Carolyn Drake

Carolyn Drake (born 1971) is an American photographer based in Vallejo, California. She works on long term photo-based projects seeking to interrogate dominant historical narratives and imagine alternatives to them. Her work explores community and the interactions within it, as well as the barriers and connections between people, between places and between ways of perceiving. her practice has embraced collaboration, and through this, collage, drawing, sewing, text, and found images have been integrated into her work. She is interested in collapsing the traditional divide between author and subject, the real and the imaginary, challenging entrenched binaries.

Drake was born in California and studied Media/Culture and History in the early 1990s at Brown University. [1] Her extensive work among people in Central Asia, and Xinjiang in China, is presented in two well received self-published books, Two Rivers and Wild Pigeon. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art presented a solo exhibition of the latter and acquired the collection of original works from the project in 2018.

Drake is a member of Magnum Photos. She has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship,[2] the Lange-Taylor Prize,[3] the Anamorphosis photo book prize, a Fulbright fellowship, and a World Press Photo award[4]. Her work is also held in the collection of the U.S. Library of Congress.

Life and work

Drake was born in California. She had a "multimedia job in New York's Silicon Alley" until starting as a photographer at the age of 30.[5]

In 2006 she moved to Ukraine and in 2007 to Istanbul, Turkey, until 2013.[6] Whilst based in Istanbul she made two long term projects, one in the central Asian countries that were part of the Soviet Union, Two Rivers, and one on the Chinese side of central Asia, Wild Pigeon.

Partly funded by a Guggenheim Fellowship, Drake made fifteen journeys over five years[7] travelling and photographing in the once vibrant region of central Asia that lies between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers that once nourished it.[8] The region, encompassing Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, was transformed when the rivers were diverted for cotton irrigation by the former Soviet Union. Drake's resulting self-published book, Two Rivers (2013), was financed via Kickstarter;[9][10] it was well received by Sean O'Hagan.[11] For Jeffrey Ladd, the book's design (by Sybren Kuiper), notably the way some photographs on recto pages have their right edges on the verso, detracted from it.[12]

She spent seven years visiting Xinjiang in western China (officially called Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region), photographing the Uyghur people for her self-published book Wild Pigeon (2014).[13] There is discord between the Chinese authorities and the indigenous ethnic Uyghur population. Wild Pigeon was well received, again by Sean O'Hagan,[13] who wrote that "Drake is a master of atmosphere";[14] and by Martin Parr;[15] Colin Pantall;[16] Blake Andrews;[17] and Ian Denis Johnson, who wrote "this book does what a great social novel does: it forces us to think of a contested region not in terms of op-eds or political analyses, but as seen by people in daily life".[18] For Jeffrey Ladd, the design of the book (again by Sybren Kuiper) avoided the excesses of that of Two Rivers, and "The results of the collages [by the people Drake photographed] are unexpectedly rich and create the sense of a place that is both [ordinary] with daily routine and imbued with the fantastic that is accented by Drake’s own perceptions: young teenagers dance under a burst of colored light; a classroom that seems to take on surreal drama; a dog fight; skeletal remains hanging in a butcher shop."[12]

In 2013 Drake and her partner, photographer Andres Gonzalez, moved from Istanbul to the United States to begin a new body of work, and moved to Water Valley, Mississippi,[19][20], [1], then in 2015 to Athens, Georgia, and finally to Vallejo, California in 2016.

In 2015 she became a nominee member of Magnum Photos[21][22], in 2017 an associate member.[23], and in 2019 a full member.[24]

Publications

Publications by Drake
  • Two Rivers. Self-published, 2013. ISBN 978-0-615-78764-0. Edition of 700 copies. Accompanied by a separate book with a short essay by Elif Batuman and notes by Drake.
  • Wild Pigeon. Self-published, 2014. ISBN 978-0-692-27539-9. Edition of 950 copies. Includes a story, "Wild Pigeon", by Nurmuhemmet Yasin, and translated by Kolkun Kamberi; and "a small booklet glued to the inside of the back cover".[18]
  • Internat. Self-published, 2017. ISBN 978-0-692-94280-2. Edition of 500 copies.

Publications with contributions by Drake
  • Street Photography Now. London: Thames & Hudson, 2010. ISBN 978-0-500-54393-1 (hardback). London: Thames & Hudson, 2011. ISBN 978-0-500-28907-5 (paperback). Edited by Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren.
  • The Catalogue Box. Dortmund: Kettler; Cologne: The PhotoBook Museum, 2014. Edited by Markus Schaden and Frederic Lezmi. German and English text. ISBN 978-3-86206-394-9. Box with individual publications (also available separately) each by Ali Taptik, Anders Petersen, Andrea Diefenbach, Carlos Spottorno, Carolyn Drake, Chargesheimer, Cristina de Middel, Daidō Moriyama, David Alan Harvey, Dominique Darbois, Ed Templeton, Hans-Jürgen Raabe, Jiang Jian, Julian Germain, Marks of Honour, Oliver Sieber, Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, Ricardo Cases, Stephen Gill, Susan Meiselas, and Todd Hido. Published on the occasion of the inauguration of the PhotoBook Museum.

