SJC student talks contemporary photography in NYC

Congratulations to Gemma-Rose Turnbull, RHD student in the School of Journalism and Communication, who was asked to be part of an expert panel in New York on contemporary photography.

Part of the 2014 Open Engagement Conference, this symposium was on photo-based social practice and explored how the ground for socially engaged documentary storytelling has shifted over the last decade.

It was offered in conjunction with the Spring issue of Aperture magazine, produced in collaboration with guest editor Susan Meiselas and the Magnum Foundation, which explores how the ground for socially engaged documentary storytelling has radically shifted over the last decade and how photographers might adapt.

The panel was copresented by Aperture Foundation and Magnum Foundation’s Photography, Expanded initiative. Moderated by Eliza Gregory, panellists included: Pete Brook, Gemma-Rose Turnbull, Mark Strandquist and Wendy Ewald.

Gemma-Rose presented her PhD research at the event, which addresses the movement of documentary photographers towards integrating participatory and collaborative practices into their projects –– inviting people who were previously ‘subjects’ to become co-creators.

“My particular focus is the increased tension between the process and the photographic product when this happens, and how co-authored work can meet the needs of collaborators (as the primary audience of the work), while communicating the primary experience to the secondary audience (anyone secondary to the people making the work),” Gemma-Rose said.

Gemma-Rose’s practice-based research will focus on working with her own family on a suite of research projects, called I wish I had more time with my family, that will investigate the role that the artist can play in these documentary-based collaborations to best meet the needs of the primary audience (in this case, her own family) and those of a secondary audience (those people who might access photography through the traditional means of the photo world –– the gallery, the online gallery, photo festivals, magazines, photo books etc).

Photo: Eliza Gregory, Mark Strandquist, Gemma-Rose Turnbull, Wendy Ewald and Pete Brook. Photo by John Muse

This was originally published on Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Website