Jennifer Sakai & Philip Taplin
Curated by Iwan Bagus
View a selection of Photographs from Gallery Proposal winners, Jennifer Sakai and Philip Taplin.
Exhibition (Online and In Person)
March 4th - April10th
Visit the Gallery on Saturdays and Sundays from
1-4pm to see the exhibit in person.
Gallery Reception
Saturday March 19th 4-6pm
Virtual Artist Talk
Tuesday, March 15th, 7pm
Curator
Iwan Bagus
Iwan Bagus was born in Jakarta, Indonesia. He began his career in front of the camera, working as a model in South East Asia for over 10 years. While modeling, he received a B.A. in Economics in Jakarta. Soon after he moved to Washington, DC to earn his M.S. in Engineering from George Washington University and M.A in Film Production from American University.
Iwan’s work has been shown at the National Geographic Society, The Corcoran-Washington Performing Arts Society, The Carnegie Institute-DC, The Center for Fine Art Photography-Colorado, The Museum of America Organization States, Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, H-Gallery Bangkok, Times Square-NYC, among others. His photography exhibitions have been reviewed by the Washington Post, Nation Public Radio affiliate WAMU, Washington City Paper, Voice of America, and others. Iwan has worked in New York, Los Angeles, DC, and Indonesia for exclusive commercial clients and magazine. He has also shot for non-profit organizations in DC and New York. Iwan uses his extensive experience in front of the lens to help direct models, actors, and portrait subjects. He has also served as a juror in photography competitions.
Currently, Iwan is the Head of Photography concentration at the University of the District of Columbia, and a Professorial Lecturer at American University. He also gives private photography lessons for the local community. Please feel free to contact him for further info. When not on a photo shoot or teaching, Iwan spends his time cooking up spicy creations for his extended family, gardening, and playing with Ixan & Imran – two Salukis, and Ilian – the Bengal.
Jennifer Sakai
Hillover Road
Jennifer Sakai is a fine art photographer, curator and professor who resides in Washington D.C. She received her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Fine Art Photography, and her BFA in fine art design in Cambridge Massachusetts. She has taught at The Park School of Communication at Ithaca College, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond Virginia, The Corcoran School of Art and Design, George Washington University, and the MFA program at American University.
Jennifer is curator of ‘Border Wall’ at the Katzen Museum late Fall 2020, and ‘The Gifts of Tony Podesta’ at the Katzen Arts Center of American University Winter 2019.
Ms. Sakai is currently on the Board of Directors for Transformer Gallery in Washington, D.C. She has served on committees for IMF/World Bank Photographic Society, juried for ExposedDC and VCU School of Art thesis program, received distinction from FotoWeek DC in the Fine Art Photography category and has presented numerous curatorial and professional lectures.
Ms.Sakai has shown at The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., The Anderson Gallery in Richmond, Virginia, Addison Ripley Fine Art, Washington, D.C., Lightwork Gallery, Syracuse New York, Rubenstein Arts Center at Duke University and the Handwerker Gallery in Ithaca, NY. Jennifer is a selected artist for the Bonfire Air Artist Residency in 2022.
Her artistic practice examines the landscape as reflection for interior moments in life, often separated by years yet unraveling and overlapping to inform new narratives. Images chronicle how the topographies and space we inhabit influence and resonate long after we pass through them; and how one can be mesmerized by a place even in its absence.
She has published in American University Press, Musée Magazine, Fotofilmic, Float Magazine, F-Stop Magazine, Color Tag Magazine and The Tiny Seed Literary Journal. Jennifer has been a selected artist for Charcoal Publishing Chico Review.
Ms. Sakai currently lectures in the MFA program of American University and is curating a photography exhibit for Katzen Museum to open Summer 2022.
She is a multiple recipient of a DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Grant for her photographic practice.
https://www.jennifersakai.com/
Find her on Instagram
Philip Taplin
AmerIcons
Philip Taplin is a longtime fine art photographer and resident of Washington, D.C. His work focuses on commercial roadside architecture of the mid-20th century. His photographs of iconic American structures – buildings in the shape of the products they sell – has spanned more than 30 years.
His work has been exhibited at numerous galleries and has received both regional and national awards. His photographs have also been acquired for private and corporate collections, including organizations working to preserve and promote folk art.
Phil earned the first Master's Degree in Photojournalism awarded by the University of Minnesota. He also received advanced training at The Maine Photographic Workshops, Santa Fe Workshops, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and Center for Photography at Woodstock.