Awards

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions
  • Wild Pigeon at SFMOMA
  • Internat at Houston Center for Photography, Officine Fotografiche, and SIFEST
  • Carolyn Drake: Photographs of Central Asia, Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, 14 May – 15 November 2009.[n 1][30][31]
  • Paradise Rivers, 17 July – 22 August 2010, Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff, Wales.[32]

Exhibitions with others

Collection

Drake's work is held in the following public collection:

Notes
  1. Exhibited partially concurrently with Across the Caucasus: Photographs and Manuscripts from the John F. Baddeley Collection, 1 May – 30 September 2009, "On show in the Museum’s special display case for original photographic material".

References
  1. Griggs, Tom (21 November 2014). "Interview: Carolyn Drake". Fototazo. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  2. Carolyn Drake, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  3. "2008 Winners: Ilan Greenberg and Carolyn Drake". Duke University. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  4. "Daily Life, second prize stories". World Press Photo. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  5. "undefined". Panos Pictures. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  6. Carolyn Drake. "About". Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  7. Beech, Hannah (10 July 2013). "The Surreal World of Central Asia: Two Rivers by Carolyn Drake". Time. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  8. Curtis, Elissa (20 May 2013). "Two Rivers: A Journey through Central Asia". The New Yorker. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  9. "Two Rivers". Kickstarter. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  10. "Carolyn Drake launches Two Rivers book project on Kickstarter". Panos Pictures. 18 March 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  11. O'Hagan, Sean (4 August 2013). "Two Rivers by Carolyn Drake – review". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  12. Ladd, Jeffrey. "Wild Pigeon by Carolyn Drake". 40×50 Editions. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  13. O'Hagan, Sean (10 December 2014). "China's wild west: photographing a vanishing way of life". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  14. O'Hagan, Sean (13 December 2013). "The best independent photobooks of 2013". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  15. Parr, Martin (11 December 2014). "Best Books 2014: Martin Parr". Photo-Eye. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  16. Pantall, Colin (2 February 2015). "Book Review: Wild Pigeon". Photo-Eye. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  17. Blake Andrews (20 March 2015). "Recently Received". B. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  18. Johnson, Ian (13 April 2015). "China: What the Uighurs See". New York Review of Books. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  19. "Reflexive Lens: Carolyn Drake and Andres Gonzalez". The Fader. 21 October 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  20. Brown, Nic (1 April 2014). "Small-Town Renaissance: Water Valley, Miss". National Trust for Historic Preservation. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  21. "Magnum announces latest nominees". British Journal of Photography. Apptitude Media. 162 (7839): 7. 2015.
  22. Laurent, Olivier (28 June 2015). "Magnum Photos Adds Record-Breaking Number of New Members". Time. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  23. "Annual General Meeting (AGM) - Magnum Photos". Magnum Photos. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  24. "News from the 2019 Annual General Meeting". Magnum Photos. 3 July 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  25. "First Place: Community Awareness Award". Pictures of the Year International. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  26. "Women of Vision at National Geographic". Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. 22 December 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  27. "Paradise Rivers". Open Society Foundations. 7 November 2012. Archived from the original on 4 October 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  28. Bicker, Phil (26 March 2014). "TIME Exclusive: Magnum Emergency Fund Announces 2014 Grantees". Time. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  29. "Winner: Wild Pigeon – Carolyn Drake". Anamorphosis Prize. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  30. "Carolyn Drake: Photographs of Central Asia" (PDF). Pitt Rivers Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  31. "Press Release – 23/02/09" (PDF). Pitt Rivers Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  32. ""Paradise Rivers" by Carolyn Drake". Third Floor Gallery. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  33. "Street photography now at the Third Floor Gallery Archived 1 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine", In-Public, 5 October 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  34. "Carolyn Drake (USA): Paradise Rivers". Guernsey Photography Festival. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  35. "Paradise Rivers". Open Society Foundations. 16 March 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  36. "Cartier-Bresson: A Question of Colour". Somerset House Trust. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  37. "'Women of Vision: National Geographic Photographers on Assignment' Exhibition Opens Oct. 10 at National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C." National Geographic Society. 3 September 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  38. "Women of Vision: National Geographic Photographers on Assignment". National Geographic Society. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  39. "Six New Photographers Joined the World's Most Exclusive Photo Agency". Vice Media. 13 April 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  40. Allen, Erin (6 March 2014). "Pics of the Week: Celebrating Women's History". Library of Congress. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  41. "Two rivers". Library of Congress. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
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