Faculty

Lauren Walsh

Part-time Assistant Professor

Email
walshl@newschool.edu

Office Location
G - 80 Fifth Avenue

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Profile

I wear a few different hats! Professor, writer, filmmaker, curator, archivist...

My newest book, Conversations on Conflict Photography (2019), focuses on coverage of war and humanitarian crises. It has received acclaim from New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, New York Magazine, LensCulture, The Guardian, ProPhotoDaily, Photo District News, and Yahoo! News among many others.

I'm coeditor of The Future of Text and Image (2012), collected essays on verbal-visual dynamics, and Millennium Villages Project (2016), a photo book examining UN goals to alleviate extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. I'm editor of Macondo, a photo book documenting the long-term conflict in Colombia and published shortly after the peace treaty was announced.

I've published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Photography and Culture, the Romanic Review, the New Republic, the Journal of American History and Nomadikon, among many others, and have pieces in numerous anthologies.

I've appeared on CNN and the BBC, as well as in a number of podcasts, and in the documentary 9/11: Ten Years Later (2011). 

I am also the Director of a photo archive, Lost Rolls America. In 2019, this archive won the award for 'Innovative Use of Archives' from the Archivist Roundtable of New York. Visit the archive: www.lostrollsamerica.com

I have curated photography shows at The Gallatin Galleries in New York City; these exhibitions explore the dynamics between collective memory, history, and photography. 

Broadly speaking, my research focuses on questions of memory and visual media, as well as the politics and ethics of photography. I focus on photojournalism, with a specialty in conflict photography. 

I am also currently co-directing Biography of a Photo, a documentary film on two iconic photos of conflict. That work has taken me to Panama, where I met with President Juan Carlos Varela and to The Hague, where I interviewed Prosecutor Serge Brammertz. See the trailer here: www.biographyofaphoto.com. My short film work includes Valentina's Roll, about a post-WW2 immigrant to the US. 

Finally, I am co-authoring, with Generation Human Rights, a national high school curriculum on visual literacy and photography, with emphasis on hands-on, interactive learning. Meeting core standards, the curriculum teaches a rising generation about the history of photography, the value of personal documentation, the skills needed to be an archivist, and the import of cross-cultural and cross-generational dialogue through the aid of photographs. The curriculum rolls out, free of charge for use across the US, in spring 2021.

Degrees Held

Ph.D., English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University

M.A., English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University

B.A., Comparative Literature, Columbia University

Recent Publications

Books

Conversations on Conflict Photography. London: Bloomsbury, 2019.

Macondo: Memories of the Colombian Conflict. Ed. Lauren Walsh. Madrid, 2017.

The Millennium Villages Project. Coedited with Ron Haviv and Gary Knight. NY: De.MO. 2016.

The Future of Text and Image: Collected Essays on Literary and Visual Conjunctures. Co-edited with Ofra Amihay. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2012.

Selected articles and book chapters

·      “What's the Point of Conflict Photography?” Witness. January 16, 2020.

·      “Picturing the Past.” Macondo. Brizzolis: Madrid, 2017.

·      “The Omni American Author: An Albert Murray Collection.” Hyperallergic. January 23, 2017.

·      Interview with photojournalist Michael Christopher Brown on his 2011 coverage of the Libyan Revolution, Hyperallergic, September 10, 2016. 

·       “The Lost Rolls and the Unreliable Shadow of Memory.” In The New Republic. March 2016. 

·      “Text, Image, Memory: Intermediality in the Work of Péter Nádas.” Hungarian Literature and its Intercultural Contexts: Translation, Cultural Memory, Comparative Scholarship. Eds. András Kiséry, Zsolt Komaromy, and Zsuzsanna Varga. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2016.

·      Translation of “New Tendencies in Jazz” by Albert Murray. (Speech originally delivered in French, 1958. Never before published.) Murray Talks Music. Ed. Paul Devlin. Minneapolis:Minnesota University Press, 2016.

·      "Swimming in the Unreliable Shadow of Memory," introduction to The Lost Rolls by Ron Haviv. Blurb, 2015.

·      “Gender, Art, Perception: Lauren Walsh interviews Siri Hustvedt.” Los Angeles Review of Books. March 24, 2014.

·      “In Memory of Albert Murray.” Los Angeles Review of Books. September 16, 2013.

·      “Inside FSG: An Interview with Boris Kachka.” Los Angeles Review of Books. August 4, 2013.

·      “The Madeleine Revisualized: Proustian Memory and Sebaldian Visuality.” The Future of Text and Image: Collected Essays on Literary and Visual Conjunctures. Eds. Amihay, Ofra and Lauren Walsh. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars, 2012.

·      “Ten Years Later: Re-viewing 9/11’s Suppressed Images.” Nomadikon, “About Images” series. Ed. Øyvind Vågnes. (August 2011).

·      “Murray Riffing on Mann: Variations on a Theme.” Albert Murray and the Aesthetic Imagination of a Nation. Ed. Barbara Baker. Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 2010.

·      “Candide, or Optimism, Dude. The Challenges of Translating Voltaire’s Candide.” Candide at 250: Scandal and Success. Exhibition at The New York Public Library, February-April, 2010.

