Rachel Sussman
Rachel Sussman (born 1975) is an American fine art photographer based in Brooklyn. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York with a BFA, studied at the Bard College MFA program, and began a practice-based fine arts PhD at Central Saint Martins in London. Sussman is a MacDowell Colony Fellow and spoke about her work at the TED Global conference in 2010. Sussman's interdisciplinary project "The Oldest Living Things in the World," has been featured in the media all over the world, including the Wall Street Journal,[1] CNN,[2] The Guardian,[3] NPR's Picture Show,[4] New Scientist,[5] as well as publications in China, Brazil, New Zealand, and throughout Europe.
In 2008 critic Jerry Saltz cited her work as the "best photography that slipped under the radar" in New York Magazine,[6] having stated in the exhibition review: “These stately pictures quiet the soul: You enter a reverie wondering how these organisms managed to live so long and if there’s anything in them that might help us stave off the inevitable…Sussman brings you to the place where science, beauty, and eternity meet” [7]
Oldest Living Things in the World
Since 2004, Sussman has been researching, working with biologists, and traveling all over the world to find and photograph continuously living organisms 2,000 years old and older.[8] Sussman says "The project is part art and part science. There's an environmental component. And I'm also trying to create a means in which to step outside our quotidian experience of time and to start to consider a deeper timescale. I selected 2,000 years as my minimum age because I wanted to start at what we consider to be year zero and work back from there."[9]
Her book of the same title was published April 2014, containing essays from Hans Ulrich Obrist and Carl Zimmer.
Awards and nominations
- Guggenheim Fellowship, Photography, 2014
- LACMA Lab Art + Tech grant, 2014
- NYFA Fellowship, Photography, 2013
- Prix Pictet nomination, London/Geneva 2010
- Prix Pictet nomination, London/Geneva 2009
- British Council Darwin Now Award, Finalist. London, 2009
- University of Pennsylvania, Graduate Humanities Forum on Origins, Best in Show, 2008
Exhibitions
- Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden: The Oldest Living Things in the World. Baden-Baden, Germany April-June 2012
- Museum of Contemporary Photography: Our Origins. Chicago, July-Oct 2011
- Montalvo Arts Center: Oldest Living Things in the World. Saratoga, California (Oct 2010- Jan 2011)
- 2B Galleria: The World’s Neglected Corners (w/Bukta Imre & S. Nagy.) Budapest, Hungary (Sept 2010)
- Siamsa Tire: Un-Natural Selection. w/ John Holstead. Tralee, Ireland, Feb-Mar 2010
- The Discovery Museum: The Oldest Living things in the World. Bridgeport, CT. Oct 08 - Jan 09
- Michael Steinberg Fine Arts: The Oldest Living things in the World. New York, May 2008
- Affirmation Arts: 31 Women in Art Photography. Curators: Charlotte Cotton & Jon Feinstein. NYC. March 2010
- Bennington College Usdan Gallery: Print Exchange. Bennington, VT. March 2009
- University of Pennsylvania: Origins. Hosted by the Graduate Humanities Forum. Feb 2008
- American Museum of Natural History: Finding Life at the Frozen Poles. New York, Jan ‘08
- Winkleman Gallery: The Seed Project. New York, October 2007
- Art Forum Berlin: Pierogi Gallery. Berlin, Sept - Oct 2007
- Pierogi Leipzig: Hela Havet Stormar. Leipzig, Germany. Summer 2007
- Gitana Rosa: In the Dirt: Young Photographers rethinking the Human Relationship to the Contemporary Landscape. Williamsburg, June 2007
- Artnews Projects: Pierogi Flatfiling, Berlin, May–June 2007
- D21 Kunstraum: Salon. Leipzig, Germany. Dec ’06 – Jan ‘07
- Pierogi Brooklyn: Installation. Brooklyn, Sept – Oct 2006
- Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago: Photography 2005. Chicago, Oct 2005
- The Central Park Conservancy/ Christie’s: Time Warner Center Exhibition & benefit auction at Christie’s, New York, June 2005
- Jen Bekman Gallery: Hey, Hot Shot; inaugural juried exhibition. New York, May 2005
- The Cooper Union: Artists in Residence Exhibition. New York, June 2004
- The Front Room: Towards a New Architecture. Brooklyn, February 2003
- The Front Room: The Suffragette Show. Brooklyn, June–July 2002
Speaking Engagements and Appearances
- The Long Now Foundation (San Francisco, Nov 2010)
- CreativeMornings (Brooklyn, Aug 27, 2010)
- CNN World Report. (July 28, 2010)
- TED Global Conference (Oxford, July 2010)
- Johnson & Johnson Convergence Lab (New York, June 5, 2010)
- NHPR. Word of Mouth. (April 26, 2010)
- GEL Conference (New York, April 2010)
- Thomas P. Johnson Distinguished Visiting Artist, Rollins College, 2007
References
- ↑ Julie Steinerg Earth's Real Senior Citizens NY CULTURE section June 15, 2010 Wall Street Journal
- ↑ CNN World Report
- ↑ The oldest living organisms: ancient survivors with a fragile future
- ↑ Priscilla Villarreal Hunting For The Oldest Living Things In The World The Picture Show March 25, 2010 NPR
- ↑ 13 April 2010 New Scientist
- ↑ Best Photography Shows That Slipped Under the Radar: Rachel Sussman The Culture Awards, OLTW: CRITICS PICK & REVIEW BY JERRY SALTZ, MAY, 2008 BEST OF 2008 IN NEW YORK MAGAZINE
- ↑ New York Magazine, May 2008
- ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/may/02/rachel-sussman-oldest-plants
- ↑ TED interactive transcript
External links
- Rachel Sussman website
- Oldest Living Things in the World portfolio
- Oldest Living Things book site
- Sussman's TED talk