TCF Ep. 465 - Safi Alia Shabaik

Safi Alia Shabaik discovered art and photography at an early age when her mother enrolled her in a pinhole camera class at the California Museum of Science and Industry. She attended UCLA, earning her B.A. in Fine Art with honors. Since then, she has worked as a fashion stylist and photographic documentarian and has lived in both New York and Los Angeles. Post-college, while still in Los Angeles, Catherine Opie became her mentor and taught her the art of large scale color printing in her custom-built darkrooms. While in New York, Safi became fashion stylist, photographic documentarian, personal assistant, travel companion, and confidante to the legendary icon, Ms. Grace Jones, in her personal and public life.  Safi was given free rein to photograph anytime they were together.

Throughout her life, her work has been about identity, persona, subculture and the humanity of all people. Her subject matter moved from the public realm to the private, when she became a caregiver for her father who was beginning to exhibit symptoms of the disease. Personality Crash: Portraits of My Father Who Suffered from Advanced Stages of Parkinson’s Disease, Dementia, and Sundowner’s Syndrome, her most recent series, is a riveting, collaborative body of work that explores the human condition from an intimate perspective, focusing on her father’s journey up until his death. These intense, beautiful black and white images comprise the artist’s highly personal story but also serve as a universal reminder of what it means to be human.

 

Artist Links:

Safi Alia Shabaik

Lauren E. Simonutti

Steven F. Arnold

Listener Intro: Simon-Pierre Tremblay

Senior Wellness Resources:

American Parkinson Disease Association

American Society on Aging

Parkinson's Foundation

Michael J. Fox Foundation

Education Resources:

Tokyo: Explorations in the Metropolis with Ibarionex Perello & George Nobechi

Momenta Photographic Workshops

Focus on the Story Photography Festival

The Candid Frame Newsletter

The Candid Frame Alexa Skill

Lessons from the Street eBook by Ibarionex

Making Photographs: Developing a Personal Visual Workflow

The Candid Frame Flickr Pool

The Candid Frame YouTube Channel

 

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