A Photographic Life - 49: Plus John Sevigny

In episode 49 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering the selling of a potentially false narrative to photographers through photography competitions, portfolio reviews and some photography magazines. Plus this week photographer John Sevigny takes on the challenge of supplying Grant with an audio file no longer than 5 minutes in length in which he answer’s the question ‘What Does Photography Mean to You?’ You can read about the kidnapping John mentions in this week's episode here https://medium.com/@John_Sevigny/a-photographer-kidnapped-in-mexico-part-1-c9fd4f1fdcdf John Sevigny has been taking pictures, teaching and writing about art and his own adventures for nearly 15 years. Sevigny was born in Miami and grew up in a home where he was encouraged to read, write and make art. His father was a painter and sculptor, and his mother, a feminist, photographer and activist. Sevigny himself has never been shy about expressing his opinions on the issues of the day, and has written in depth about everything from immigration and human trafficking to Reagan-era politics. He is best known for his uncompromising photographs, of Mexican prostitutes and portraits of Salvadoran gang members. Sevigny frequently speaks at universities across the Americas on structural violence, Abstract Expressionism, street photography, and frequently his own work. He taught photography for five years at la Universidad Centroamericana Jose Simeon Cañas (UCA) in El Salvador - a Roman Catholic school remembered for being the site of the killing of six Jesuit priests during that country's armed conflict. He has worked for two newspapers on the Texas-Mexico border, for the Associated Press and EFE News, the official agency for the government of Spain. He has photographed for newspapers and magazines in the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Brazil and been a guest artist at Benedictine University, Illinois and given guest lectures at the Pratt Institute and School of Visual Arts, both in New York; the Loyola University, Depaul University, and College of Dupage, all in Chicago; the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh; and the University of Illinois, among many others. He has had at least 50 solo exhibitions including shows in the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, and Holland and participated in group exhibitions in Holland, Portugal, Spain, and across the United States. He currently divides his time between the United States and various parts of Mexico and Central America. www.johnsevigny.org You can also access and subscribe to these podcasts at SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/unofphoto on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/a-photographic-life/id1380344701 on Player FM https://player.fm/series/a-photographic-life and Podbean www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/i6uqx-6d9ad/A-Photographic-Life-Podcast Grant Scott is the founder/curator of United Nations of Photography, a Senior Lecturer in Professional Photography at the University of Gloucestershire, a working photographer, and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Focal Press 2014) and The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Focal Press 2015). His next book New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography will be published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2019. He is currently work on his next documentary film project Woke Up This Morning: The Rock n' Roll Thunder of Ray Lowry www.wokeupthismorningfilm.com. His documentary film, Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay has been screened across the UK and the US in 2018 and will be screened in the US and Canada in 2019. © Grant Scott 2019