Memory Play with Jennifer McClure
September 12th - October 10th

How can we make pictures about both the feelings and the facts of our lives? How can we re-contextualize an archive and bring it into the present day? How can we express a moment that is no longer with us or a memory that is slowly fading away? What is gained and what is lost in the retelling?

This class will explore several different types of photographs and projects that involve memory—those that are based on memory, those that re-frame memory using family/historical photos, those that preserve or memorialize, and those that document or interpret the loss of memory. We will look at historical and contemporary examples of each of these.

Register on bit.ly/LeicaAkademieUSA_MemoryPlay_March2021

@JMcClurePhoto @LeicaAkademieUSA #LeicaAkademieUSA #LeicaCameraUSA #JenniferMcClure

For nearly a century, Leica has crafted photographic instruments for the people who record history through images, standing together as they expose tragedy and injustice to bring about hope and change.

From Robert Capa bearing witness of the Spanish Civil War to Nick Ut bringing attention to the cruelties of war in Vietnam. Moving to Benedict Fernandez narrating the civil rights protests of the 1960’s, Gilles Peress reporting on the escape of the persecuted in Bosnia to Jürgen Schadeberg chronicling the life of Nelson Mandela. Each with a Leica in their hand to memorialize on film what their eyes were witnessing, offering to the world the opportunity to form public opinions that spark conversations and actions for change.

Humanism is one of our fundamental brand values, honoring the photographers who fight injustice with their cameras as weapons. Today, as yesterday, we devote our space to these photographers to help amplify their stories, to foster conversations for change, and to inspire hope.

As we relive images of yesterday and document the nationwide protests of today, we remember the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr (photographed here by Benedict J. Fernandez in 1967): “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.

Image #1. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the crowd at the United Nations
© Benedict J. Fernandez, 1960s.

Image #2. Untitled (Peace)
© Jim Marshall, 1960s

Image #3. Napalm Girl
© Nick Ut/AP Photo, 1972

Image #4. Los Angeles
© Mathieu Bitton, 2020

Image #5. New York
© Eva Woolridge, 2020

Please Stand with Hong Kongers. 🙏🙏🙏🙏

#Repost @nytimes with @get_repost
・・・
Chanting slogans like “Liberate Hong Kong,” thousands of people in Hong Kong flouted a police ban on Thursday as they gathered to memorialize the Tiananmen Square massacre, a striking display of defiance against Beijing’s tightening grip on the territory.

The public displays of anger and grief took on greater meaning this year amid a push by China to impose broad new security measures that take direct aim at the semiautonomous territory’s antigovernment demonstrations. In what critics see as the government’s latest attempt to curb dissent, Hong Kong on Thursday passed a law making it a crime to mock China’s national anthem.

On every June 4 since 1990, huge crowds in Hong Kong have joined in a vigil to remember the loss of lives, and the loss of ideals, in Tiananmen Square in 1989, when Chinese tanks and soldiers crushed a monthslong protest in Beijing calling for democratic changes to China’s one-party rule.

This year, for the first time, Hong Kong officials banned the annual vigil, in an effort, they said, to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Tap the link in our bio to read the latest in this developing story. Photo by @lamyikfei.