Workshop in Review

For me this workshop hasn't been about making my best work or greatly advancing my photo skills, but about learning to be a journalist.  Sure I've technically done photojournalism before with the Daily, and I've tried to imitate photojournalism during other photography projects or trips, but during this week I've learned about the persistence needed to be a good photojournalist.  The documentary art is as much about the story as it is the photos, and pushing till you get the story is essential.  Hunting down leads, calling people five or six times a day, and relentlessly going agency to agency, office to office all taught me what it takes to be a photojournalist besides beautiful photos, and often even how to get those beautiful themselves. 

This week has been a wonderful learning experience for me in that regard and has given me a new perspective of photojournalism.  This week has had its ups and its downs (an entire day without getting a photo, etc...), but it's been a blast along the way.

-Aalok Kanani

Arts Programs Still Alive in Dorchester

Spent the afternoon in Dorchester at the Murphy School and found myself experiencing first-hand the efforts of the Dorchester Community Center for the Visual Arts, whose mission is "to make exemplary visual arts education available to everyone in Dorchester". Vivienne Shalom, a teacher from the DotArt center, led an afterschool class called "Shakespeare is Alive and Well in Dorchester" with five energetic and expressive 3rd graders: Anthony, Jordan, Raianne, Terence and Celine. After the class, Vivienne noted that with budget cuts being made in schools across Massachusetts, DotArt's programs may be the only art classes some students will receive-if money even allows for that.

Vivienne shows Jordan (left) and Raianne (right) how to use paper mache.

Raianne, a precocious student who describes herself as "very girly" and an aspiring fashion designer, poses while taking a break from her paper mache figure.

A shot taken by Celine, Terence holds up the mask he is working on in the afterschool DotArt class.

Celine is excited to complete her paper mache figure, which will eventually become a puppet.

-Jessica Bal

Captain Paul "Sasquatch" Cohan

Fisherman and Musician, Captain Cohan sits at the bar for a drink on Sunday, January 12, 2009. Cohan has managed to stay in the fishing business through perseverance and creativity, as well the occasional music gig. [Erika Volchan O'Conor]

Cape Pond Ice

Scott Memhard stares out at the ocean from the top of Cape Pond Ice on Saturday, January 4, 2009. Cape Pond Ice was founded in 1848 to provide ice for the fresh fish industry. Memhard has steered the company towards diversifying its products in response to the diminishing size of the Gloucester fleet. [Erika O'Conor]

Mittens, Tea and Neighbourhood Politics

As I continued to spend time in Chinatown, I met more members of the community who suggested places to visit and meetings to attend in order to get a feel for the neighbourhood. Lisette, the director of the Chinatown Progressive Association, had mentioned that a resident's association would be meeting at the Josiah Quincy School cafeteria that evening. When I entered the brightly painted cafeteria, a number of elderly residents had already begun to congregate. As more people arrived, a few of the ladies distributed
cups of tea.

The meeting was led by May Lui, a community organizer at CPA and covered topics ranging from efforts to renew legislation providing for a bilingual ballot to the donation of mittens for the elderly residents. I was struck by the warmth of the interactions between the residence as well as the intensity of their debates, which confirmed Lissete's assertion that the elder members of the community were among the most active.

Many of the residents had immigrated in their youth and had formed strong friendships in the process of organizing the community. Although I was an obvious outsider, they welcomed me into their circle and insisted on offering me tea, cake and even a pair of mittens.

Intershell

Alex Lopez packs and weighs bags of clams at the old Intershell building in Gloucester on Wednesday, January 8. Lopez commutes daily from Lynn to Gloucester, where he has been working for five years. [Erika Volchan O'Conor]

The women at Intershell shuck clams on Wednesday, January 7, 2009. Intershell has the fastest clam shuckers in the nation.

Shepard Fairey

Until this week, during some email correspondence with the elusive street artist Pixnit, I hadn't been aware of the upcoming and highly-anticipated Shepard Fairey exhibit debuting the first week of February at the ICA. After reading about his sometimes controversial street art, I began gathering a diverse collection of viewpoints on his work. From the Graffiti NABBers Anne Swanson and Kathleen Alexander, who are very vocal about their opposition to tagging and illegal street art, the ICA's support of Shepard Fairey "elevates this type of thing to a level it should not be elevated to and just encourages taggers and vandals."


Others felt that Fairey's work is an interesting topic of discussion for the art world. I spoke with Ricardo Barretto of the UrbanArts Insitute at MassArt and we touched on topics of guerilla art and its place in contemporary artistic study. Though he does not necessarily support illegal artwork, Barretto recognizes the interesting discussion it can spur. I stopped in at an art gallery on Newbury street and spoke with Joshua Buckno about the ICA event. He felt that in a way, placing Fairey's work in a gallery destroyed the "guerilla" aspect of it and cheapened the pieces in some sense.

Discussions with graffiti artists themselves added another dimension to the debate. Caleb Neelon, who has tagged in the past but developed his work into a successful career and now does commisioned pieces, stressed that street artists have to gain the respect of the graffiti subculture, which isn't always easy. As I passed by examples of Fairey's work in Central Square (pictured) some angry scrawls seemed to reflect this disrespect for someone who many may view as a sold-out artist. "SHEPARD FAIREY IS A POSER," read one such note. Some in the graffiti community may not dismiss Fairey for the evolution of his work and its shift to legal space. "You can't blame someone for making a buck," said one.

-Jessica Bal