ICP-Bard MFA

This year's class of 13 students concern themselves with the intricacies and consequences of perception. Whether it is through the use of the symbolic "I" of their own subjectivity, or through investigation of the perceptual operations of the physical eye itself, these investigators use the tools of photography to lay bare an uncomfortable truth: that looking and being looked at implicate and change us. Their imagery is wide-ranging: demolition derbies, family archives, bodily fluids, digital constructions, wary lovers. Their pictures and installations show moments of joy, anger, peace, and squalor. But always there is the sense of people acting and being acted upon, of a web of association and emotion that continues to support and guide their work. In their choice of photographic tools, these students are free-wheeling—they've employed everything from the pinhole to the iPhone. The resulting works take a variety of forms: short films, printed broadsheets, books, slide projections, and websites take their place alongside more traditional photographic prints. What unifies their work is a quality of human concern and intellectual curiosity that sets them apart from their peers.

— Nayland Blake
  Chair, ICP-Bard Masters Program in Advanced Photographic Studies