In this feature, we showcase an image per week from our current exhibition, EXPOSURE: 13th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition. However, in celebration of the last few weeks of the show, we are going to increase the frequency (and the excitement) and share 2 per week - it’s a veritable photo frenzy!

Get thee to the PRC before the show’s last day of July 2nd!

Originally from Spain and trained as an architect, Marta is a 2nd year graduate student at one of our member schools, Rhode Island School of Design. Marta’s work has been striking quite a chord with our visitors and we’ve been getting a lot of inquiries. In her series “On War,” Marta takes images depicting war or conflict in art and photography. The recognizable images include Goya’s The Third of may, 1808; Picasso’s Guernica, 1936; Robert Capa’s Death of Militiaman, 1936 (seen above); Richard Misrach’s Submerged Trailer, Salton Sea, California, 1983.

From Marta Labad’s statement:
The following project is composed of crumpled-up familiar images that depict conflict. These images belong to my visual and cultural heritage and allow me to talk about the world surrounding us, especially conflict and aggression related to war, catastrophe, and the landscape.

ABOVE IMAGE: Marta Labad, ON WAR #5 (Robert Capa’s Death of Militiaman, 1936), 2008, Digital C-Print, 20 x 20 inches, courtesy of the artist

As you can see, we have a snazzy new blog banner above! We’re getting ready for an official launch of the blog soon, so for those lucky few who have stumbled upon us, we’re hoping to expand our audience even more! In honor of this, I thought it might be fun to delve into the PRC Flickr archives and share with you some past PRC logos and assorted designs.

The above scan is of a PRC button with our 5th anniversary logo on it. This logo appeared on the PRC newsletter in 1981 and on a special promo piece. I just love the phrase “and still developing!” I worry that such an analogy might be loosing its meaning in today’s digital realm, and ask you dear readers, what would the equivalent phrase be today?

I am not quite sure when the PRC square came into being, but it’s likely around the time the newsletter changed from the descriptive “PRC Newsletter” to “in the loupe” (hmm, another pre-digital analogy?). As you can see in our PRC Flickr archive set here, the squared circle was popular for a while in our graphic treatment (and still is, see the upper right photo taken by an AIB graphic design student for our new membership brochure). I had a blast riffling through old files and gathering such ephemera for our 30th anniversary exhibition and a special web site and historical display case.

Variations on the PRC green can be found in the PRC gallery foyer and oddly enough, in my springtime coat. Interestingly, a spicy green is used by another of our sister institutions, as you can see in a photo from my recent trip to Houston. I could tell you the pantone #, but then I’d have to…

Please feel free to share any of your own photo-graphics stories or historical tidbits in the comments!

[The following is an excerpt from the current issue of the PRC's newsletter, in the loupe]

Do you photo blog?

Like many of you that are on the shady side of thirty years old, I tend to embrace any and all new technologies reluctantly and with a lugubrious attitude. A good example: my refrigerator still houses a substantial amount of 35mm film even though I have been shooting digitally for several years. But, in the case of the photo blog phenomenon, I have to say that I embraced the blogosphere - as a reader, not a publisher - early and with great enthusiasm. Why? Simply because a large number of the better blogs present an amazingly good selection of emerging talent. Over the last several years, I’ve become familiar with the work of photographers that I would not get to know by any other means. If you haven’t visited a good blog lately, here are a few killer photo blogs that reside on the Fitts favorite list:

• LensCultureWeblog
• Aphotoeditor
• Magnum Blog
• Conscientious
• Avisualsociety
• iheartphotograph

School of the Museum of Fine Arts prof Jim Dow came to support his students at the 350+ packed opening for the 2008 PRC Student Exhibition, originally uploaded by PRCBoston. 

Did you know? All of our installation slides (well, now digital images) of our exhibitions are taken by THE Jim Dow? Since the PRC became a gallery in 1985, the amazing Jim Dow has been volunteering his time and film to take documents of all of our exhibitions. As a side bar,the Center for American Places just published his book, Marking the Land, featuring over two decades of his photographs from North Dakota.  (It was just named one of the best books of 2007 by American Photo Magazine.)

Here is Jim, pictured with Education Manager, Michael Christiano. Jim is legendary for his history of photography class given at SMFA and Harvard and is constantly going to NYC to photograph gallery shows for his inspiring lectures.  Jim and I have been giving an annual seminar on demystifying the jurying process dubbed “Answering the call (for entry).”  Usually given before the deadline for our juried show in January or early February, this is a great opportunity to hone your entry and see what happens after you send in your submission.  You can read more about this annual program here.  See you next year! - Leslie