Scarlet Lion

The American documentary photographer and photojournalist, Glenna Gordon, talks on five photographers who influenced her work.

Image by Glenna Gordon.

I shot this short, no-frills interview in my office at The New School. The format is simple: The subject sits on a chair in my office while I point the iPhone at them. They decide what 5 things they want to talk to about. The first guest is Glenna Gordon, photographer and blogger based in Liberia. She happened to pass through New York City. Glenna decided to talk about her 5 favorite photographers.  First, Malick Sidibe; second three photographers from the PANOS Agency (Andrew McConnell, Robin-Hammond and Kieran-Dodds); then Tim Hetherington,  Krisanne Johnson; and, finally, Lynsey Adario.

Watch:

Some other notes: I did not want to add any props, so the video is accompanied by a list of references at the end of this post. I tried to make as little edits as possible. It was my first attempt.  I messed up the color at the end, but I’ll get this right over time. You may also get sea sick from the wobbly camera work (if you can call my holding a phone camera that).

For more on Glenna’s work, see here.

Further Reading

No one should be surprised we exist

The documentary film, ‘Rolé—Histórias dos Rolezinhos’ by Afro-Brazilian filmmaker Vladimir Seixas uses sharp commentary to expose social, political, and cultural inequalities within Brazilian society.

Reading List: Barbara Boswell

While editing a collection of the writings of South African feminist Lauretta Ngcobo, Barbara Boswell found inspiration in texts that reflected Ngcobo’s sense that writing is an exercise of freedom.

Kenya’s stalemate

A fundamental contest between two orders is taking place in Kenya. Will its progressives seize the moment to catalyze a vision for social, economic, and political change?

An annual awakening

In the 1980s, the South African arts collective Vakalisa Art Associates reclaimed time as a tool of social control through their subversive calendars.

More than a building

The film ‘No Place But Here’ uses VR or 360 media to immerse a viewer inside a housing occupation in Cape Town. In the process, it wants to challenge gentrification and the capitalist logic of home ownership.