Ben Bohane's - Black Islands - Spirit & War in Melanesia - Support the Book Project

Ben Bohane, friend and fellow photographer of the collective Degree South is running a emphas.is crowd funding campaign to raise funds for his book project Black Islands - Spirit & War in Melanesia. The book focuses on the reality of island life by documenting cultural events, conflict over land and resources as well as wars of independence.
 
Concentrated majorily in Melanesia, the book contains years of documentation,
Ben states of his work:
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Winner of Bowness Photography Prize to be announced - Thursday October 4, 2012

The winner of the Bowness Photography prize in which Stephen Dupont's Blue Boy is a finalist will be announced on Thursday October 4, 2012. 

The online catalogue with all the finalist's work and artist statements can be viewed here. 

 

 

The Blue Boy from the series Piksa Nuigini Finalist in the 2012 William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize

Stephen DUPONT

Artist Statement:

The series Piksa Nuigini or Picture New Guinea aims to capture the human spirit of the people of Papua New Guinea (PNG). In a sense the series is a window inside humanity in one of the world's last truly wild and unique frontiers. It's about tribal identity in 2011, and the annual Highland's Sing-Sing festivals might be the last cultural showcase of tradition and custom left.

My photograph aims to showcase not just the visual anthropology of a race and land, but to highlight the effects of rapid changes taking place on traditional values and cultural identity. In recent times PNG has gone through some of the most significant cultural shifts and change since the early days of colonisation. The work aims to document what I see as 'detribalisation', where PNG society is losing its culture due to the impact of globilisation.  

 

Postcards from the Rim - Exhibition Update

Postcards from the Rim featuring Stephen Dupont opened with success on September 20, 2012 at The Goulburn Regional Art Gallery below is an installation shot of Stephen's Raskols work on exhibition. The show closes on October 20, 2012.
The catalogue is available for purchase for $5 + postage and handling by emailing Janenne Gittoes. A 34 page publication it includes essays by Jane Crush the Director at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery and Stephen Zagala Curator at Monash Gallery of Art.

From the Archive - 'Havana Particular' by Stephen Dupont

Continuing to pull stories from Stephen's archive, in light of the upcoming Stephen Dupont and Jack Picone Masterclass in Havana, Cuba November 25- 30 2012, we have put together work of Stephen's from his time in Havana in 2001.

 

'I travelled to Cuba in May 2001 to spend four weeks in Havana. My aim was to walk the streets and take photographs, shoot freely without the pressures of an assignment.
Cuba interested me for as long as I’ve been a photographer. The culture and the music certainly intrigued me, but I was mostly seduced by its red rebel past. A land of mystique caught between Communist Russia and 50’s capitalist America.
The rise in Tourism is changing Cuba dramatically. Cubans adore Cuba but struggle with poverty, and an identity crisis is clearly visible in much of the cities people. I wanted to show this and the personality of Havana in my photographs.
What I had seen in photography in Cuba was mostly colour, rich Caribbean flavours and soft light.
I mostly shoot black and white photography and I wanted my work on Havana to be shown in this way, with an open candid approach to taking photographs that I’d been working on for many years but was only starting to feel excited about and enjoying since January.
Havana certainly brought ‘Passion’ to my vision. I arrived with very few preconceptions and ideas, which is difficult in a place that has become so heavily photographed.
I wanted to be free of commitment to anyone but myself. I wanted to concentrate on the people that came across my frame.
My best work has always been personal projects with no time restrictions.
I feel at my happiest when I walk the streets, without any defined goal other than to photograph moments that happen along my journeys.
Havana has a visual energy unlike any place I’ve been to. It is totally unique and the people are the most friendly and vibrant I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. It’s poor, dirty, hot and sexy.
The old Cuba is disappearing and I wanted to capture some of this before it dies forever. My photographs are taken all over Havana.
I would walk from early morning to late into the night to capture the exposed beauty that is right in your face constantly and just let the rhythm of the streets guide me until exhaustion forced me to stop.'
- Stephen Dupont
...
Slide created by 
Anna Maria Antoinette D'Addario
Music
'Bongo Samba' Chaino
Havana Particular by Stephen Dupont 2001 

'Postcards from the Rim' Goulburn Regional Art Gallery with Stephen Dupont

Stephen Dupont will be exhibiting his Papua New Guinea work 'Raskols' at the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery opening September 20, 2012 in a collective show titled 'Postcards from the Rim'

'Postcards from the Rim brings together the works of six award-winning contemporary and cutting edge Australian photographers in a rare insiders’ view into our nearest neighbours. Showing alongside a stunning private collection of Papua New Guinean masks never been seen before.' 

The exhibition will be on show for one month until October 20, 2012.


