Zora J. Murff
Born1987 (age 36–37)
Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.
Alma materIowa State University,
University of Iowa,
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Websitewww.zora-murff.com

Zora J. Murff (born 1987)[1] is an American photographer, curator, and educator.[2][3] He is currently based in Fayetteville, Arkansas and teaches photography at the University of Arkansas.[4] Murff's work focuses on social and cultural constructs including race and criminality, and grapples with how photography is used as a technology to perpetuate intentions and desires.[5] His series, Corrections, is a visual exploration of kids in the juvenile criminal justice system in Eastern Iowa.

Life and work

Murff was born in 1987 in Des Moines, Iowa,[6] to an African American family. He studied for a BS in psychology from Iowa State University.[7]

Following his graduation in 2010, took a job as a Tracker for Linn County Juvenile Detention and Diversion Services in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Murff enrolled at the University of Iowa to study photography at the same time. He photographed the children that he worked with, which resulted in Corrections, his final-year BA project, "about a system that too often fails the disenfranchised youth to whom it has a duty of care."[3] The Corrections photo series images were taken from 2013 to 2015. "about a system that too often fails the disenfranchised youth to whom it has a duty of care."[3] The Corrections photo series images were taken from 2013 to 2015, and explores a "contradictory relationship that Murff acknowledges [...], between his effort to build trust with the young people and his position as a tracker to make sure they followed court orders, while securing their willingness to be photographed.”[8][9] He published the work as a monograph in 2015 with Aint-Bad Magazine.[10] Murff has continued to create work about incarceration in America.[11][12][13]

Following his studies at the University of Iowa, Murff enrolled in the MFA studio art program at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.[14][7] In April 2018, he launched his thesis exhibition Re-Making the Mark,[15] a mixture of photography and sculpture focused on the historical impacts of redlining in North Omaha, a Historically African-American neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska. His second monograph Lost: Omaha, includes some work from Re-Making the Mark. His later monograph, "At No Point In Between" also includes work originally contained within his series Lost: Omaha.[16]

Murff began teaching Photography at the University of Arkansas' School of Art in 2018. He is also a co-curator of Strange Fire Artist Collective (formed in 2015) with artists Jess T. Dugan and Rafael Soldi, and curator Hamidah Glasgow.[17] In 2019, he was artist-in-resident at Light Work in Syracuse, NY.[18]

In 2020, Murff was awarded the inaugural Next Step Award from Aperture magazine, Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York, and the 7|G Foundation and, in 2023, Murff was awarded the Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography.[19][20][21]

Publications

  • Corrections. Savanna, GA: Aint-Bad, 2015. ISBN 978-1-944005-01-6. Edition of 450 copies. With a foreword by Pete Brook.[10]
  • Lost: Omaha. Brooklyn, NY: Kris Graves, 2018. One volume in a collection of 10. With an essay by Lisa Riordan Seville.[22] OCLC 1035555819. First edition, 125 copies. First edition (second printing), 100 copies.[23]
  • At No Point In Between. Dais, 2019. ISBN 978-1-7339499-1-0. With an essay by Terence Washington and an afterword by Lisa Riordan Seville. Edition of 155 copies.
  • True Colors (or, Affirmations in a Crisis). Brooklyn, NY: Aperture, 2022.[24] First edition.

References

  1. ↑ "2019 Portfolio Prize Runner-Up: Zora J Murff". Aperture. 2019-04-19. Retrieved 2021-11-29.
  2. ↑ "Photos of Teenagers' Lives in Limbo Between Incarceration and Freedom". Vice. 2015-10-06. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  3. 1 2 3 "Kid criminals: tagged, tracked and cast off by society – British Journal of Photography". www.bjp-online.com. 2015-06-24. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  4. ↑ "Zora J. Murff | Directory | University of Arkansas". fulbright.uark.edu. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  5. ↑ "Between Sound and Citation: Zora J Murff's True Colors". MoMA. 2022-03-02. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  6. ↑ "Aux Rencontres d'Arles, quatre jeunes photographes dans la lumière". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2021-07-05. Retrieved 2021-11-29.
  7. 1 2 Drew, Kimberly; Wortham, Jenna (2021-10-26). Black Futures. Random House Publishing Group. p. 517. ISBN 978-0-399-18115-3.
  8. ↑ "New York Galleries: What to See Right Now". The New York Times. 2019-10-09. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-11-29.
  9. ↑ Fleetwood, Nicole (2020). Captured by the Frame: Photographic Studies of Prisoners. In Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration. Harvard University Press. pp. 87–117. ISBN 9780674919228. JSTOR j.ctv11vcfjs.9.
  10. 1 2 "Zora J. Murff : Corrections". AINT—BAD. 2016-05-06. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  11. ↑ Murff, Zora J. (2017-04-20). "The women who ride for hours to visit loved ones in prison – in pictures". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  12. ↑ "How One Woman's Fight to Save Her Family Helped Lead to a Mass Exoneration". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  13. ↑ "The Corrections: a rare look at America's convicted teens – in pictures". The Guardian. 10 September 2015. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  14. ↑ "Zora Murff: States Project: Iowa". LENSCRATCH. 2015-10-03. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  15. ↑ Zora, Murff (2018). "Re-Making The Mark". DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln.
  16. ↑ "FOCUS ON Zora J Murff". Photograph Mag. 2020-11-10. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  17. ↑ "About". Strange Fire. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  18. ↑ "Announcing the 2019 Light Work Artists-in-Residence". Light Work (Press release). 13 September 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  19. ↑ "Aperture announces Zora J Murff as the recipient of the inaugural Next Step Award". artdaily.com. October 31, 2020. Retrieved 2021-11-29.
  20. ↑ "Announcing Zora J Murff as the Recipient of the Inaugural Next Step Award". Aperture. 2020-10-30. Retrieved 2021-11-29.
  21. ↑ "ICP Infinity Awards to Honor Ming Smith, Joyce Cowin, Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, Poulomi Basu, and Zora J Murff". International Center of Photography (Press release). 9 January 2023. Retrieved 21 Feb 2023.
  22. ↑ "SOLDOUT". + KGP. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  23. ↑ "LOST, Omaha SHIPPED". The Union for Contemporary Art. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  24. ↑ "Zora J. Murff True Colors: (or, Affirmations in a Crisis)". Aperture. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
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