news
recent highlights:
- guggenheim fellow shane rocheleau visits usu
- prof. soukhakian selected for ‘a greater utah’
- prof. soukhakian wins julia margaret cameron award
- prof. ragland on assignment for the washington post
- prof. ragland awarded caine college researcher of the year
- prof. soukhakian named to critical mass top 50
- prof. soukhakian receives tenure, promotion
utah state today shares prof. soukhakian’s recent projects
Aug 24, 2023From Utah State Today:
Fazilat Soukhakian began her photography career in Iran, where she was one of very few women in photojournalism in the country. In that role, she often found herself in the middle of on-going political and social issues and change. Through those collective experiences, she discovered how photography could be a powerful storytelling medium.
After moving to the United States in 2011, she has since continued her work as a visual storyteller. According to a bio on her website, her work focuses on “depicting the stories of bravery and strength of those marginalized by society, highlighting the act of overcoming struggle and inspiring others.”
In this video, she breaks down three of her most recent projects: “Defiance,” “Queer in Utah,” and “Now… I Let Go.”
“Defiance” is an ongoing work that examines individuals who symbolize resistance in various forms, from pushing back on cultural norms to fighting for environmental protections.
“Queer in Utah” showcases LGBT+ couples in Utah who struggle against discrimination and suppression because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
“Now … I Let Go” is a completed project that highlights everyday objects and their sentimental value after losing a loved one, whether that be through a memory, a moment or a story.
For more information on these projects, and the artist, visit: www.soukhakian.com
guggenheim fellow shane rocheleau to visit usuphoto
Aug 24, 2023
Artist and 2023 Guggenheim Fellow Shane Rocheleau will visit Utah State University, August 30. He will discuss his photographic practice and current Guggenheim project at 12:30p.m. during Professor Jared Ragland’s Analog Photography course in FAV113 of USU’s Chase Fine Arts Building.
The visit is presented by the Caine College of the Arts’ Department of Art + Design and USU Photo.
Shane Rocheleau (MFA, VCU) is an American photographer whose work critically explores American mythology, failures of the American project, and our collective need to see each other with empathy and compassion. Rocheleau’s three monographs – You Are Masters Of The Fish And Birds And All The Animals (2018), The Reflection In The Pool (2019), and Lakeside (2022) – are published by Gnomic Book and collected by the Museum of Modern Art, the Vogue Italia Collection, and Tate Britain, among others, and is included in the USU Photobook Special Collection. Rocheleau is a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow and currently lives and works in Richmond, Virginia.
Following Shane’s visit to campus, he and professor Jared Ragland will embark on a week-long research trip through the Great Basin in Utah and Nevada, tracing the route of the ill-fated Donner Party.
For more information about Shane’s work, visit: shanerocheleau.com | @shanerocheleau.
professor soukhakian’s ‘queer in utah’ included in ‘a greater utah’ at umoca
July 24, 2023
Images from Professor Fazilat Soukhakian’s series, Queer in Utah. have been included in UMOCA’s latest exhibition, A Greater Utah.
From the press release:
A Greater Utah is an ambitious survey of artists living and working in Utah today, curated by six leading curators, cultural programmers, and artists working in a myriad of diverse Utah counties and regions—from the rural to the desert to the capital city that destabilizes the singular voice of a set curatorial practice. It serves a state-wide audience, exploring the most pressing issues of Utah, and gives authorship and authority to the six curators to select work that best defines the topics and themes affecting their region.
The exhibition’s varied and collective themes explore land use, climate change, identity, Indigenous rights and practices, language, social change, marginalization, geography, and what it means to be a Utahn today. It captures the transformative demographic, environmental, and cultural shifts happening within our state and seeks to gather and bridge communities at the intersection of art, culture, and geography.
The exhibition provides a site for oft-overlooked geographic and artistic centers, expands narratives and definitions of the local, and cultivates a chorus of Utah voices and perspectives. Grown from conversations between curators and artists, it also functions as an intimate portrayal of Utah, revealing the under-examined history of art making across the state. Revealing emerging practices in the region, the show serves as a snapshot of art making in our ever-changing state.
The exhibition runs July 28-Jan. 6, 2024.
professor soukhakian wins 2023 julia margaret cameron award
July 14, 2023
Congratulations to Professor Fazilat Soukhakian, who has been awarded the 2023 Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers for her series, Queer in Utah. The international award, now in its 20th year, was juried by Elizabeth Avedon, Ann Jastrab, and Elizabeth Krist.
Prof. Soukhakian will exhibit her award-winning project in a solo show at the FotoNostrum Gallery in Barcelona in April 2024.
professor soukhakian interviewed on l’oeil de la photographie
June 14, 2023
Professor Fazilat Soukhakian is interviewed by Patricia Lanza for L’OEil de la Photographie to discuss Soukhakian’s award-winning project, Queer in Utah. Read the interview here.