Artist, critic, writer, curator, author, and workshop teacher, Efrem Zelony-Mindell and I talk about their book Primal Sight, pub by Gnomic Book, and how this book about a modern examination of black and white photography lead to Efrem's latest book, Witness, which examines radical forms of expression and affection through the works of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists. We also have an extensive conversation about teaching professional practice and how Efrem's ideas about the ways we make art intersect with our responsibility to help promote others.


https://www.efremzm.com


Efrem Zelony-Mindell is a white non-binaray artist. Some of their curatorial endeavors include group shows: n e w f l e s h, Are You Loathsome, and This Is Not Here. They have written about art for FOAM, Unseen, DEAR DAVE, Rocket Science, SPOT, and essays for artists’ monographs. Their first book n e w f l e s h, published by Gnomic Book and shortlisted for the Paris Photo Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Award 2020, looks to study queerness beyond the body and is in the collections at 50 libraries and archives around the world. Efrem's second book Primal Sight, also published by Gnomic Book, is a survey of contemporary black-and-white photography and includes the work of 146 international artists. They exist in New York, unless they're elsewhere.