See: Imogen Cunningham at SAM
The photographer who established her career in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood circa 1913 and wrote a manifesto on why women belong in photography went on to dedicate her life to the art form. In this dazzling retrospective, the first in over 35 years, more than 200 of Cunningham’s photographs have been assembled. They showcase her trajectory as an artist, from her early days marked by pictorialism to the sharp-focus avant garde work that defined her time in San Francisco. Beyond works created by the artist, the retrospective also brings together works by female artists like Ruth Asawa and Martha Graham, as well as photographs from other members of Group f/6 that she co-founded with Ansel Adams. Cunningham once said “in order to make a good photograph, you have to be enthusiastic. That is, you have to think about it, like a poet would.” This show reveals the lyrics behind the lens, the intellect that captured it, and the community that inspired and supported Cunningham’s singular eye. The exhibition is on display now through February at SAM.
Listen: Laura Marling at Neumos
The British songstress has been making gloriously haunting music since 2008, and continues to refine and uncover new and striking pop-folk sounds. In her first Seattle appearance in years, Marling will be gracing the stage at Neumos to serenade the crowd with tracks from her last album (and perhaps a few new tunes from her upcoming one as well) on this solo tour that is not to be missed. Catch Marling on Saturday, December 11 at Neumos.
Watch: Iranian New Wave Film Chess of the Wind at Siff
Director Mohammad Reza Aslani’s Chess of the Wind was publicly screened one time in 1976 before being banned and then subsequently lost for decades before the film’s negative mysteriously turned up in a junk shop. Melding the influences of European modernism, gothic horror, and classical Persian art, Aslani “crafts an exquisitely controlled mood piece that erupts in a stunningly subversive final act in which class conventions, gender roles, and even time itself are upended with shocking ferocity.” Echoing themes of the ever popular Succession-esque cautionary tale, heirs of a family fortune vie for control of the matriarch’s estate, and webs of greed, violence, and betrayal ensue. The film opens at Siff on December 10. Showtimes are available here.