Writing Archives - Katherine Oktober Matthews

Publication of my essay on Maija Tammi’s work in Contact Sheet

August 19, 2018
Writing

This year's annual publication by Light Work, Contact Sheet, features the work of artist-in-residence Maija Tammi, together with my essay on her work. It covers a dead rabbit, living cancer cells, and immortal creatures.

No News Is Good News

July 12, 2018
Arts & Cultural Analysis, Writing, Writing Highlights

“Do you want to go to World Press Photo and feel bad about everything?” TheWorld Press Photo exhibit, featuring the greatest hits of misery, is no exception to the rule that no news is good news.
(Riding the Dragon, 2018)

Brilliant Failures and Second Chances

April 11, 2018
Essays, Support for Developing Artists, Writing

"To become better equipped for a world of risk and uncertainty is not to neutralize or learn to enjoy failure, but to learn how to cope with it afterward."
—Katherine Oktober Matthews (Riding the Dragon, 2018)

The Overview Effect

December 24, 2017
Arts & Cultural Analysis, Writing, Writing Highlights

"Rather like the fish who doesn’t realise he’s swimming in water, our relationship with our own terrain is easy to not perceive due to its ubiquity."
(GUP Magazine, 2017)

Insight on the Role of a Photography Editor

November 7, 2017
Insights, Support for Developing Artists, Writing

“A well-edited work, much like a well-designed product, doesn’t just look natural – it feels inevitable.”
—Katherine Oktober Matthews (Life Framer)

Nothing Is Forever Except Everything

October 9, 2017
Arts & Cultural Analysis, Writing, Writing Highlights

"We are obsessed with all that is fleeting, and our chosen means of showing this appreciation is through capture."
(GUP Magazine, 2017)

The Fun of Photobooks

April 26, 2017
Reviews, Writing

Modern photobooks are all too often the insecure product of an oversaturated marketplace. With so many photographers in the world, many of whom have the idea that publishing a book will confirm their status or identity as a ‘real’ photographer,…

The Entrepreneur’s Dilemma

July 15, 2016
Essays, Support for Developing Artists, Writing

“Let’s be clear about this: working for yourself doesn’t eradicate the problem of worker exploitation. You’ve just replaced an external boss with an internal one. You’re a horse, cracking its own whip.”
—Katherine Oktober Matthews (Medium, 2016)

A Love Affair with Arles

July 11, 2016
Creations, Insights, Writing

“[Arles] is the magic of pulling many, many creators into a playground designed specifically for them. A playground, we remember, is one of the first and most sacred of places for meeting on equal ground with peers, and learning, joyously.”…

Come Hither: A Reframed Means of Seduction

May 15, 2016
Arts & Cultural Analysis, Writing, Writing Highlights

“In one sense, it’s business as usual: a man has photographed a young girl provocatively. In another sense, [Playboy] may have come to recognize that, in modern times, perhaps the most desirable woman is one who is in control over her own image.”
(GUP Magazine, 2016)