Patrick (Bed) from the series He Opened Up Somewhere Along the Eastern Shore , photo by Jason Hanasik, courtesy the artist

Emerging artist and 2009 Aperture Portfolio Prize Runner Up, Jason Hanasik has been gaining acclaim for his body of work He Opened Up Somewhere Along the Eastern Shore. Recently featured on FlakPhoto.com and in Andy Adams and Larissa Leclair‘s 100 Portraits exhibition, Hanasik will also be lecturing about his work and offering a workshop: Contemporary Photographic Practices & Portfolio Development at the Photo Center NW in Seattle.

Hanasik has said of the series, that he utilizes image-making as a wedge to intervene inside Western culture’s traditions and expectations related to masculinity, class, and heroism. This project opens up a space for a counter-narrative to exist, one that focuses on individual experience, vulnerability, and intimacy rather than that which is enforced by the State: an impenetrable unit.

Patrick (Bed), 2007, from the series He Opened Up Somewhere Along the Eastern Shore is available from Aperture as a limited edition photograph.

Artist Lecture:
Friday, February 4, 7:00 pm

Workshop: Contemporary Photographic Practices and Portfolio Development:
Saturday, February 5, 10:00-2:00 pm

Photo Center NW
900 12th Avenue
Seattle WA 98122

Click here to purchase a limited edition of Jason Hanasik work.

2009 Aperture Prize-winner Alexander Gronsky, Untitled, n.d., from the series The Edge

All of us at Aperture Foundation would like to thank everyone who submitted work to the 2009 Aperture Portfolio Prize. This year, Aperture’s editorial and limited-edition print departments—four staff members and three work scholars in all—reviewed over seven hundred portfolios. Our challenge was to select one top prize and five honorable mentions from this overwhelming response. Thus, we are pleased to present Alexander Gronsky’s The Edge/Pastoral as this year’s winner. Congratulations also to Keliy Anderson-Staley, Off the Grid; Alejandro Cartagena, Lost Rivers; Maureen Drennan, Meet Me in the Green Glen; Jason Hanasik, He Opened Up Somewhere Along the Eastern Shore; and Mark Lyon, Landscapes for the People.

Alexander Gronsky’s work, The Edge/Pastoral, will be included in next week’s Slideluck Potshow presentation at Aperture Gallery. Buy tickets now and come get a first look at this year’s Prize winner’s work!