Pride, an exhibition of photographs, entitled "ANTIQUUS - The Stories of Gods and Heroes", takes place in Belgrade.

2018 - In collaboration with Sofia Pride Arts and Huge.bg, a digital solo exhibition of photographs, entitled "Sex And Madness", takes place in Sofia, Bulgaria as part of the opening party for the Sofia Pride Arts week.

Career Highlights:
Along with 4 solo exhibitions, held so far, Nikola's work has been featured in the Advocate Magazine and several local Serbian media, which has censored and profaned his bolder homoerotic photographic works.

www.djukich.com
 
L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
THE FEELING SELF by Nikola Djukich
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
THE THINKING SELF by Nikola Djukich
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L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
MADE ME WHOLE by Paula Rae Gibson
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Paula Rae Gibson says of her series, 'As One', "I wanted to capture two as one.

I'm a very all or nothing person. For me, there's nothing better than being in the company of someone i love, as much as possible,never enough-sharing a world within this world.

There's so much negativity attached to those who are lost in each other,yet for me it is my most natural state and what my life has been about."

CV HIGHLIGHTS:

Best eleven self-portrait series, "You and Your Selfies", Lensculture, 2014,
Honorary award, Moscow Foto Awards, "Destination Love", 2014
Honorary award, Julia Margaret Cameron prize for Children, Portrait and Fine Art category 2015,
Honorary award,LA curator Secrets and Mysteries,2016
Melbourne Photo Award finalist, "Late Husband", 2016 nominated by Rogar Ballen,
Black and White Spider Award, Fine Art Category 2016 Honorary mention.
2016/2 SOLO competition at PH21 Gallery, Honourable mention,Photoplace juried exhibition Composed, juror Sam Abell, NYC4PA jurors selection chosen by Mark Sink, Black and White 2017
Winner of LA Curator, What Remains competition, with Late Dad. 2017
Photo place, Vermont Alternative Process exhibition,juror Dan Burkholder
One of the 12 winner of the Viewpoint International Photo Competition, with HOPE.
Fotofilmic17 spring shortlist winner.

www.paularaegibson.com
 
L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards - 'Where Photography & Philanthropy Meet' Exhibition #1 (Click on image for larger view)
THE AIR THAT WE BREATH by Paula Rae Gibson
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