Performances and Appearances

Recent lectures/appearances/curatorial work. (Also find a list of recent events as well as press connected to my new book here: https://www.laurenwalsh.com)

1. Curator, "Conversations on Conflict Photography," Southeast Museum of Photography, Oct-Dec 2020 (upcoming)

2. Invited Speaker, "Journalism Under Fire," Santa Fe Council on International Relations, Nov 2020 (upcoming)

3. "Five Questions for a Professor" podcast, May 19, 2020

4. "NYU DC Salon Series: A Conversation on the Dangers in Conflict Photography," May 1, 2020

5. Photobook Discussion, hosted by J. Sybylla Smith, April 23, 2020

6. Fronline Club webinar series: Covering Covid19 in NYC, April 22, 2020

7. "Journalism Under Pressure" symposium, NYU, May 10, 2020

8. Conversations on Conflict Photography, Committee to Protect Journalists, March 5, 2020

9. US Embassy in Sarajevo: "A Conversation with Lauren Walsh: Conflict Photography and Media Literacy," February 6, 2020

10. "Conversations on Conflict Photography," Bronx Documentary Center, December 7, 2019

11. "Conversations on Conflict Photography," The Frontline Club, Nov 21, 2019

12.  The New York Times in Conversation with Lauren Walsh, The New School, Nov. 5, 2019

13.  "Conversations on Conflict Photography," NYU, Oct. 16, 2019

14.  Bayeux War Correspondents Festival, book signing, Oct 2019

15. "Conversations on Conflict Photography," Photoville, Sept 2019

16. Curator, "New York State of Mind," The Gallatin Galleries, Sept-Oct, 2019

17.  Visa Pour l'Image, book signing, Sept 2019

18.  Co-Organizer, “Visual Culture in Postwar Society,” conference, Sarajevo, Bosnia, July 6-13, 2019

19. Speaker, Behind the Scenes: Biography of a Photo.” Masterclass at Panama Film Festival, Panama. April 6, 2019

20. Moderator, “Artist Talk with Spencer Platt.” The Westport Arts Center, Connecticut, January 2019

21. Guest speaker, Memory Module festival, Sarajevo March, 2018

22. Exhibition: Lost Rolls America, MOPLA photo festival, Los Angeles, April 2018

23. Invited speaker, “Iconic Images in the Aftermath of Conflict,” Emerging Consequences Symposium, Salem State, MA, November 3-4, 2017.

24. Editor, Lost Rolls America exhibition at Photoville, Brooklyn NY, September 13-24, 2017, and Editor, Millennium Villages Project exhibition at Photoville, Brooklyn NY, September 13-24,2017

25. Invited speaker, Masterclass, “From Photography to Film.” The Sarajevo Film Festival, August, 2017.

26. Keynote, “The Afterlives of Photos in the Aftermath of War.” Why Remember? Memory and Forgetting in Times of War and Its Aftermath,” Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, June 29, 2017.

27. Invited speaker following a screening of The White Helmets, The New School, New York, NY, April 13, 2017

28. Invited guest for podcast on “Photojournalism Today,” by The Rubber Factory art gallery, New York, NY, April 10, 2017.

29. Invited speaker, “Memory in the Time of Disposable Imagery,” SXSW, Austin, TX, forthcoming March 13, 2017

30. Invited speaker, “Biography of a Photo,” Casa Santa Ana Cultural Foundation, Panama, December 16, 2016.

31. Organizer and Moderator of panel. “Conflict and Reconciliation in Colombia,” NYU Gallatin, New York, December 13, 2016.

32. Invited speaker, keynote, “Iconic Images and their Impact on Society—Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,” LDV Vision Summit, New York, NY, May 2016.
33. Invited speaker, Double Take reading series at Apexart, NYC, April 2016
34. Invited speaker, “Albert Murray’s Elaboration and Refinement of Thomas Mann.” Columbia University, February 2016.
35. Invited speaker, "The Nature of Memory and the Design of Images," Pechakucha NYU, February 2016
36. Curator, photo show, “Lost to History: Covering Conflict in the Age of the Eternal Present.” The Gallatin Gallery, New York, NY. September-October, 2015
37.  Organizer and Moderator of “Ethics, Conflicts, and the Photographic Image,” panel with Andrea Bruce, Emma Daly, and Ron Haviv, part of “Human Rights Week” at NYU. New York, NY. September 21, 2015
38.  Invited speaker. “Souvenir, Trophy, Crime: Photography and War in the Digital Age.” Morbid Anatomy Museum. Brooklyn, NY. July 14, 2015
39.  Invited speaker, “Albert Murray: His Life and Work.” Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library. New York, NY. November 13, 2014
40. Invited guest on CNN, New Day Saturday program on “Facebook Controversy and Privacy Concerns.” Interviewed by Alison Kosik and Victor Blackwell. Live broadcast. July 5, 2014
41. Invited speaker, “Practices of Remembrance, Then and Now: The Holocaust and 9/11.” Lifelong Learning Institute, Youngstown, OH. May 20, 2014
42. “9/11 Archives: Of the People, By the People, and For the People?” American Comparative Literature Association: Capitals. New York University, March 20-23, 2014
43. Invited guest on radio program “Trading Fours,” hosted by Jackie Modeste. Topic: Albert Murray. November 17, 2013
44. Invited guest on CNN, New Day Saturday program on “Memory in the Digital Age.” Interviewed by Victor Blackwell and Ana Cabrera. Live broadcast. October 19, 2013
45. Co-organizer and moderator, Encounters of History and Culture in the Napoleonic Era. The New School, New York City, May 8, 2012

Research Interests

• Visual culture; 
• Memory studies;
• War reportage/war photography;
• Photography (ethics, history, critical issues);
• Journalism and social activism;
• Museums in the digital age;
• Social media
• Media and VIsual literacy

Awards And Honors

Selected recent awards--

Educational Development Grant, Photowings, 2020

Innovative Use of Archives, 2019

Cultural Grant, the US Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2019

Curriculum Grant, PhotoWings, 2019

Faculty Award, The New School, 2019

FacultyAward, The New School, 2018

Zolberg Institute Research Award, 2018

New School Opportunity Award, 2017

Current Courses

First Year Seminar

Photojournalism & Urban Crisis