{"id":15647,"date":"2022-11-11T14:46:47","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T19:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=15647"},"modified":"2022-11-11T14:46:50","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T19:46:50","slug":"episode-512-michael-lesy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-512-michael-lesy","title":{"rendered":"Episode 512 – Michael Lesy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 512:
\nMichael Lesy<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_512_-_Michael_Lesy.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

“The Wisconsin Death Trip was a holocaust without Jews. It was a shitstorm. And if you don’t acknowledge the shitstorm, you’re not entirely alive. Walker understood that.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photographic historian & writer Michael Lesy<\/a> joins the show to celebrate his amazing new book, WALKER EVANS: LAST PHOTOGRAPHS & LIFE STORIES<\/a> (Blast Books). We get into his friendship with Evans & their shared interest in Lyrical Documentary, why Evans’ last photos were dismissed by academics (even though they are, in fact, amazing), what he learned from writing a mini-biography of Evans for the book, how Evans returned to one of his first cameras \u2014 the Polaroid SX-70 \u2014 in his last year, and what Michael felt seeing his late wife among the final portraits Evans shot. We also get into Michael’s ~50-year career from Wisconsin Death Trip<\/a> to now, how reading the Russians \u2014 especially Turgenev \u2014 turned him into a writer, how he feels about everyone taking pictures on their phones, and the importance of understanding photo history. Plus, we discuss how he taught Literary Journalism at my alma mater, Hampshire College<\/a>, for ~30 years, the audition test he gave his students so they could write their way into his class, why students became much more frail over the decades, and a LOT more. Give it a listen!<\/a> And go read Walker Evans: Last Photographs & Life Stories<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“If you can’t fall down the rabbit hole of a photograph, then you’re just a sterile academic, moving chess pieces around.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n