March 2014

Mint Museum Uptown in Charlotte, NC, Offers Works by Women National Geographic Photographers

The Mint Museum Uptown in Charlotte, NC, will present Women of Vision: National Photographers on Assignment, on view from Mar. 29 through July 20, 2014.

The traveling exhibition, presented nationally by The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC), on view at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, DC, until Mar. 9, 2014. In Charlotte, it opens at the Mint on Mar. 29.

“This is the latest example of the Mint’s mission to bring to Charlotte works of art and exhibitions of both national and international importance,” said Dr. Kathleen V. Jameson, President & CEO of the Mint. “We could not be more pleased to bring such beautiful and inspiring work to this city, and we are grateful that the generous sponsorship of PNC makes it possible to host this show at the Mint.”

Women of Vision features nearly 100 photographs highlighting the influential work of 11 award-winning female photojournalists, including moving depictions of far-flung cultures, compelling illustrations of conceptual topics such as memory and teenage brain chemistry, and arresting images of social issues like child marriage and 21st-century slavery. In addition to the photographs, visitors will have an opportunity to learn how National Geographic magazine picture editors work closely with the photographers to select images and tell a story. Video vignettes will present first-person accounts that reveal the photographers’ individual styles, passions, and approaches to their craft.

“The 11 photographers featured in this exhibition are inspirational trailblazers and storytellers,” said Jonathan Stuhlman, the Mint’s Senior Curator of American, Modern, and Contemporary Art. “Their photographs tell compelling stories of our planet and its people, from the savannahs of Botswana to the war-torn streets of Libya and Afghanistan; the beaches of the Jersey Shore to the rainforests of New Guinea.”

The exhibition will be presented concurrently with another extraordinary photography exhibition organized by The Mint Museum. Bearing Witness: The New York Photo League and Sonia Handelman Meyer is on view at Mint Museum Randolph through June 29, 2014. It includes approximately 90 photographs by Photo League members, many from the Mint’s permanent collection, and contains a particular focus on the work of Meyer, currently a Charlotte resident. The exhibition is made possible through generous support from the MetLife Foundation, with additional support from the Young Affiliates of the Mint.

“The photos are a powerful reminder of the human spirit and a testament to the passion and remarkable work of these photographers,” said Weston Andress, Western Carolina regional president of PNC Bank and a member of the Mint’s Board of Trustees. “We know art enriches our lives, strengthens communities, and brings joy to many, and that’s why PNC is pleased to help bring this exhibition to Charlotte.”

The exhibition was curated by National Geographic Senior Photo Editor Elizabeth Krist and includes these 11 extraordinary photographers:

MacArthur Fellow Lynsey Addario is widely admired for her conflict coverage in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Darfur, and the Congo. Featured assignment work includes images that document human rights issues, particularly the plight of women and families in conflict zones.

Kitra Cahana explores important social, anthropological, and spiritual themes. Born in Miami but raised in Canada and Sweden, Cahana earned her BA in philosophy from McGill University and her MA in visual and media anthropology from the Freie Universitat in Berlin. She has won a first prize from World Press Photo, a TED Fellowship and the ICP Infinity Award. Her work includes images taken on assignment for NGM’s feature on the teenage brain and culture in the United States.

Jodi Cobb has worked in over 65 countries and produced 30 National Geographic magazine stories, including the acclaimed “21st-Century Slaves.” Cobb was the only photographer to penetrate the geisha world, which resulted in her Pulitzer Prize-nominated book, “Geisha: The Life, the Voices, the Art.” She was also the first photographer to document the hidden lives of the women of Saudi Arabia and among the first to travel across China when it reopened to the West. She has received numerous accolades, including repeated honors from the National Press Photographers Association, Pictures of the Year and World Press Photo as well as the 2012 Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism. Cobb was the first woman to be named White House Photographer of the Year.

