Born in Berkeley, California and raised in the suburbs of San Francisco, Mimi Plumb has served on the faculties of the San Francisco Art Institute, San Jose State University, Stanford University, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She currently lives in Berkeley, California.

Since the 1970s, Mimi has explored subjects ranging from her suburban roots to the United Farmworkers movement in the fields as they organized for union elections. Her first book, Landfall, published by TBW Books in 2018, is a collection of her images from the 1980s, a dreamlike vision of an American dystopia encapsulating the anxieties of a world spinning out of balance. Landfall was shortlisted for the Paris Photo/Aperture Foundation First Photobook Award 2019, and the Lucie Photo Book Prize 2019. Her second book, The White Sky, a memoir of her childhood growing up in suburbia, was published by Stanley/Barker in September, 2020. The Golden City, her third book, due to be published by Stanley/Barker in early 2022, focuses on her many years living in San Francisco.

Mimi received her MFA in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1986, and her BFA in Photography from SFAI in 1976. Her photographs are in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Art Collection Deutsche Börse in Germany, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pier 24, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Yale University Art Gallery. She is a 2017 recipient of the John Gutmann Photography Fellowship, and has received grants and fellowships from the California Humanities, the California Arts Council, the James D. Phelan Art Award in Photography, and the Marin Arts Council.

On episode 171, Mimi discusses, among other things:

• Memories of her suburban childhood in California.

• Her book, The White Sky.

• Why her it took decades for her work to be published.

• Memories of the dustbowl drought and the theme of climate change.

• Chernobyl and her childhood insomnia triggered by a fear of nuclear war.

• Her first book, Landfall, about the 80s.

• Her tendancy to shoot people’s backs.

• Her 70s project on the United Farmworkers Union, Pictures from the Valley.

• The enthusiastic critical reception that both Landfall and The White Sky were met with.

• Her soon to be pulished book The Golden City.

• Working with publisher Stanley Barker.

• Having no idea what to do with her colour work on women and girls.

Referenced:

• Diane Arbus

• Farm Security Administration

• John Collier Jnr.

• The Crass song (not The Cure!) Nagasaki Nightmare

• Paul Schiek and Lester Rosso - TBW Books

• Rachel and Gregory Barker - Stanley Barker publishing

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This episode of the podcast is sponsored by the renowned, cutting edge photography journal, Hotshoe International, a truly independent publication, beautifully produced and collectable.

This episode of the podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club - the latest and greatest photobooks, expertly curated and delivered to you door with free shipping and no hassles.

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