This week’s City Paper cover photo come from past Salon artist, Michael M. Koehler. Koehler’s photos, Fade to Black, document the tragically frustrating aftermath of the BP oil spill and its effects on the waters, coastline and people of the Gulf region. The disaster and myriad aims at fixing it have become commonplace in the news. It’s become easy to cynically poke fun at the big players and their mistakes. Thankfully, Michael reminds us about what’s on the line: the natural and personal devastation.
- Karina

First Personalities is a series on the First Person Arts Blog where we check up on and catch up with past Festival and Salon presenters and participants.

We posted last week about JJ Tiziou’s phenomenal project, How Philly Moves, where dancers – of any style, level of training, age – dance for JJ at special photo shoots. These photos are going to become the basis for a 50,000 square foot mural at the Philadelphia International Airport. Read Part 1 of our interview here.


“Everyone is photogenic.”
Similar to the democratic dance philosophy behind HPM is JJ’s belief that “everyone is photogenic.” As a dance and theater photographer, his subjects often are the people in the spotlight, those who love having their photos taken, but he also shoots a lot of the people behind the scenes or just everyday people at a protest. He doesn’t need to manipulate the scene to make them look beautiful; he sees the beauty that is already there, and knows how to highlight it.


I’ve been photographed by JJ on a couple occasions and can attest, he makes you feel comfortable, even when you have to keep perfectly still while staring into a flashlight for seconds at a time in an otherwise unlit room. (Really. We did this. For a couple hours. For a light-painting series that he was working on.)


That comfort is the basis for our photogenic-ness, that everyone should feel good about being photographed. He writes in his online manifesto, “People are beautiful when they’re finding joy in life, being kind to others, and enjoying themselves. Of course the photo will be stronger if you’ve nailed the lighting, composition, focus etc… but people look beautiful in pictures if they are comfortable and happy, and if you’ve caught them at just the right moment. That’s all there is to it.”


“I know that everyone’s photogenic, but […] I need help in order to keep proving it.”
JJ wants to change the way people think about his work. He wants to grow a community supported model of photography, where friends, fans and colleagues can contribute financially to JJ Tiziou Photography. It’s a different way of thinking about photography, seeing it as a form of public art, art supported in part by everyone who enjoys it.


Financial support from his base will allow JJ to do more of the community-based photography he loves and for which he is known. According to JJ, “If I follow the standard commercial photography models, I end up photographing only the things that the broader market values, and that doesn’t match up with my values. One of my goals is to provide ammunition for positive social change, by creating compelling images of everyday people engaged in creating positive communities through their art and activism, and by sharing them broadly online, to allow them to share their mission.”


You can subscribe and donate monthly or contribute per photo download. It keeps us all involved in the process of JJ’s work and allows JJ to keep taking so many community photos. JJ’s been investing in his communities for years; this is a chance for his communities to invest in him.


Next up for JJ… he’s heading down to North Carolina in April to teach a workshop on Visual Storytelling for Activists at The Stone House. He’s hoping to first head to Florida to document a march organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers – an organization fighting for human rights in the agricultural industry that JJ has been supporting with his work since 2003. (Maybe you can help him get there by chipping in at http://community.jjtiziou.org?)


The HPM shoots just happened this past weekend, and JJ says they were amazing – but people can still sign up to be involved with the future evolution of the project.


-Karina Kacala

First Personalities is a series on the First Person Arts Blog where we check up on and catch up with past Festival and Salon presenters and participants.

Perhaps you saw Daniel Heyman’s work last Fall during our Festival at the “Shelter” exhibit, or perhaps you’re planning on seeing him at our upcoming event with Philagrafika at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, “Warning: Graphic Content.” If you have seen him around town, you’ve likely caught just a glimpse, a blur, a zooming in your peripheral vision because, like so many of our artists, Daniel is always on the move, making and showing his art. (For a quick rundown of where else you might mind him and/or his art in March and April, from The University of the Arts to the Pennsylvania Fine Art Academy and more, check out his upcoming exhibition schedule here.)


If this is your first introduction to Daniel’s work, then welcome. From gallery installations to watercolors to gouache on nishinoushi paper, he is bound to have a medium and a body of work that appeals to you. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself transfixed by them all like I was. Often adding whimsically arranged text to his captivating and engaging portraits, he uses them to tell stories set against the backdrop of controversial world events, like our war in Iraq. Heartbreaking and fascinating, one can’t turn away from the stories he conveys; stories that would otherwise go untold.


See him in person next Tuesday at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute. Get your tickets here.

First Personalities is a series on the First Person Arts Blog where we check up on and catch up with past Festival and Salon presenters and participants.


I think of JJ Tiziou as the unofficial photographer of Philadelphia. A well-known figure among Philly’s artistic and activist communities, JJ is getting some recognition from the big guns, thanks to How Philly Moves. His photographs of Philly dancers will be the basis for a large-scale mural on the parking decks facing I-95 at the Philadelphia International Airport.


