The series takes its name from the survivance theory developed by the writer and scholar Gerald Vizenor in relation to native communities. A cross between survival and resistance, the theory posits the idea that the passing on of symbols, identities and cultures goes beyond mere survival – “it emphasises the dynamic, creative, and affirmative aspects of native existence,” Shashank says. Shashank’s series applies this theory to Varanasi, exploring intergenerational resilience throughout centuries of colonialism, and subsequent displacement and marginalisation.

Shashank’s two-month trip to Varanasi was split into two parts; through the first he uncovered the intricate details of the landscape, and during the second he delved deeper into the narratives of people, and their close-knit communities. On his travels, one of the ceremonies Shashank captured was mundan, the process by which hair is shaved off and sacrificed before prayer – common among practitioners of Hinduism. “Hair is seen as a matter of pride and arrogance, thus it is believed that shaving off one’s hair is a symbol of gratitude and devotion to the Lord,” says Shashank. In one image the photographer captures the ceremony in process. Lit by a warm sun the image shows heads in various stages of shaving, those doing the shaving deep in concentration. On the scene, Shashak says, “the act of sacrificing hair becomes a communal event, reinforcing a sense of unity and shared devotion among the participants.”

Tourists have been snapping photos of Grand Canyon National Park for more than a century. A new book pairs historic photographs with brand-new ones to see what’s changed and what hasn’t in that time.

KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke with Flagstaff author Kevin Schindler about how the repeat photography project reveals not just the canyon’s spectacular scenery but its human history, too.

So you had to stroll around Grand Canyon National Park and find these places that were in old historic photographs?

Right, it’s a really tough job.

Hard work!

There’s certainly challenges with it. But how many of us have done that: where was this picture taken? And you try to narrow it down. It was really a fun project, and then I like learning the history about different things, so a lot of the things that I wasn’t too familiar with, like the barns and stuff like that you drive by, but what’s the story behind this?

I was struck by some of the buildings actually how little they had changed. Some of the historic — like El Tovar Hotel, Bright Angel Lodge — really look quite similar today.

There’s some pictures taken from 1905, 1920s, if you made it black and white it could be the same time.

Do you have a favorite historical story that came up for you while doing this research?

One of my favorite things in the Grand Canyon in terms of modern human history—because there’s so much with the rocks, and the Indigenous people who live there, there’s so many different stories—but one of my favorite modern things is the swimming pool that was down at Phantom Ranch. I remember the first time, years ago, that I heard about that and went down and tried to line up where it was. … Thankfully there’s some buildings and rocks in the background that you can line up because otherwise, you walk there and you kind of see a depression but you would never think it was a swimming pool. You’d never think that under that little layer of dirt, there’s a pool table, and maybe a washer and dryer. Because when they filled it in, they just filled it in with stuff that had been hauled all the way down the canyon and wasn’t going to be hauled back up.

A piano, right?  

Yeah. Right. It would be fun to dig it up now and look at those artifacts. It would be really nice to have the pool again.

You’ve gotten to form a personal connection with the Canyon yourself over the years, most recently as the Astronomer in Residence at the Grand Canyon. You got to actually got to live up there for a while.

It was a great experience. The Grand Canyon Conservancy sponsors this program, both Astronomer in Residence and Artist in Residence…The main project I had was documenting and rephotographing where the Apollo astronauts trained up there. The last section of this new book has some of those pictures. There’s a couple I’ve been trying to track down for years. One is a silhouette of Neil Armstrong. You can tell it’s him because of the hat he’s wearing and everything. There’s a real distinct shadow, and a very distinct background, rock features. I never realized exactly where it was. I was hiking down, and I stopped for a second thinking I’ve got to be close, and then right next to me, here’s this big rock.

Was there a photo you wanted to include where you couldn’t find the spot?

There’s one of Buffalo Bill when he visited the canyon. It’s uncertain if the description is actually where he’s at or not. I was able to cheat a little bit, because the chapter introductions are a single photo without a repeat, so I snuck it in there…. But I was pretty happy overall with them…. You know, I really liked the project because… you know, not just gawking at everything—like no matter how many times you go down there you gawk at the scenery—but be gawking for something in particular, and trying to find it and the satisfaction of: that’s it! … It’s kind of a fun exploration of sorts.

Kevin Schindler, thanks so much for speaking with me today.