 

Dumbo Arts Festival with Stephen Dupont and Raskols - September 28 to 30, 2012

Dumbo Arts Festival is here again and this year Stephen Dupont will be participating with the Raskols exhibition. Bought to you by United Photo Industries this year's event looks great, the exhibition line-up can be viewed here.

United Photo Industries are the same bunch that produced Photoville this year. Dumbo Arts Festival is a celebration of Art, Music and Performance and aims to highlight Brooklyn's prescence in the Arts. 

The event will take place from September 28 to September 30, 2012 

From the series Raskols by Stephen Dupont

Stephen Dupont's Afghanistan 1993 - 2012 The Box Set

The National Library in Canberra has been the first to acquire Stephen Dupont's recently completed Afghanistan 1993 - 2012 Box Set of handmade artists books from his Afghanistan series.

The set includes Why Am I A Marine?, Axe Me Biggie, Generation AK, Stoned in Kabul and The Afghanistan Diaries. 

The books are fully archival and printed with Epson pigment inks on Innova 225 gsm 100% cotton-rag paper, then coated with Hahnemuhle spray coating. Hand stitched section sewn binding with debossed greyboard front and back covers and black cloth spine. The slip case cloth is Desert pattern MARPAT (short for MARine PATtern), a digital camouflage pattern designed for the United States Marine Corps.

New video book previews of the hand made books can be viewed via the book section on Stephen Dupont's website .  

We will be posting shortly multimedia pieces on the blog that demonstrate the creative process involved in making Stephen's books. 


 

Stephen Dupont Interview in August Edition of Brazilian 'Revista Photo Magazine'

Stephen has been featured in a seven page spread in the august edition of Brazilian periodical 'Revista Photo Magazine'  interviewed by writer Roberta Tavares, Dupont talks about his work, photography in general, his artist's books and the important factors of authorship in the field of documentary photography.

To have a look at the article view the PDF here.

The photo displayed above from Revista Photo Magazine's August edition is by Stephen Dupont from the Piksa Nuigini series

From the Archive - 'Dogs of Bucharest' by Stephen Dupont

We'd like to present another work from Stephen's archive...

Digging into the vault the collection of photographs we are highlighting are from the 'Dogs of Bucharest ' series, work that Stephen shot in Romania in 2001.

The project focuses on the stray dog situation in the city of Bucharest and the decision made by the mayor of Bucharest calling for the extermination of the city's hounds.

Furious animal rights groups, spearheaded by former French actress Brigitte Bardot in turn, declared war on the mayor. Bardot flew to Bucharest, where the two in a public rapprochement signed an agreement to temporarily hold off on the killing....

 

 

 

Multimedia slide by 
Anna Maria Antoinette D'Addario 2012
Music
Lume, Lume, Soro Lume - Nabila
Doina - Slava Kazykin Ensemble
Superata Sint Pe Lume- Gabi Lunca

 

VICE Interview Stephen Dupont about his 'Raskols' work and the soon to be published Powerhouse edition

VICE Magazine have recently interviewed Stephen Dupont about his 'Raskols' work from Papua New Guinea in the light of the soon to be published edition of the work by PowerHouse Books.

The entire interview can be read here.

For a preview of the 'Raskols' book and to order it visit PowerHouse Books.

The PowerHouse published edition of 'Raskols' is due for release on October 16, 2012  

 

from the series, Raskols by Stephen Dupont

 

Stephen Dupont's Raskols Book in Diamond Leaves: Artist's Books from around the World September 18 - October 28, 2012

Stephen's hand made Raskols artist book will be featured in an upcoming exhibition at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing China from September 18 - October 28, 2012.
The Exhibition, 'Diamond Leaves: Artist's Books from around the World' is a collaboration between Booklyn Artists Alliance and the Academy in Beijing curated by Xu Bing, artist and vice - president of CAFAM and Marshall Weber, artist and directing curator of Bookyln. It will be the first large scale museum exhibition of contemporary international Artist Books in China.
Diamond Leaves will feature over 200 masterpieces of the Artist Book form created by more than 100 visual artists, some well known and some emerging, who approach the creation of Artist Books as an interdisciplinary and multi-media practice. the exhibit demonstrates how an Artist Book can function as both fine art and as an experiemental laboratory for global visual language development.
Some of the featured artists inclue; Marcel DuChamp, Roy Lichtenstein, Kiki Smith, Stephen Dupont, Ed Ruscha and over 100 other artists.
Read more about the exhibition here.


Stephen Dupont's hand made Raskols Artist Book, containing sixty gelatin silver prints of photographs and hand etched text on pages assembled in accordion fold binding with stainless steel front and back covers. Book is housed inside rubber sealed inner lining, screw and bolted stainless steel case.
Each book is unique with a different chemical etched photo on the case cover. Each page is hand printed in the dark room by the artist's printer Chris Reid and all etching and design is by the artist.
All books are totally hand made by the artist.
Dimensions are 23 x 19.5 inches with 60 pages. The edition is 15 with each on Unique.
Edition 3/15 is available. Editions #4 to #15 are made to order.

