Media and culture blog Animal New York ran a spot on Marc McAndrews’s “Nevada Rose” photography exhibit, showing at Umbrage Gallery through June 30. Take a look.

Lori Waselchuk will speak at the Photographic Resource Center in Boston today, May 19 at 6 pm, where she is exhibiting photographs from her project Grace Before Dying from May 17 – July 10. An opening reception will immediately follow the lecture. A satellite show will be displayed at the Concord Public Library in Massachusetts from June 1 – June 10, 2011.

EVENT DETAILS:

Lori Waselchuk Lecture + Opening Reception at PRC Boston

Lecture starts at 6 pm. Reception to follow at 7:30 pm.

Photographic Resource Center

Photonics Building 206

8 St. Mary’s Street

Boston, MA

For more information regarding the Grace Before Dying exhibit, visit PRC’s website.

Lori Waselchuk was interviewed by PhotoNOLA Blog contributor Ray Mikell about her heart-rending project GRACE BEFORE DYING.

Waselchuk spent several months documenting a revolutionary hospice program at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola – once one of the country’s most dangerous prisons – where incarcerated men care for and comfort their elderly and terminally ill fellow inmates. The program has helped transform the prison into one of the country’s least violent. The images she captured are featured in her book, GRACE BEFORE DYING, which is a June 2011 Umbrage Editions release.

See excerpts from the interview below:

RM: How did you learn about this prison hospice initiative? Did foundations or anyone in particular approach you about the hospice, or was it the other way around?

LORI: I started the project then I received support and opportunities as the work progressed. I learned about Angola’s hospice program through an assignment from the magazine Imagine Louisiana – which has since closed. The editor, Arthur Smith, asked me to create a photo essay about the program. I worked on that assignment in the spring of 2007.

RM: Did you get to know any of the prisoners well, specifically those being treated? If so, how did this affect your work?

Yes, I think I have gotten to know many of the incarcerated volunteers, especially the quilters. I think my relationship with the men has deepened my commitment to the hospice program as well as my project. I also feel deeply grateful to the patients and their families who allowed me to spend time with them during the most difficult of times.

RM: Do you have any advice for photographers who may have difficulty getting to their potential subject matter due to security concerns or various rules and regulations?

I think each institution must be different, but a photographer should clearly present her idea, and be persistent…Access is key to the work of documentary photographers. It is important that a photographer is able to clearly describe the project they hope to do. But that is only half of a conversation about access. The subject or institution that the photographer is trying to receive permission from has their own requirements and expectations. It is important to try to think about that when asking for access. ‘No’s’ are a big part of this process though.

Visit the PhotoNOLA Blog if you’d like to read the entire interview.

Photographs from NEVADA ROSE were featured on Flavorpill’s “Highlights of the New York Photofestival 2011.” The show, which opened at Umbrage Gallery on Thursday, May 12, is curated by Jon Feinstein of Humble Arts Foundation in collaboration with Umbrage Editions.