Thanks for chatting.

Kevin will speak about the book The Grand Canyon: Past & Present at 6 p.m. on Feb. 20 at Bright Side Bookshop in Flagstaff.

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Photographer Dmitry Markov died in Pskov on February 16. He was 41 years old. Markov was one of the most significant photographers in modern Russia. Not only did he chronicle everyday life in the country’s regions, but he also tried to make it better through volunteer work. Markov’s work was shown around the world, with exhibitions in Paris and New York. He took part in the advertising campaign for the iPhone 7. In fact, his smartphone was his primary camera for many years. Markov also worked as a photojournalist, including for Takie Dela and Meduza. Critic Anton Khitrov explains how the photographer gave himself a worthy artistic task — and how he brought it to fruition.

“You show the truth.” “Cowardly Russia.” “Your photos make my heart ache.” One only has to read the comments on Dmitry Markov’s Instagram to be convinced. The documentary photographer, who captured provincial Russia, had a large — over 800,00 Instagram followers — and grateful audience. People commented on his interview with Yury Dud three years ago with the same appreciation.

Markov was loved as both a brilliant storyteller and an outstanding person. Having overcome drug addiction, he took up volunteer work and converted his professional success into helping people. Markov began working with community organizations in the mid-2000s. Born in Pushkino near Moscow, he moved to Pskov and worked for Rostok, a charity organization that helps children with disabilities integrate into society.

Since 2012, Markov has participated in street protests, and in 2021, after being detained at a rally in support of Alexey Navalny, he took what was probably his most viral photo: a riot policeman in a balaclava sitting under a portrait of Vladimir Putin. Markov then organized an auction on Facebook to sell the photo. He received two million rubles ($21.6k) from an anonymous buyer and transferred it all to OVD-Info and Apologia Protesta: human rights organizations that help people who are arrested at political demonstrations.

Markov continued the tradition of unofficial Soviet photography, in which life in the USSR was shown without regard for ideological objectives. His tutor was Alexander Lapin, a photographer, theorist, and pedagogue, who taught Gennady Bodrov, Igor Mukhin, Emil Gataullin and other stars of the profession, and also wrote two famous textbooks: Photography as… and Plane and Space, or Life as a Square. Markov may also have been influenced by Boris Mikhailov, the famous Soviet-Ukrainian documentary photographer who, among other things, took pictures of homeless people.

If we look further, Markov belongs to the tradition of Maxim Gorky and Vladimir Gilyarovsky, of Ilya Repin and Nikolay Yaroshenko — to the artistic tradition in which art claims to be a truthful reflection of society and seeks to make invisible people visible.

Markov’s main platform was Instagram, and his main tool was his smartphone. In 2013, he took part in a project by American David Alan Harvey called Burn Diary. For one week, Markov ran an Instagram account with the same name. According to the rules of the project, only photos taken on a phone could be published — and only on the day they were taken. Markov adopted the same principles for his own account. In an interview with Afisha Daily, he said that a photographer with professional equipment is less trustworthy than a photographer with a smartphone. It’s hard not to see the decision as a conceptual gesture: smartphones and social networks are tools of demonstrative consumption, but Markov uses them to show a life that’s as far from glossy as possible.

How are Markov’s images organized? First of all, they refer to the viewers’ cultural experience. The color palette is like that of an old Russian painting: for example, the frescoes of Dionisy in the Ferapontov Monastery. The composition often resembles a theatrical mise-en-scène: in the background — plain decoration, in the foreground — “actors” who move along the screen, as if from one stage entrance to the other, appearing and disappearing again. His characters often appear in a frame that resembles the frame of a painting or a stage entrance. Individual scenes call to mind Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s “Hunters in the Snow,” a Renaissance portrait, or Alexander Deyneka’s “Future Pilots.” Thus, Markov defends the place of his subjects in culture: provincial schoolchildren, laborers, commuters, and regulars at the city bathhouse — insisting that any person is worthy of our attention along with the subjects of globally recognized masterpieces.

Markov’s focus was often was the contrast between the official and the private, the artificial and the natural, the planned and the accidental. Komsomol teenagers walking near a monument to the first builders. Children relaxing under a statue of Lenin’s head in Ulan-Ude. A cat in a window squinting at a Russian flag. In the composition of the frame, state-approved symbols and living beings always balance each other out: in the world that Markov shows, at least the narratives of power are not omnipotent.

