THE RESERVOIR

You are reading the opening line of The Reservoir’s inaugural Opening Lines, a recurring introductory paragraph to start each issue. As with our first, our second issue features seven meaningful conversations and one essay on the politics of image-making. In this issue, Ilona Szwarc tells Ashley McNelis about moving to the States as a Polish teenager and how her experience as the “other” has shaped her approach to creating work about the construction of female identity. Caiti Borruso and Michael J. Dalton II talk about their shared native state, New Jersey. Stanley Woluka-Wanambwa revisits Ruinous Silences, his essay for Jason Koxvold’s book Knives. Jason talks to Shane Rocheleau about photographing angry, disempowered American men. Ben Huff and Karolina Karlic search for truths between myth and reality within their work that depicts foreign places, like Alaska, which Patrice Helmar happens to call home—the complex subject of her conversation with Widline Cadet. Lissa Rivera speaks with her gender-queer muse and partner, BJ Lillis, in 2016 and then again in 2018 about how their ongoing work together has transformed the ways in which they view gender and their own identities. Lastly, Richard Anderson talks to Romke Hoogwaerts about photographing modernity.

After we released Issue One, we were excited by the large response we got from those in the photography community. It was reassuring to hear that others had been feeling a need for a space where we all could come together to discuss our work in relation to what is happening in our world. This isn’t a platform where people are talking about what happened with you-know-who’s latest tweet, although the conversations are largely informed by the concerns that are raised while existing in the current American society. In the meantime, we’ve begun conversations with editors around the world who will help us find compelling international voices which we’ll share in upcoming issues. We want to thank everyone who provided feedback and contributions. If you want to get in touch and tell us your thoughts or ideas, our inbox is waiting for you.

Issue Two was edited by Lindley Warren and Romke Hoogwaerts, designed by Romke Hoogwaerts, editorially assisted by Caroline Goessling and proofread by Julia Anderson.

(previously)
Issue One — Jan. 1, 2018