n this series, I explore my connection to femininity and how women express their identity to the world. As a young girl I was given many instructions on how a woman should act. I spent my life in the well-intentioned disguises taught to me by my mother. I concealed my introverted personality by making sure I always appeared happy and confident, the way I was taught a woman should always behave. I accepted these parameters in hopes that I would be desirable to society, and be happier within myself. The images function as a critique of my own definition of femininity. As women, we use many devices to disguise ourselves. I’m a complicated construct of the rejection and acceptance of society’s definition of femininity. This struggle reveals itself through the collision of the sentimental and the unpleasant within the intimate space of my images. Hidden behind expected social roles, our inner identity can become lost. Through my work, I explore what happens when our masks become so convincing that we no longer recognize ourselves. Utilizing self-portraiture, I am constantly experiencing a “hall of mirrors” effect where it is difficult to distinguish between truth and illusion. I’m confronting the disguises that have become a part of my feminine identity while scrutinizing my own secrets. By creating garments and photographing in the studio, I experience a powerful reclamation. I confront the viewer, the camera, and myself in an attempt to uncover and assert my inner identity underneath years of impersonations.

Emily Wiethorn (b.1991) is an artist and educator based in Cincinnati, OH. She received her MFA in Studio Art from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and her BFA in Photography from Northern Kentucky University. Recently, Emily was the featured cover artist in PDNedu’s “The Fine Art Issue” (Spring 2018), a 2017 SPE Student Award for Innovations in Imaging winner, a 2017 Critical Mass finalist, and a 2017 Texas Photographic Society’s National Photography Award finalist. She was a graduate student presenter at the 2018 SPE National Conference in Philadelphia, PA and panelist at the MWSPE Chapter Conference in Lexington, KY. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, as well as featured online by PDNedu, Lenscratch, Musee Magazine, and PHOTO–EMPHASIS. Through her work, she explores notions of feminine identity, societal constructs of femininity, and self-discovery. Currently, Emily teaches photography at Northern Kentucky University and the University of Cincinnati.

Join For Freedoms at the ICP Museum for a wide-ranging discussion moderated by For Freedoms team member, writer, and Emmy-nominated producer Tanya Selvaratnam with Daughters of the Movement: Gina Belafonte, daughter of Julie and Harry Belafonte; Suzanne Kay, daughter of Diahann Carroll; Stacy Lynch, daughter of Bill Lynch; Hasna Muhammad, daughter of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee; Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz; Dominique Sharpton, daughter of Reverend Al Sharpton; and Keisha Sutton-James, granddaughter of Percy Sutton. The daughters will explore how their shared memories growing up watching their parents at work overlap and intertwine, as did the lives of their parents—activists, artists, politicians, political strategists, religious leaders, and founders of the civil rights movement.This is a free event, but please register in advance. ICP Members have access to preferred seating in our reserved members’ section.RSVP AT https://www.icp.org/events/daughters-of-the-movement-where-do-we-go-from-here.

Deputy Director

This work represents a slice - a little of everything I get paid to do, love to do for myself, and a combination of both. I can't always tell the difference.

Photographer: architecture, portraits, documentary. Pro bono for For Freedoms! Educator: business practices for creatives, digital workflow. Writer: essays, interviews, features.

Nadiya was born in Detroit, MI to a Filipinx immigrant father and a South African mother. She later moved to Virginia, where she received her BFA in Photography & Film in 2014 from Virginia Commonwealth University. Nadiya is currently pursuing an MFA in Art Photography at Syracuse University’s School of Visual and Performing Arts where she is a also Teaching Assistant. Throughout the year, she travels to her respective home countries of South Africa and the Philippines to document her family and places of origin. Her work heavily draws from notions of identity, family, and generational trauma.

The representation of youth and LGBTQ individuals in Serbia is complicated by the political and cultural histories and present-day social conditions. Situated within the Balkans, the country remains highly socially conservative with rampant homophobia and low wages for new graduates and youth. As a result of the Balkan Wars and bombings in the 1990s, the visual representation of Serbia has been highly shaped by photojournalism and reportage, depicting the area harshly. My photographs attempt to provide an alternate mode of representation, one that is not present within the country or elsewhere, of the people and environment.

Gordon Feng received his BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2018. His work has been exhibited at galleries and museums including the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (Boston, MA), Distillery Gallery (Boston, MA), and Griffin Museum of Photography (Winchester, MA). He is also the recipient of the Morton R. Godine Travel Award. He lives and works in Boston, MA .

Thinking, facing and showing fears are ways of freedom.

From inauguration day to hurricane Maria our communities have felt uncertainty. This uncertainty is of a toxic nature, we commemorate natural disasters, march for our lives outside the trump tower, and at the gates of white house came ready to defend a disappearing humanism. Each step we take as activists. Here is the most brief collection of photographs from a certain time in the movement, a movement which continues to grow.

socialist feminist activist, photographer and student of history and ethnography.