Markov’s creative strategy, which could be called alternative or protest patriotism, was in high demand. It unites the photographer with other cult heroes of Russian art, such as the artist Nikolay Polissky or director Kirill Serebrennikov, who has collaborated with Markov. The essence of this strategy is the search for a Russian identity that is different from the one offered to society by the authorities.

These artists are trying to strengthen the emotional bond between Russians and their country, even though propaganda has done everything possible to destroy it. The Nikola-Lenivets art park founded by Polissky redefines the image of the Russian village: not as a sanctuary of traditional morality, but as a space of play, irony and creativity. Serebrennikov’s Gogol Center, which was closed in 2022, fought for a progressive image of domestic classics, which propaganda treats as another instrument of Russian superiority. Markov spoke about the people hidden behind the “the people” of ideology — and gave the audience a chance to feel solidarity with a vendor at a clothing market, a pensioner from a district center, a rural chauffeur. He had a concrete and convincing answer to the question of why art is needed in Russia today: to rebuild the bridges destroyed by the authorities.

Markov’s solidarity with his subjects was always natural for him: he grew up in small-town courtyards in Pskov, a town of 190,000, washed in a local bathhouse, and never felt out of place in the environment of his work. Despite his international profile — projects with Apple, solo exhibitions in Moscow, Paris, and New York — he felt at ease with his subjects. For Markov, it was unthinkable not to feel this solidarity.

In the last days of his life, Markov faced criticism on social media: users were upset by his sympathy for a soldier on leave who intended to return to the front. The next day, he revealed that he was helping the conscripts he knew with money. “I can’t stop loving people close to me and start hating them,” he wrote. “And I realize that I’m a legitimate target for hatred on the part of Ukrainians. I don’t know how to do the right thing in this situation.” In 2024, no one has the right answer. One thing is certain: if Markov had lived through the war, he would certainly want to work on national reconciliation.

A Decisive Vision: New Perspectives from Dallas College Faculty and Students opened Feb. 16 at the Adolphus Tower Gallery. The new photography exhibition showcases work from students and staff of the Dallas College School of Creative Arts, Entertainment and Design, as well as some more established special guest photographers.

The opening reception on Friday was bustling with both the featured artists and their friends and family. The walls of the space were lined with works spanning the gamut of genres, from portraits to landscape, abstract to architectural. Live music was provided by Spicy Violin (producer and violinist James Mahler), who serenaded guests with arrangements of pop songs and original compositions.

There was even a man who had no connection to the school or artists wandering around the premises with a camera and microphone and challenging guests to religious debates — the true mark of a noteworthy event. For any newcomers featured in the exhibition, it was quite an auspicious debut.

The photography department at Dallas College is one of a few community college programs in the area to offer a comprehensive, hands-on and accessible arts education. The choice facing many pursuing a creative career has always been between an expensive and time-consuming university degree or braving the self-taught route. Programs like the one offered at Dallas College, which offers affordable classes with flexible schedules, provide a happy medium to aspiring artists.

One of the students featured in the exhibition, Teresa Jackson, is a clinical psychologist by trade who is pursuing fine art with an emphasis in photography concurrently. She has two photos in the gallery, and tells us they’re part of an ongoing body of work that aims to dismantle racial stereotypes.

Dallas College photography student Teresa Jackson with her piece titled “Unbothered.”  
Carly May Gravley” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge

Dallas College photography student Teresa Jackson with her piece titled “Unbothered.”

Carly May Gravley

“The pieces are from a larger project featuring Black men and Black boys to basically showcase their humanity,” she says. “I thought that if […] there was some way that I can have a positive impact by creating images of Black men and boys in their natural, organic element, doing whatever they do, and capture who they are no different than other men and boys […] and no less deserving of protection and being celebrated.”

She points to one of her photos in the display, “Unbothered,” a black and white shot of a young boy playing in a children’s fountain at a park.

“He hasn’t learned yet that maybe he’s not safe […] or maybe he’s viewed as a threat,” Jackson says. “He’s just embodying peace and joy.”

One featured guest artist is Durado D. Brooks, Jr., a photographer and filmmaker who contributed striking lightboxes of cityscapes to the exhibition. His work has taken the Dallas native all over the world, but A Decisive Vision marks his first time exhibiting in his hometown.

