UTOPIA, DYSTOPIA, REALITY: A PHOTOGRAPHER’S VISION
Ages 16-29
Spring 2023, Online
Photography allows us to capture the world as it is, and also to craft worlds from our imaginations. In this workshop, student fellows will use cameras to document their current realities, and also to explore notions of utopia (an ideal world or society) and dystopia (utopia’s opposite, a bleak world of dysfunction and suffering). They’ll analyze the work of contemporary and historic photographers, and through writing, image-making, and group discussion, develop their own visions, both hopeful and fearful, grounded in what they see around them, and also what they see in their mind’s eye. They’ll consider social, political, economic, and spiritual aspects of human experience, while speculating on alternate or future realities. They’ll hone technical and aesthetic skills, and each develop a photo series that reflects the complexity of their thinking, of their imagining. They’ll write artists’ statements to accompany their portfolios, and their work will be shared at a public exhibition and on the program website. This online workshop will include an in-person field trip to the Baltimore Museum of Art. Limited to 8 student fellows.
Audrey Gatewood is a photographer, director, and facilitator from Baltimore, MD. Their photographic work features elements of fantasy, and is deeply collaborative with the Baltimore arts and LGBTQ community. They are currently working towards a social work degree at University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Vibha Sathesh Kumar is a first year graduate student at Johns Hopkins University. Since childhood, she has had a love for art, and likes to explore various mediums to express herself.
