Still Life: A meditation on the Details with Brandon Thibodeaux
Recorded: Thursday, October 22nd, at 7 pm ET
Life has become a lot more still for many of us during this time. In the most appropriate use of the genre, Brandon Thibodeaux has shifted his attention to still lifes of objects of emotional and existential resonance, while quarantining in Mississippi with family. “While exploring the often calamitous lands that exist between my ears I discovered a kind of serenity in taking stock of the smallest of things surrounding me. I think it’s often these little things in our lives that hold the greatest power. I suppose it’s why we all keep knickknacks and mementos. Tiny catalysts that spur the imagination, allowing us to relive experiences or dream up new ones.” Thibodeaux will talk with host, Mike Belleme about how this shift toward stillness fits in with a broader movement in his work in recent years from reaction to creation, using personal experience and classical poetry as a jumping off point.
Brandon Thibodeaux is a photographer and educator based in Houston, TX, who creates portraits in the documentary tradition. In addition to his assignment work and creative commissions, he explores life in the American South. He is a guest instructor with the Santa Fe Photographic and Maine Media Workshops, as well as both the Houston and Los Angeles Centers of Photography.
His work has been recognized by American Photo Magazine, Photo District News, and the Oxford American lists him as one of their 100 Under 100, New Superstars of Southern Art. His long-term photographic project based in the Mississippi Delta first entitled, When Morning Comes, was awarded Center’s Gallerist Choice Award 2013, AI-AP American Photography 30, the Critical Mass Solo Show Award 2013, the 2014 Michael P. Smith Fund For Documentary Photography Grant and the 2016 Palm Springs Photo Festival Portfolio Review Award.
This work, later published as a book by Red Hook Editions in 2017, under the new title, In That Land of Perfect Day, has been featured by numerous publications including American Photo Magazine, B+W Magazine, Garden &Gun, PDN, Port Magazine, Oxford American, The New York Times, Time.com and The Washington Post.