 

Stephen Dupont's Blue Boy Portrait Finalist in the 2012 Bowness Photography Prize

Stephen Dupont's Blue Boy Portrait from his Harvard Peabody Scholarship work in Papua New Guinea has been nominated as a finalist in the 2012 Bowness Photography Prize 42 photographers have been selected from 2500 entries which they have stated as being the largest amount of submissions on record. 

The Judges of this year's prize are Magnum Photographer Trent Parke, NGV’s Senior Curator of Photography Isobel Crombie, and MGA Gallery Director Shaune Lakin.

The winner of the $25 000 prize will be announced at Monash Gallery of Art on Thursday October 4, 2012

MGA Media Release Finalists


Blue Boy by Stephen Dupont, from the series Piksa Nuigini

The 2012 Bowness Photography Prize Finalists

Laos, Luang Prabang Workshop with Stephen Dupont and Jack Picone

The 2012 Laos, workshop with Stephen Dupont and Jack Picone has come to an end. The course began July 9 and ran until July 14 in the picturesque city of Luang Prabang.

Next dates for the following workshop are November 25 to 30 in Havana Cuba.

La Habana is the capital city of Cuba and its romantic atmosphere and infectious energy are legendry.

The city lies on the northern coast of Cuba, south of the Florida Keys, where the Gulf of Mexico joins the Caribbean Sea. The low hills on which the city lies rise gently from the deep blue waters of the straits and like much of Cuba; the city enjoys a pleasant year-round tropical climate. Due to Havana’s more than five hundred year existence, the city boasts some of the most diverse styles of architecture in the world. From Spanish colonial castles built in the late 16th century to modernist present-day high-rises, Havana is a documentary photographer’s dream.

A melting pot of cultural stimulus this is a time of transition for the country, take the opportunity to be mentored in your pursuit of narrative, places are being filled quickly. 

Soak up the post- revolutionary atmosphere by following in the footsteps of Hemingway, Greene, Castro and Guevara...

To make bookings contact Jack Picone 

Or for more information Stephen Dupont 

The Jack Picone and Stephen Dupont Documentary Photography Workshops are proudly sponsored by Fujifilm Australia

From the Archive - Paris '97 Stephen Dupont

Grappling with Stephen's extensive archive throughout this year gave us the idea to dig into the vault and highlight some of his past work that is not currently featured on his site and has been hidden away for some time.

The first collection of photos we've extracted and selected are from the Parisian runways in 1997.

Steve at the time was commissioned by 'Le Monde' newspaper in Paris to document the collections everyday for the paper and was given unlimited access to cover the shows in his own style of Reportage.

What surfaced from within were elements of a Lisette Model or Dorothy Arbus world. Freaks, model androids, fashionistas at their best. The weird eccentricities and superficialities of the fashion world come to show in Dupont's shots.

Steve has mentioned it was one of the most stressful assignments he'd ever done at the time.

"The experience was quite unpleasant at times, facing the daily grind dealing with arseholes basically, so much pretension and egos flying around. At the same time I was challenged and loved the moments constantly gracing my viewfinder... It was a total freak show actually...  I was possessed as well by the unbelievable sexuality and beauty everywhere, the supermodels who are like beautiful and flawless androids. The weeks I spent shooting were crazy, working days and nights and parties, lots and lots of parties..." 


 

Paris '97 by Stephen Dupont,

slide by Anna Maria Antoinette D'Addario

 

PowerHouse Books release Stephen Dupont's book 'Raskols: The Gangs of Papua New Guinea' - October 2012

 

PowerHouse Books is set to release this October, Stephen Dupont's book 'Raskols: The Gangs of Papua New Guinea'. The collection has been previously only available for sale as one of Dupont's limited edition artist's books.

The October release published by PowerHouse sees the Raskols work put together in a beautiful hardcover copy 8x10 inches, 144 pages with an accessible retail price of $30.00. 

To read the official press release for the book's publication follow the link below

PowerHouse Press Release for Stephen Dupont's Raskols: The Gangs of Papua New Guinea 

a preview of the book itself can be viewed here.

 

 

from the series Raskols, by Stephen Dupont

Pictures Raskols Exhibition Photoville Brooklyn, New york - June 2012

The following pictures were shot at the Photoville Festival and show the set up of Stephen Dupont's Raskols Exhibition, currently on show the last day of the festival is July 1, anyway in New York at the moment should definitely give it a look. 

Thanks to public sponsors the team at Photoville reached their goal on Kickstarter and enabled Photoville to become a free event.

More support for United Photo Industries to continue supporting emerging photographers and create new photography based events can be made here.