“I’ve been kind of on a nomadic creative journey since I graduated high school,” Brooks says. “St. Barts to LA to Brooklyn. New Orleans, Barcelona, back to New Orleans and a million places in between.”

Brooks is excited to be back in town and showing his work alongside up-and-coming local talent.

“I’m grateful to share the walls with all of these young, talented artists,” Brooks says. “I’m looking forward to meeting some of the people behind these other artworks.”

One guest artist featured in the exhibition is Ron Shipp, an accomplished local photographer known for his striking pictures of the Dallas skyline. In addition to displaying several mounted works in the gallery, Shipp was selling smaller, unframed prints from a table at the reception while cheerily explaining the creative and technical process behind them.

“So, that’s actually about 40 images overlaid,” he says, showing an image of the Dallas skyline with a web of lightning woven above. “Those are individual lightning bolts. But what you saw over the hours of the storm felt more like this.”

Shipp is a former Dallas College student himself, but not from the photography department. He says he started pursuing photography only around six years ago.

“Always wanted to. Couldn’t afford it,” he says. “Then I could, so I did.”

In a full circle moment, Shipp will be returning to Dallas College this coming week to deliver a seminar to current students.

The Adolphus Tower Gallery opened last year as a collaboration between Dallas College, Downtown Dallas Inc., art advisory firm FGIII Fine Art Production and Adolphus Tower owners Hoque Global. It was conceived of as a space to bring visibility to student and faculty works, and it doesn’t get more visible than a glass-enclosed space in the heart of Downtown Dallas.

The space has housed several exhibitions of work by Dallas College students and established artists. A Decisive Vision is the first show at the gallery dedicated solely to photography.

A Decisive Vision: New Perspectives from Dallas College Faculty and Students is curated by Randall Garrett and Frankie Garcia III. It will be displayed at the Adolphus Tower Gallery, 1412 Main St., through March 29.

In an era dominated by the instant gratification of snapping photos with smartphones, Bradford’s National Science and Media Museum takes us back to the dawn of photography, revealing some of the earliest pet portraits ever captured. Among these historical treasures is a captivating 1830s photograph of a cat by William Henry Fox Talbot, marking a significant chapter in the evolution of photographic processes.

A Glimpse into Photography’s Early Days

The museum’s collection offers a rare window into the past, showcasing different methods of capturing images that have long since been overshadowed by modern technology. The calotype process, utilized by Talbot, involves creating positive prints from a single negative, a revolutionary technique at the time. This particular cat image, a reproduction of ‘A Favourite Cat’ by artist JM Burbank, illustrates the intricate details and the beauty that the calotype process was capable of capturing.

Another gem in the collection is an 1847 photograph of Mary Mitford’s dog, which remarkably remained still for four minutes to allow the capture of its image. This photograph, alongside the image of the cat, highlights the significant advancements in photography during the 19th century, including the daguerreotype process. Developed by Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre, this method captured images with stunning clarity directly onto a polished silvered plate, offering a new level of detail and precision.

From Cabinet Cards to Smartphones

The exhibition also touches on the ‘cabinet card’ trend, where small photographic cards were shared among family and friends, predating our current social media-centric photo sharing culture. Ruth Quinn, the museum’s curator of photography and photographic technology, commented on the enduring fascination with capturing images of our pets, a sentiment that has persisted through the centuries and has only been made easier with the advent of smartphone cameras.

Despite the museum’s temporary closure for a £6m revamp, it continues to share its rich collection online, bridging the gap between the past and present. This ongoing project not only sheds light on the technological advancements in photography but also underscores the timeless human desire to immortalize our animal companions in imagery.

The Legacy of Photographic Evolution

The museum’s exhibition serves as a testament to the evolution of photographic technology and the ways in which it has shaped our interaction with the world around us. From the calotype to the daguerreotype and beyond, each process added a new layer to the art and science of photography, enabling us to capture moments in time with ever-increasing fidelity and ease.

As we look forward to the museum’s reopening in the summer, we are reminded of the profound impact that photography has had on our lives, from the earliest pet portraits to today’s ubiquitous smartphone snapshots. These early photographs not only represent technical milestones but also a deep-seated human impulse to document and share the essence of our lives, including the animals that journey with us.