Weekly Roundup: Female Muslim Identity, Cherrios Mixed-Race Family TV Ad and More

Weekly Roundup: Female Muslim Identity, Cherrios Mixed-Race Family TV Ad and More


Lalla Essaydi, Bullets Revisited #20, 2013, chromogenic print
Courtesy of Jenkins Johnson Gallery


Photo Exhibition: New Beauty by Lalla Essaydi
Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 6th, 5:30 – 7:30pm

With a unique multicultural approach from having lived in Morrocco, Suadi Arabi, Boston, Paris and New York, Essaydi examines female Muslim identity. Bullets Revisited is a haunting and visually arresting body of work created in response to the 2011 regional revolutions. Models lay on glittering beds covered in shining clothing and jewelry which upon closer inspection is realized to be bullet casings. In Harem Revisited, the models are clothed in elaborate caftans and surrounded by lavish fabrics traditionally used in Moroccan ceremonies, turning these women into objects of decoration. 

Interview with Yamini Nayar [PDF]
Drawing inspiration from cinema, photographic archives, and mass media, Yamini Nayar creates imagined interiors from found and discarded materials, and photographs them before destroying the tableaux. In this interview from Unfixed: Photography and Postcolonial Perspectives in Contemporary Art, Nayar details her artistic process.

Alvin Baltrop and Gordon-Matta Clark: The Piers From Here
Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK

Closing February 9, 2014
Open Eye Gallery is proud to bring together, for the first time in the UK, the work of photographer Alvin Baltrop (1948 – 2004) and that of the ‘anarchitect’ Gordon Matta-Clark (1943 – 1978), whose pivotal role in the field of photography has been often overlooked.

New International Photography Festivals 
This week I received emails about two new photo festivals. If you’re in Europe, check out Italy’s Cortona On The Move happening from July 17 – September 14, 2014. Also, Uruguay is hosting their first-ever photography festival San Jose Foto from April 3 – 6, 2014. Check out the blog’s International Photo Festivals page for more listings worldwide.


Cherrios Mixed-Race Family Commercial, Part II
Many of you may’ve heard about the first commercial Cherrios released in 2013 which sparked racist comments on their YouTube page so vicious that they had to turn commenting off. Well it looks like the executives at Cherrios didn’t let a little hate mongering scare them away from presenting a diverse American family in their TV advertising. During this Sunday’s Super Bowl the cereal company will be showing a new commercial revealing a new addition to the mixed-race family. 


Despite anti-miscegenation laws, mixed-race families have been a part of the United States population for centuries and yet the various public reactions (from support to damnation) is evidence that we still have a long way to go before what many already consider normal is no longer a spectacle.

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Dodge & Burn is a blog dedicated to documenting a more inclusive history of photography and supporting the work of photographers of color with photographer interviews.


This blog is published by visual artist and writer, Qiana Mestrich. For regular updates on diversity in photography history, follow Qiana on Twitter @mestrich, Like the Dodge & Burn Blog page on Facebook or subscribe to Dodge & Burn by email.

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