Critical Mass 2020 Print Initiative!

 
The Critical Mass Print Collecting Initiative is back as part of our programming this year! We are so pleased to be offering these images from Matt Eich and Priya Kambli as part of Critical Mass 2020 – all 200 Finalists will receive their choice of a special-edition signed print. Matt and Priya have been the recipients of previous Critical Mass awards, and we are excited to be producing a limited edition number of these images with each of them!

We also want to say a big thank you to our generous sponsors Hahnemühle + Pro Photo Supply, without whom the Critical Mass Print Collecting Initiative would not be possible! We are over-the-moon excited to be printing on Hahnemühle’s Fine Art PhotoRag® 308 Paper for this project and know these images will be so lovely on this gorgeous paper!

©Matt Eich – After the Joplin Tornado (Hymnal), Joplin Missouri, 2011. From the series The Invisible Yoke, Volume IV: We the Free

MATT EICH is a photographic essayist based in Charlottesville, Virginia and an Assistant Professor at the Corcoran School of Art & Design in Washington, DC. His long-form work over the last decade hinges on what could be considered the “human condition”, exploring themes of family, community, faith, race and socio-politics – especially that of the American South and Appalachia. Specific story slants include the effects of the coal industry, opioids, and conservative politics on these rural communities. Matt quietly embeds himself in these stories for the long haul, investing in long-term relationships and placing great importance on empathy. His work illustrates the intimacy and resiliency of his subjects, overshadowing the visual backdrop of poverty or loss.

Matt has exhibited widely, and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Aaron Siskind Fellowship, two Getty Image Grants for Editorial Photography, and the Critical Mass 2017 Rauschenberg Residency award. His work has appeared in multiple publications, including The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harpers, National Geographic and TIME. Eich is a prolific photobook-producer, with some of the best titles (we think!) ever: Carry Me Ohio, Sin and Salvation in Baptist Town and I Love You, I’m Leaving. And – Matt’s latest publishing endeavor just out! Check out The Invisible Yoke – Volume III: The Seven Cities (Sturm and Drang, 2020), edition of 800.

More on Matt Eich’s process and personal history here on Southbound.

©Priya Kambli, Soha (Flour Pattern on Back), 2017 from the series Buttons for Eyes

PRIYA KAMBLI was born in India, migrating to the United States at age 18. She completed her BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Louisiana, and then her MFA in Photography from University of Houston. She has been a Professor of Art since 2000 at Truman State University in Missouri.  

Priya’s experiences as a migrant have shaped much of her photographic practice, pushing her to visually explore issues of cultural identity and expression, the difference between real and constructed memory, and the nuances of genealogy. Her titles of various bodies of work (Color Falls Down, Kitchen Gods,“Mami” (Uncle’s Wife), Buttons for Eyes) are apt signifiers of her personal and cultural history. Priya’s use of everyday kitchen ingredients (such as flour, rice and tumeric) add layers of meaning in the most literal yet ethereal way. She crafts natural light into it’s own language; it somehow becomes the elegant glue holding elements of her collages together. 

Priya was a recipient of a Critical Mass book award, and Color Falls Down was published in 2010. Solo Exhibitions venues include Silver Eye Center for Photography, Center for Photography at Woodstock, Houston Center for Photography, PRC at Boston University, and SF Camerawork. She received the 2018 ADA Collection Award for Women Documentarians and has been added to the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University, and was awarded a fellowship from the Teti Photography Fellow Program in 2019. 

Check out a recent conversation between Priya Kambli and Michael Kirchoff on Catalyst Interviews.