Mikael Levin

Interviews by Brainard Carey

Mikael Levin explores our conceptions of place, identity and temporarily. His photographs are often of commonplace, everyday sites that, while seemingly insignificant in themselves, tie into larger historical events or movements of our times. By way of these places, his photographs form a topography of societal structures, predispositions, influences and memory. A note on the Stono Rebellion image from the artist: “Critical Places is essentially about how the rebellions of the enslaved are remembered (or not remembered) in the landscape. Through my witnessing of these places in my photographs, I am bringing forward how these rebellions still echo in social patterns and economic structures. What we see the case of the Stono Rebellion is the emergence of the trope of the Black man as "feared, violent, irrational.” Other rebellions are early examples of how power controls information, excessive Police violence, the lack of the Black voice in the telling of our history, the minimization of the woman’s roll, and so on and so forth.“ LEVIN, Mikael (b. 1954) Untitled (from Subaqueous). 2018 Gelatin silver print, printed by artist. 2018 Edition of 5 Paper and image size: 19 ½ x 19 ½ inches. LEVIN, Mikael (b. 1954) U.S. Highway 17 at Wallace River, South Carolina. 2020 / The Stono Rebellion. 1739 Gelatin silver print, printed by the artist. 2023 Edition of 5 Paper size: 16 x 20 inches Image size: 14 3/8 x 17 1/2 inches. LEVIN, Mikael (b. 1954) 4th of July. La Grange, Missouri. 2022 / The Lin Uprising. 1849 Gelatin silver print, printed by the artist. 2023 Edition of 5 Paper size: 16 x 20 inches Image size: 14 3/8 x 19 3/8 inches.