Series 001/03: in conversation with Justine Kurland
“What seems to be this more interesting model, is that maybe, we can all wear different hats? We can advocate for each other and give shows for each other, curate for each other and write for each other, and collect each other’s work."
Justine Kurland is a photographer, collage-artist, educator and curator, living in New York City.
We discuss collage as a metaphor to navigate an inherent desire to break out of hierarchical systems of power, rebuilding an art practice that affirms connection, through collaboration and compromise and the impact of societal changes and perspectives, on the evolution of creative narratives.
Known for her utopian photographs of real and imagined American landscapes and communities amongst the fringe, Justine moves between mediums and embodies a practice that is inclusive and open to change. Justine has published several books including; Girl Pictures, Aperture (2018), Highway Kind, Aperture (2016) and The Train, Mack (2024). Her work is in the permanent collections of institutions, including; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Carnegie Museum, Pennsylvania; Getty Museum, California; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Justine’s series of collages, SCUMB Manifesto (The Society of Cutting Up Mens Books) transforms books by canonized male photographers.
Interview by Emily Nam