A Photographic Life - 195: Plus Ruth Lauer Manenti

In episode 195 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the use of the word photography, the role of photojournalism and the evolution of the photographic agent. Plus this week photographer Ruth Lauer Manenti take's on the challenge of supplying Grant with an audio file no longer than 5 minutes in length in which she answer's the question ‘What Does Photography Mean to You?’ Ruth Lauer Manenti received an MFA from The Yale School of Art in painting and drawing in 1994 and in 2012, she was given a large format camera and taught herself how to use it. Since breaking her neck in a car crash at the age of twenty, she has developed a spiritual life and practice that has propelled much of her photographic work. Gradually she accomplished what she was striving for in drawing and painting, through photography. Her mother was also an artist who left behind a legacy of unknown work and part of Ruth’s determination as an artist is to reward her mother for her efforts and to create a continuum. She was awarded a NYFA grant in photography in 2016 and had a solo exhibition at The Center for Photography in Woodstock, NY in 2020. Her book Alms was exhibited at The Griffin Museum of Photography and Manenti received an Honourable Mention in the 2021 Julia Margaret Cameron Award and 2016 New York Foundation for the Arts in Photography. She lives in the Catskill Mountains in New York with her husband and 3 cats. www.ruthlauermanenti.com Dr. Grant Scott is the the founder/curator of United Nations of Photography, a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019). Podcast music: Written and performed by Dr. Laura Ritchie www.lauraritchie.com © Grant Scott 2022