Tag Archives: Screened-In Series

Leslie Feinberg: Art in the Teeth of All

Laurie says:

I have tremendous admiration for someone who creates art in spite of everything. And as an artist, especially if they must change their art to adapt to the confines of physical limitations. These photographs from the Screened-In Series were made by Leslie Feinberg, the transgender warrior who died last week.

We posted about Feinberg’s work and life here.

This post is about the art ze created in her serious illness. Ze wrote about it in Casualty of an Undeclared War.

She wrote about the work on the Flicker Series page.

These are the first in a series of photographs, many of which are from my vantage point from behind the screen and windows of my apartment in the Hawley-Green neighborhood of Syracuse, where I live with my spouse Minnie Bruce Pratt. [Syracuse is in New York State, northeast United States].

Illness keeps me home, much of the time in a darkened room. Dawn, dusk and dark are the least painful times for me to make photographs.
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feinberg1
Winter Scene
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I first made photos when I became more disabled. See my flickr profile for my statement about when and why I began making photo art.

I decided right away that I wasn’t going to “take” pictures, I was going to make them. When I could get outside, I would ask permission before making a photo–from loved ones and strangers–and then show them the photo and delete it if they didn’t like it for any reason.

But I have become increasingly confined by illness to home. I can’t ask permission.

So I decided not to use what photographers call “good glass” or to use a telescopic lens. I’ve only used a palm size digital camera for this series.
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feinberg 3
Orange Porch
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And I’ve paid conscious attention to distance, angle, composition, time of day, shadow, blur, manipulation of pixels and other techniques to protect the anonymity of my neighbors.

Alone and with help I have begun posting photos daily, or weekly, to this series. These photographs are my gifts to you for your personal use. All of my photographs are under Creative Commons copyright: attribution/source location, no derivative use, no commercial use.

–Leslie Feinberg
Aug. 26, 2011
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feinberg2
Snow Scene
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There are many ways to tell a story against the odds.