ONLINE COURSE
The Artful Still Life
NEW SECTION ADDED! CLICK HERE
Still lifes — artful compositions of objects and light — are one of the most enduring forms of imagery. As powerful and complicated as a portrait or as complex as a landscape, they can harness the power of social and personal symbolism to create meaningful commentary on our world, lives, and identities. Students will gain an understanding of the aesthetic foundations of the still life by examining the visual language of both painters and photographers and their methods of constructing still life images. Through weekly exercises, students will learn ways to apply and expand these threads of historical and contemporary approaches to their own still life creations, whether constructed in a studio or found in other environments. Supported by in-class critique, students will end the course with a cohesive portfolio of works that will guide their practice in the future.
Samantha Box is a Jamaican-born, Bronx-based photographer. In her studio-based practice, she uses self-portraiture, sound, and installation to articulate her personal diasporic/Caribbean experience. This work has been exhibited at the Houston Center of Photography (2019), and the Andrew Freedman House (2020). In Spring 2021, Box will join the Bronx Museum of the Arts’ AIM Fellowship program.
Her previous documentary work focused on New York City's community of LGBTQ youth of color, and was widely recognized, notably with a NYFA Fellowship (2010), and shown, most prominently, as part of the ICP Museum’s Perpetual Revolution exhibition (2017). This work is part of the permanent collections of the Open Society Foundation, EN FOCO, and Light Work.
Samantha holds a certificate in Photojournalism and Documentary Studies from the International Center of Photography (2006). She also holds an MFA in Advanced Photographic Studies from the International Center of Photographer/Bard College (2019).
Samantha teaches self-portraiture and documentary photography for StrudelmediaLive.