BEN SMITH

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9th October 2024

© Agnieszka Sosnowska

THIS WEEK ON A SMALL VOICE PODCAST...

My guest this week on the podcast is Polish-born, U.S.-raised photographer Agnieszka Sosnowska, who talks about, among other things, her formative years in communist Poland, her life on a farm in rural Iceland, self-portaiture and the suckiness of documenting your own ageing, her attempt at exploring the experience of womanhood, and the freedom of realising you don’t have to work on distinct ‘projects’.

Full bio and show notes for the episode here.

ALSO THIS WEEK...

Festival I'm going to:

As part of the second edition of the Bristol Photo Festival, with the theme ‘The World a Wave’, the annual BoP Bookfair (Books on Photography) takes place at the Martin Parr Foundation and the Royal Photographic Society in Bristol over the weekend of October 19th-20th. I'll be down there with my microphone as usual, compiling a podcast special for your future delectation. Even if you can't go, check the websites at the links above to see what's happening. As part of the festival programme, the Martin Parr Foundation is featuring the European premiere exhibition of Monument, by Australian Magnum photographer Trent Parke.

Social Media post of note:

Writer and Curator (and ocassional contributor to various A Small Voice podcast specials), David Campany, published a fascinating Instagram post which attracted over 5000 likes and nearly 600 comments from its readers.The post recounts David's experience of taking part in a panel discussion for a podcast about relations between image makers and editors / publishers / curators. The host asked how image makers should present themselves and their work. The contrast between David's answer and those of the other guests led to some awkwardness and ultimately to the podcast host later informing the participants that the recording didn’t go ‘as planned’ and so would not be made available to the public. I suspect I speak for many when I say a.) the fact that it didn't go 'as planned' is the WORST REASON EVER for not putting it out! And b.) that is one podcast I'd be fascinated to listen to! If you're intruiged to learn more, you can find the post at the link above.

Opening:

Recent A Small Voice podcast guest, the highly respected Mr. Mtch Epstein has a big solo show opening at Galerie D'Italia in Turin entitled American Nature.You can go along to the opening for free on October 16th, there is a talk and book signing on October 17th and the show runs until March 2nd 2025.

Recent Photobook:

I very much like the latest Book of the Month from Charcoal Bookclub: After Us by Sergey Bykov, published by Red Hook Editions.

Here's the blurb: "Interrogating the collision of the outer and inner world, Sergey Bykov juxtaposes 17 short stories with 87 photographs. After Us is a means of reconciling the banal as significant, the ordinary as mysterious, the close as appropriately alien, and the finite as a semblance of the infinite. In his words: A collection of portraits of people I met on my way: relatives, loves, friends, colleagues I used to work with, places I visited. The oldest and the biggest part of my work. My direct experience of facing the reality around me, brought back from the past, the waves of my memory, a chain of flashes of light."

One final reminder that if you're a fan of the work of Aletheia Casey ( episode 140 of the podcast), you can still vote for her here in the Prix Photo Dahinden until October 12th. The winner gets a solo show at this year's Paris Photo!

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