I sat down with JJ on Saturday and got the scoop on his latest goings-on. Honestly, it was just an excuse to sit down with a friend whom I don’t see enough! We’ll be focusing on How Philly Moves in today’s post. Look for Part 2 on Friday when we talk about his community supported model of photography and the belief that everyone is photogenic.


“Philly is a city that dances.”
How Philly Moves (HPM) began as a candidate for a Septa-sponsored public art installation in 2008. Collaborating with sculptor James Peniston of Studio 34, JJ put out a call for dancers to join him for community photo shoots. They would dance; JJ would photograph. And the term “dancer” was by no means exclusive. Trained, amateur, professional, social dancing… it was all welcome. Two successful preliminary shoots led to more shoots held during the Philly Fringe in September 2008.


JJ and James’ project was one of five finalists for the Septa commission, but it wasn’t selected. But the excitement around the project – both the photo shoots and resulting exhibition in an empty storefront at 36th and Walnut – made it clear that they were on to something.

A bit later, Mural Arts was embarking on its project of “gateways into the city” and the Deputy Mayor of Transportation had already envisioned the parking decks along I-95 as an ideal canvas. From a national call for artists, four were selected, including JJ (the only Philadelphian in the bunch). In late August 2009, the committee made their selection.


The project is getting started now both on site and in the studio. Surveyors are looking at the surface of the parking garage and figuring out how the non-traditional surface – gaps, ridges, 45 degree angle drops – will translate to the flat fabric that will be painted off-site by the as-yet-to-be-announced mural artist. What will look perfectly in proportion and 2-D from the cars driving down the highway will actually be carefully distorted in 3D rendering software to account for the 3D aspects of the garage surface.


Meanwhile, this weekend brings the first official shoot for the latest iteration of HPM. Over 400 people signed up for the 60 slots at the shoot. The popularity isn’t surprising. As JJ notes, “By the definition of the project, every person [is] perfect for it.” However, choices had to be made. When choosing the dancers, the priority was on capturing a diversity of dancers based on style, age and neighborhood.


The photo shoots are like dance pieces themselves, as JJ moves with and around the photo subject. His volunteers have even gotten in the act, like when some of his assistants jumped in to make the subject – someone more comfortable among the crowd and chaos of the nightclub scene – feel at home.


It’s a different way of shooting, using slower shutter speeds to capture the energy of the movement and where the constant movement means fewer workable frames; you aren’t guaranteed to capture a sharp shot with each take. Sometimes the picture is too blurry, other times it’s too static and then there are the handful of shots when the blurring works for you.


When I asked JJ what his plan is for this weekend, his answer was simple. “Take a lot of pictures.”

“It’s much more than my project…[there's] a big community behind me.”
While JJ is the lead name attached to the project, many people have made the project a success thus far. It goes beyond the big name sponsors, and they are indeed big – Mural Arts, Bank of America, US Airways, the airport, the parking authority, the city itself. It includes the many dancers and volunteers who have participated. When creating the original proposal for Septa, JJ made a call for volunteer help installing the project, expecting a handful of responses. Suddenly he had a forty-person crew pledging to give days of work for free. At the photo shoots, he’s had up to 15 volunteers setting up lights, checking in dancers, and uploading photo files.


And it’s not too late to become involved in HPM. Signing up on the website will keep you in the loop as the project moves forward. JJ definitely wants more photo shoots. An exhibition of photos will be concurrently on exhibit at the airport, offering a space for the images not able to make the mural. The potential exists for satellite murals and other partner projects. JJ sees HPM as constantly evolving, not finished when the mural goes up in late spring 2011. “If the dance community wants to build on this, get involved, tell the city.” HPM is bigger than even a 50,000 square foot mural can cover. It’s a city-wide audience engagement/empowerment project. It advertises the diverse, amazing dance scene in Philly, but it also says, in the words of JJ, “You dance too.” Anyone can participate. Anyone can move. Anyone can dance.


Even JJ. He was most recently a part of Anna Drozdowski’s dance piece at the CEC in the New Edge Mix Performance Series.


Check out Part 2 of our interview next week.


-Karina Kacala

First Personalities is a series on the First Person Arts Blog where we check up on and catch up with past Festival and Salon presenters and participants.



As a First Person Arts intern and a youngin to the organization, I can neither confirm nor deny whether this is definitely a first for us, but I can say it’s surely a testament to the small family feel of the arts world. I am here to report to you today on one First Person Festival artist writing about a book published by, you guessed it, another First Person Festival artist! The two artists are Daniel Mendelsohn and Ben Yagoda, respectively, and, as if the whole situation weren’t sufficiently meta already, Mendelsohn’s article, entitled “But Enough About Me: What Does the Popularity of Memoirs Tell Us About Ourselves,” referenced Yagoda’s latest book, entitled “Memoir: A History.”

