Posts tagged darkroom detroit
POP-UP Portrait Studio Celebrates Youth, Photography, and Community
POP-UP Portrait Studio Celebrates Youth, Photography, and Community

The POP-UP Portrait Studio continues a rich legacy of community storytelling in Southwest Detroit. This summer, eight young photographers joined the internship program at Inside Southwest Detroit, learning technical and creative photography skills while honoring the community's past and shaping its future.

Inspired by the work of our longtime partners Capturing Belief and La Sirena Studio, the POP-UP Portrait Studio continues the legacy of our collaborative efforts in youth-focused photography education. This includes initiatives like Young Detroit Photo Society, which also involved Darkroom Detroit. These programs and their creators recognized the power of photography for community building, cultural pride, and personal expression. The collective work has paved the way for today’s young photographers, who are now contributing their own perspectives to this ongoing narrative.

The studio taps into a broader tradition of lens-based storytelling that spans cultures and generations, drawing inspiration from photographers like Mary Ellen Mark, Malick Sibidé, Yousuf Karsh, Graciela Iturbide, Sebastião Salgado, and Martin Schoeller. These artists have transformed the potential of documentation and inspired generations by capturing and sharing the histories they've experienced.

Assortment of images by Mary Ellen Mark, Malick Sidibé, Yousuf Karsh, Graciela Iturbide, Sebastião Salgado, and Martin Schoeller who have transformed the potential of documentation and inspired generations by capturing and sharing the histories they've experienced.

The youth apprentices are learning not just how to take photos, but how to see their community in a new light, tell its stories, and continue the legacy of those who came before them. By participating in the POP-UP Portrait Studio, they are building on a lineage of photographers who celebrate the beauty, strength, and diversity of their communities.

POP-UP Portraits taken by the youth apprentices at The Alley Project during Aerosol Nightmares, a weekend mural festival centered in Southwest Detroit. July 14, 2024

The internship serves as an entry point into a community of practice that values storytelling, creativity, and collaboration. The studio synthesizes these inspirations, offering youth a chance to actively contribute to and shape the future of Southwest Detroit’s storytelling tradition. By engaging in this program, young photographers are ensuring that community-driven storytelling will continue to thrive for years to come.

Programming, PartnershipsInside Southwest Detroitpop-up portrait studio, the alley project, avis street photo studio, mary ellen mark, malick sidibe, yousuf karsh, graciela iturbide, sebastiao salgado, martin schoeller, la sirena studio, capturing belief, young detroit photo society, darkroom detroit
Bringing Home Lessons from The Bronx, Brooklyn, and Photoville
Bringing Home Lessons from The Bronx, Brooklyn, and Photoville

Nine artists from Inside Southwest Detroit (4 mentors and 5 students) and several community partners traveled to Brooklyn for Photoville and visits with artists and organizations across NYC. The trip was an opportunity to lay an inspirational and educational foundation for young photographers while collectively building opportunities and our network.

Member organizations of the Young Detroit Photo Society—Capturing Belief, Darkroom Detroit, and Inside Southwest Detroit with La Sirena Studio—convened daily to share time and ideas to build on back home.

The cohort arranged one-on-one time with photographers, visits to youth photography initiatives and the communities they serve, interviews, and tours of container exhibitions with artists from around the US and the world.

Michael Kamber at The Bronx Documentary Center and Abigaíl Montes at International Center of Photography at The Point shared particularly inspirational and relevant programming and curriculum, community exhibitions, and spaces that provided insights and opportunities for lasting relationships between Southwest Detroit and the Bronx.

We also visited The Brooklyn Museum and community photo exhibitions in Brooklyn, Manhattan, in the Bronx, several foundations to learn more about their work (Magnum Foundation, ArtPlace America), and with photographers Jamal Shabazz, Rachel Wisniewski, Joseph Rodriguez, and Ruddy Roye.

Inside Southwest Detroityoung detroit photo society, capturing belief, darkroom detroit, bronx documentary center, international center of photography at the point, la sirena studio, photoville, rachel wisniewski, ruddy roye, joseph rodriguez, jamal shabazz, brooklyn museum, abigail montes, my beloved bronx, potap, magnum foundaion, magnum foundation, artplace america
Photoville 2019 | Brooklyn, NY
Photoville 2019 | Brooklyn, NY

A key dimension of the Porch on TAP is artistic exchange—connecting the people of Southwest Detroit to the people and places of other communities. This year we extended this practice through attendance at Photoville, a public photo festival in Brooklyn featuring activated public spaces and educational programming.

Gabriela Baginski facilitated five planning sessions ahead of the trip previewing and preparing the group for the opportunities that lay ahead in the numerous exhibits and workshops, coaching young artists on interviewing skills, and coordinating visits.

At Photoville stacked shipping containers, sprawling cubes of printed canvas, and workshops animated the festival. Everywhere the eye could see was layered with inspiration and education. The opportunities came to life as photographers from around the world interacted with the exhibits and each other—trading critiques, innovations, and contact info.

Nine artists from southwest Detroit, 4 mentors and 5 students, traveled together to the exhibit by van in addition to several community partners who were able to participate separately, meeting us in NYC. Member organizations of the Young Detroit Photo Society—Capturing Belief, Darkroom Detroit, and Inside Southwest Detroit with La Sirena Studio—convened daily to share time, stories, schedules and ideas to build on back home.

Several factors came together this year for the opportunity to take full advantage of what Photoville has to offer. Executive Director Erik Paul Howard’s photo series, The Lowriders, was featured in the national tour of ‘The Fence’ that kicked off at PhotoVille this year.

Also Documenting Detroit, a photography fellowship and community partner, hosted a container exhibiting work from current and past fellows including each mentor on the trip—Rosa Maria Zamarron (‘16), Gabriela Baginski (‘16), Samantha Otto (‘17), and Erik Paul Howard (‘17). Behind the scenes inclusion in staffing a container and the access to other exhibitors enhanced the experience for both mentors and students.

The planning, road trip, exhibition, and wandering connected the group to people and places of communities in NYC and around the world—and also in deeper relationship with each other.

ProgrammingInside Southwest Detroitdocumenting detroit, capturing belief, darkroom detroit, ydps, la sirena studio, photoville, PoTAPComment