anatomy of a portrait
Instructor: Emma Phillips | Dates: Dates: Thursdays, April 4 - May 16 | Time: 6 - 8PM EST | Tuition: $565 Members: $480 | Requirements: N/A | Class Size Max: 5
This course is developed in partnership with Image Threads Collective.
This workshop considers the possibilities of the photographic portrait and identifies several modalities prolific in portrait making throughout history. Drawing on a range of materials as impetus, including art criticism, fiction writing, essays, poems and short stories this eight-week online program will consist of group discussions, creative play and broader ongoing assignment-based thinking. At the heart of the syllabus, we will philosophize on what makes a portrait, as well as discern strategies and technique particular to photographic capture.
about the program
This course will use literature and examples from art history to group modalities of portrait-making in photography. The aim in identifying and grouping types of portraiture in a broad forensic tone is to understand how and why form and technique communicate meaning, as well as demystify the parameters of photographic portrait practice.
The program will run for seven weeks and will consist of an ongoing folio-type assignment, as well as activities particular to each week of learning. Required readings range from poetry to non-fiction and have been selected based on their ability to open up the possibilities for discussion and creative exploration, as well as their ability to ruminate on the complexities of portrait-making from multiple vantages.
Students will be required to participate in group discussions, engage with reading and visual material, complete weekly learning activities and work independently on an ongoing folio-based project. The course will culminate in group critiques of the folio assignment.
Images © Courtesy of the artist and ReadingRoom, Melbourne.
Emma Phillips (Sorrento, 1989) is a photographer based in Melbourne, Australia. Her work, set around the focal point of the home, probes ideals of domesticity, womanhood, memory and dreams. Recent activities include a major book commission from Photo Australia and Perimeter Books, nomination for the Murray Art Museum Albury National Photography Prize, acquisition from the Art Gallery of New South Wales and an exhibition at ReadingRoom in 2019. From 2014-2019 Emma was the photobook buyer at Perimeter Books, where she implemented the Perimeter Talks program, a series of panel discussions, lectures, and more casual in-conversations with publishers, artists, curators, designers, writers and editors exploring and addressing various themes and issues relating to contemporary photographic, art and design publishing. Emma is an occasional writer and educator, contributing to programs at University of Technology, Sydney, Photography Studies College, Melbourne and Penumbra Foundation, New York City. Emma holds an MFA from the University of Hartford’s International Limited-Residency program.
A minimum of three students is required for all courses to run. In most cases, our registration deadline is 24 hrs prior to the start time of a workshop/class. If there is a workshop/class you would like to register for but it is not listed or if you have questions, please contact griffin@penumbrafoundation.org.
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