Diane Cook is a leading landscape photographer whose work is in numerous collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego; and the L.A. County Museum in Los Angeles. Cook often works collaboratively with her husband, Len Jenshel. Their National Geographic magazine stories have covered New York’s elevated park, the High Line; Mount St. Helens; Green Roofs; the Na’Pali Coast of Hawaii; the US-Mexico border; and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Carolyn Drake is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, the Lange Taylor Documentary Prize, and a World Press Photo award, and she was a finalist for the Santa Fe Prize. She has spent years documenting the cultures of Central Asia and life in western China’s Uygur region.

A Knight Fellow and passionate advocate for visual arts education, Lynn Johnson has covered a wide range of assignments for the magazine, producing images for 21 stories on subjects including vanishing languages and challenges facing human populations in Africa and Asia. Johnson has also participated in photo camps in Chad, Botswana and the Pine Ridge reservation. She has received several awards, including the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for Coverage of the Disadvantaged.

Beverly Joubert is a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, filmmaker, photographer, and co-founder of the Big Cats Initiative. Together with her husband, Dereck, she has been documenting the plight of African wildlife for more than 30 years. Her images have appeared in more than 100 magazines worldwide, and the Jouberts have co-authored several books and scientific papers. They have produced more than 25 television documentaries, and their 2011 feature film “The Last Lions” reached more than 350 million people worldwide. Their films have garnered seven Emmys, a Peabody, Panda Awards, and the World Ecology Award. The Jouberts were inducted into the American Academy of Achievement, and for their conservation work in Botswana they received the Presidential Order of Merit.

Erika Larsen studies cultures with strong ties to nature. She published a 2009 story in the magazine on the Sami reindeer herders of Scandinavia, an assignment which grew out of her own documentary work for which she lived and worked within the culture for over four years. Larsen received a BFA and an MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology and is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship and a New Jersey State Arts Council Fellowship. Larsen’s photography has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery and the Sami Ájtte Museum in Sweden.

Stephanie Sinclair’s decade-long project on child marriage has earned global recognition, including three World Press Photo awards and prestigious exhibitions on Capitol Hill, at the United Nations and at the Whitney Biennial in New York. Her images also include scenes from Yemen and from polygamist families in the Fundamentalist Church of the Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

A celebrated figure in the photographic community, Maggie Steber has worked in more than 62 countries and her images have earned several prestigious honors, including the Leica Medal of Excellence and World Press Photo awards. National Geographic magazine has published her essays on Miami, the African slave trade, the Cherokee Nation, sleep, soldiers’ letters, Dubai, and a story on the science of memory that featured a touching sidebar on Steber’s mother, Madje, and her struggle with dementia. Steber has worked in Haiti for over 25 years and has a monograph published by Aperture Foundation Inc. entitled “Dancing on Fire.” She is a member of Facing Change Documenting America, a group of civic-minded photographers covering important American issues.

Amy Toensing began her prolific career covering the White House and Congress for The New York Times. She has created portraits of unforgettable people around the world while shooting magazine stories in Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico, the Jersey Shore, and Tonga. For the past three years, she documented Aboriginal Australia for a story that was published in the June 2013 issue of the magazine. Toensing is also committed to teaching photography to kids in underserved communities. She has worked with Somali and Sudanese refugees in Maine and Burmese refugees in Baltimore, and she recently traveled to Islamabad to teach young Pakistanis.

Founded in 1888, the National Geographic Society is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. With a mission to inspire people to care about the planet, the member-supported Society offers a community for members to get closer to explorers, connect with other members, and help make a difference. The Society reaches more than 450 million people worldwide each month through National Geographic and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; live events; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 10,000 scientific research, conservation, and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geographic literacy. For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.

This exhibition is supported by PNC and The PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding from The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (www.pnc.com). PNC is one of the nation’s largest diversified financial services organizations providing retail and business banking; residential mortgage banking; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management; and asset management.

As the oldest art museum in North Carolina, with one of the largest collections in the Southeast, The Mint Museum offers its visitors inspiring and transformative experiences through art from around the world via innovative collections, groundbreaking exhibitions, and riveting educational programs. The Mint Museum is a non-profit, visual arts institution comprised of two dynamic facilities: Mint Museum Uptown and Mint Museum Randolph.

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Museum at 704/337-2000 or visit (www.mintmuseum.org).

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