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Yale MFA Photography 2008


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Published: Jul 15, 2008

(CLICK IMAGES FOR LARGER VERSION)

Through Sept. 6, Gallery 339, 339 S. 21st St., 215-731-1530, gallery339.com

Yale University might conjure up images of heads of state, glee clubs and outrageously expensive tuition. Even though it's a liberal arts school, it might be a surprise that its MFA photography program is one of the most highly thought-of — and highly selective — courses of study for photographers in the world. While it admits just nine students to the intense, two-year program each year, Yale has handed degrees to heavy hitters like Phillip-Lorca diCorcia, David Hilliard and Justine Kurland.

At Gallery 339, you can catch work by recent recipients of the university's degree, including local favorite Sarah Stolfa, whose 2004 breakout portraits ofMcGlinchey's patrons wooed critics and collectors alike. Stolfa joins classmates Samantha Contis, Jen Davis, Bryan Graf, Richard Mosse, Bradley Peters, Sasha Rudensky, Marley White and Suyeon Yun in showing a body of images that often draw from the traditions of documentary photography.

For her new work, Stolfa spent two years traveling the country investigating 21st-century America, and she presents images like Glendale, TX, where a lone figure stands in a field, dirty blanket over his shoulder, watching something — his house? — burn. In contrast, several of White's images convey a sense of strange whimsy as, in one untitled work, what appears to be a collector hunches over empty Tic Tac containers, arranging them in preparation for a photo shoot, while in Untitled (cats), a house cat nuzzles and licks a small ceramic effigy of itself.

Surprising, though, is the overall toned-down feeling surrounding most of the images, since Yale's program is often known for grandly staged, highly conceptual work. Maybe the photographers are reacting to or feeling the credit crunch, or maybe it's just those pesky student loan bills.