Zsolt Alapi: Underground Women Writers

Underground was truly the key word in the title of Zsolt Alapi's talk, as he introduced us to a world of women writers few of us were familiar with. Alapi, editor/publisher of Siren Song Publishing and the literary journal The Loose Canon, is passionately involved in this non-mainstream, edgy writing world and he provided us with both history and context to what is going on today. I'll post his photos of some of the principle participants in this movement as well as the Powerpoint summaries of their career highlights which I copied by camera rather than by pen.

Diane di Prima whose life Alapi presented in great detail, was really the forerunner of the women who followed her. She lived her life at the center of the Beat and psychedelic revolutions.

Di Prima with Amiri Baraka, formerely known as Leroi Jones

Di Prima's memoir of the Beat years gives a gritty portrait of the times

Di Prima's autobiography talks in depth of her life

Laura Hird, the Scottish novelist and short story writer, who publishes the work of young writers

Heidi James is one of the young writers showcased by Laura Hird

President Leslie Cohen, before the lecture, with the McCord Museum's tech guy, Dave Carmichael who makes all the presentations possible. Thanks Dave!

Jackie Cytrynbaum

Jackie Cytrynbaum, fine art photographer, gave last Tuesday's talk, "The Camera is My Paintbrush", and for those who may have doubted that photography is fine art, I am sure Jackie's work has won them over. About her many series, she explained to us not only her process but also the emotional roots of her complex and layered images.

Before the lecture -- Shirley Cohen (left), Annette Wolfstein-Joseph (right) who organized the talk, and (center, with the camera) Jackie Wloski, soon to be part of the WASM blog team

Layered images composed from several negatives, and based on archival family photographs in The Continuum series

Eikoh Hosoe was one of the photographers who influenced Jackie's decision to do a series of nudes

Here are some images from the stunning series Music in the Metro

From Jackie's Intimate Florals series, inspired by the photographs of Karl Blossfeldt

From the series Spaces In-Between

Jackie Cytrynbaum and Annette Wolfstein-Joseph