Mendelsohn’s article appeared in the New Yorker; other periodicals and newspapers where you might have read him include The New York Times Book Review and New York Magazine; he is also widely anthologized and has authored six books, including his first, the memoir The Elusive Embrace: Desire and the Riddle of Identity. See his website, linked above, for a complete map of his oeuvre.

Mr. Mendelsohn’s article is a fascinating look at the history of confessional memoirs as a departure from chronology oriented autobiographies. It traces some of the major memoir writers of the Western World, starting with St. Augustine’s “Confessions” and brings us right up to writers of today, like the scandalized James Frey who mixed fiction with truth and to tell (what he thought) was a greater truth. Along the way Mendelsohn touches on historical phenomena such as slave narratives, making the personal political long before the phrase was coined by the 20th century feminist movement. Moreover, he provides keen insight into the evolving psychology and motivations of both memoirist and reader throughout the centuries.


Meanwhile, “Memoir: A History” is the ninth book that Mr. Yagoda has either written or co-edited. You can also find him writing about language and writing in publications such as The New York Times Book Review and Magazine, Esquire, and Rolling Stone. Publishers Weekly describes “Memoirs,” released in November 2009, as “a spirited account of a form of writing that since its inception has been one of the most contested and most popular.” It provides an in depth history of memoir writing in the English speaking world, and the truths that their authors are trying to share with their audience.


-J. Rudy Flesher

First Personalities is a series on the First Person Arts Blog where we check up on and catch up with past Festival and Salon presenters and participants.



It’s almost Valentine’s Day and while I’m not the biggest celebrator of the holiday, I am completely charmed by former Salon artist Steve Powers and his Love Letters murals. So why not “Ride the Love Train” this Sunday?


The Love Train is a Mural Arts tour on the El, surveying the 50 murals that make up Powers’ Love Letters. Some are silly – Prepay is on. Let’s talk till my minutes are gone- while others are just darn romantic – Forever begins when you say yes. But the words and images all capture the sweetness and vulnerability of being in love, and that’s something worth celebrating every day.


P.S. There are some other Love Letters events this weekend too, like tonight’s opening of the A Love Letter for You art show at 1226 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia PA from 5:30 until 8:30. Or tomorrow’s book signing with Powers at Exit Skateshop (825 North 2nd Street) from 5-7.

First Person Salon Presenter JJ Tiziou is making big news in Philly today! His photography of Philly dancers will be the basis for an almost 50,000 square foot mural on the parking decks facing I-95 at the Philadelphia International Airport. How Philly Moves builds off of JJ’s piece in the 2008 Philly Fringe Festival, in which dancers of all ages, experience levels and styles came in for a dance/photo session with JJ. They brought the music and the moves; JJ documented it all in typical JJ style.


On March 5-7, you can dance and possibly become a part of the mural. Anyone can join in! Sign up to participate by February 19th on the How Philly Moves website.





JJ isn’t alone in this massive undertaking. He’s partnered with The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Philadelphia International Airport, and the Philadelphia Park Authority.

First Personalities is a series on the First Person Arts Blog where we check up on and catch up with past Festival and Salon presenters and participants.


When I got my blogging assignment this week to cover an illustrator, an author, a TED speaker, a designer and a New York Times columnist and blogger, I thought it was awfully ambitious to be covering so many artists in just one post. Imagine my surprise when it turned out that these are in fact the many hats worn by one very busy and very talented artist. I am writing about none other than Maira Kalman who, in addition to the myriad accomplishments listed above, was an artist in our 2007 First Person Festival, presenting her book “The Principles of Uncertainty,” based on a column she wrote for the New York Times. An illustration from the book is immediately below.


Her next book, “And the Pursuit of Happiness,” will be out in October of this year, based on her New York Times blog by the same name. To find her elsewhere around the web, check out everything from her illustrated edition of Strunk and White’s classic The Elements of Style to her children’s books and New Yorker covers. I also highly recommend the video of TED talk; her humor and storytelling style make me think we should get her out to compete at our next StorySlam in February!

Here’s another illustration; this one is from her illustrated “Elements of Sykle,” illustrating the line “His first thought on getting out of bed—if he had any thought at all–was to get back in again.”
You might ask, with all of that and having already announced her upcoming book release, what else could she be up to. Well, January 15th saw Maira Kalman: Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World) open at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at the University of Pennsylvania. This will run through June 6th and is scheduled to tour in San Fransisco, Los Angeles, and New York. It is the first major museum survey of Maira Kalman’s work and we are thrilled and proud to have it open right here in Philadelphia! Finally, on Wednesday, February 10th at 6:30 PM you will have an opportunity to see Ms. Kalman live at the ICA. Whether you loved her at the First Person Festival in 2007 and want more or are just discovering her now, we hope you’ll attend!


- J. Rudy Flesher