piK Magazine Launch at Kolle Bolle

This one goes out to all our fans in France, which is surprisingly larger than you would think. If you happen to be in Lyon tomorrow night, April 26, then please try to swing by Kolle-Bolle between 6pm-8pm for the launch and exhibition opening for piK magazine. I was very honored to be asked to be part of their first issue along side six other amazing photographers, including a personal favorite Robin Schwartz. The whole Empty Stretch gang wishes we could be there tomorrow night but we’re sure you’ll be loud and obnoxious in our place and please say hello to Isabelle for us too.

For more information about piK Magazine check out their website.

NEXT at the Corcoran: Class of 2012

Empty Stretch will be in attendance and exhibiting work in the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC tonight. The opening is from 8 – 10pm and we hope each and every one of you can make it out to see us and the hard work our class has done this year. The exhibit opens tonight, April 14, and goes on ’til May 20.

Be Our Help As In The Past…

Well with one semester down and another about to start, I figure now is just as good of a time to enlighten (ha) you all about my senior thesis endeavor. Focusing on the Serbian-American and Albanian-American communities across the nation, while also trying to find a definitive understanding of the Kosovar civic identity; I find myself trying to understand and show how these two ethnic identities use their own pasts to define their present and future. This whole discussion though has created some visual difficulties for me like; how do you take a picture of something that has already happened? and how can you operate under the banner of ‘photojournalism’ while also constructing visual representations?

While I wish I could write that I have some wonderful insight and answer to these questions, I don’t. But not all is lost (for now) as I have been doing a fair amount of visual experimentation and writing about these two ethnic identities and the whole role of an image in validating the past, which has led to some interesting results. One of those results is a collage series called, Operation Allied Forces, which is a visual history of the NATO military operation against the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The collages are based around major events that took place during the campaign and the testimony gathered through interviews of individuals who in one way or another were apart of the operation. These interviews though are not always completely factual of the events that took place, creating a reconstructed history of the actual operation that may or may not be more factual than the “accepted” history of the campaign.

#54 fts Operation Allied Forces

Trying to keep this in the world of photojournalism though, the images used within the collages are all from public image archives that have been meta-tagged in one way or another in relation to Operation Allied Forces. My thought behind this was that these images are meant to serve as a historical document of the past yet their validity depends solely on either your ethnic identity (Albanian/Serbian) or the country you live in and their willingness to acknowledge the independence of Kosovo. With the uncertain validity behind these images, they form the perfect tool to create a visual history to the operation that also finds its own validity placed in question.

#16 fts Operation Allied Forces

#76 fts Operation Allied Forces

In total, I have created 78 collages (one for each day of the operation) and plan on releasing them within a book series that will go along side my thesis, Be Our Help As In The Past… If you’re interested in reading more about the Kosovo war, Albanian ethnic identity, or Serbian identity, these books were personal favorites of mine:

James Pettifer and Miranda Vickers – The Albanian Question
Misha Glenny – The Balkans
Tim Judah – Kosovo: War and Revenge
Tim Judah – The Serbs 

Happy New Year!


We hope everyone had a wonderful 2011 and that you’re all as excited as we are for 2012. We have some major projects in the works at the moment, including an awesome collaborative book project which the three of us at Empty Stretch and nine very rad people are all photographing tomorrow. Check out our tumblr all New Year’s day and see updates from a few of us as we go out and explore the new year.

But most of all, we’d just like to say THANK YOU. With out all the love and support we’d probably would have moved on from this old thing long ago. So as a way to say thank you, you can expect 2012 to be a huge year for Empty Stretch as we push forward new endeavors and step-up our publishing output tenfold. Zines, books, shows, drinking, parties, road trips, rock-n-roll(?) and more drinking are all on the agenda and we hope to bring you along.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Love,
ES

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

Nate Grann fts Be Our Help as in the Past...

Hello world! Do you have an awesome new series that you want the world to see? Maybe a brand new book that you’d like to have reviewed? Well…we at Empty Stretch would love to see them. Not a direct guarantee that it’ll get on the blog but we promise to write you back and tell you our thoughts. We’re always trying to find new and exciting work within any category or subject matter (probably best if it’s somehow related to photography) but we’re truly open for anything and everything.

Send us links or low-quality .jpegs to emptystretch@gmail.com

P.S Petty Thieves update is coming very soon and we appreciate all of everyone’s patience.

Mediations #1-4

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Empty Stretch is proud to announce our new zine series, Mediations! The series came to being as we met many wonderful photographers over the past year and have always enjoyed hearing the personal elements and stories behind the works we love. In fact, we loved them so much we thought we ought to share those stories with the world through a small well thought-out zine.

Mediations One: Where’s The ‘æ’ Key? by Nathaniel Grann - Take a look through the land of the Danes, as Grann mixes some of his own personal writings and images with that of the wonderful Hans Christian Anderson.

Mediations Two: Have You Ever? by Theo Erbenius - Follow Erbenius throughout his travels, as he relates his imagery to his own personal struggles. A trip of self reflection and running away from the things we fear most.

Mediations Three: My Country by Ahmed Hayman - Hayman delivers a personal depiction of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution through his understanding of the historical events within the context of what it means to Egyptians, like himself. MABROUK!

Mediations Four: In Arms Reach by John Edmonds - Finally, Edmonds presents us a look into the Parisian lifestyle that one doesn’t typically find. The series goes beyond the normal bounds of diary photography, leaving the viewer demanding for more of the beautiful and relaxed imagery Edmonds presents.

Even Olive can't keep her paws off them!

Even Olive can't keep her paws off them!

All four zines are sold as a bundle at the low price of $18 which includes shipping and handling within the United States. International orders are available but please email, emptystretch@gmail.com, to set up the order.

Purchase here.