Allan Sekula (January 15, 1951 – August 10, 2013) was an American photographer, writer, filmmaker, theorist and critic. From 1985 until his death in 2013, he taught at California Institute of the Arts.[1] His work frequently focused on large economic systems, or "the imaginary and material geographies of the advanced capitalist world."[2]

He received fellowships and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Getty Research Institute, Deutsche Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), Atelier Calder[3] and was named a 2007 USA Broad Fellow.

Life and work

Sekula was born in 1951 in Erie, Pennsylvania, of Polish and English descent. His family moved to San Pedro, California in the early 1960s.[1] He graduated with his MFA from the University of California, San Diego, in 1974, after having obtained his BA in biology from the same institution.[4]

Sekula's principal medium was photography, which he employed to create exhibitions, books and films. His secondary medium was the written word, employing essays and other critical texts in concert with images to create a multi-level critique of contemporary late capitalism. His works make critical contributions on questions of social reality and globalization, and focus on what he described as "the imaginary and material geographies of the advanced capitalist world". He was a film/video-maker, frequently collaborating with film theorist Noël Burch on projects such as The Reagan Tapes (1984) (with regard to Ronald Reagan), and The Forgotten Space (2010).[5]

He served on the faculty of the Photography and Media Program at the California Institute of the Arts.[6]

Sekula died on August 10, 2013, aged 62, following a long struggle with gastric-esophageal cancer.[4]

Books

  • Photography Against the Grain: Essays and Photo Works 1973–1983 (1984).
  • Fish Story (1995).
    • London: Mack, 2018. ISBN 978-1-912339-04-4. With a new introduction by Laleh Khalili.
  • Dead Letter Office (1997).
  • Geography Lesson: Canadian Notes (1997).
  • Seemannsgarn (2002).
  • Titanic's Wake (2003).
  • Performance under Working Conditions (2003).
  • A Dialogue with Allan Sekula (2005).
  • Facing the Music: Documenting Walt Disney Hall and the Redevelopment of Downtown Los Angeles. East of Borneo Books, 2015. ISBN 978-0692312445. A project by Sekula. Edited by Edward Dimendberg, with contributions by Sekula, Louis Adamic, James Baker, Laura Diamond Dixit, Anthony Hernandez, Karin Apollonia Müller, Leonard Nadel, and Billy Woodberry.

Films

  • A Short Film for Laos (2006)[7]
  • The Forgotten Space (2010)

Awards

Collections

Sekula's work is held in the following public collections:

See also

References

  1. ^ ""Allan Sekula, 1951-2013"". calarts.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-08-17. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  2. ^ "Notice of death of artist Allan Sekula, 1951–2013". Artinamericamagazine.com. Archived from the original on 2013-08-26. Retrieved 2013-08-13.
  3. ^ "Allan Sekula obituary (1951–2013)". artforum.com. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  4. ^ Gopnik, Blake (12 August 2013). "Allan Sekula, R.I.P". The Daily Beast. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
  5. ^ Icarus Films website
  6. ^ "Allan Sekula". alternativeprojections.com. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
  7. ^ Film description Archived 2010-02-03 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Allan Sekula - John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Archived 2015-01-23 at the Wayback Machine, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York, NY. Accessed 23 January 2015.
  9. ^ "Allan Sekula". Artnet. Retrieved August 13, 2013.