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Ward Long
Summer Sublet
Swimmers
First Coast Resonator
Stranger Come Home
More Projects
Studio News
Works Cited
CV
Instagram
Fourteen prints from Summer Sublet are on exhibit at gallery Commune in Tokyo.

ワード ロング展 サマー サブレット
Ward Long Exhibition “Summer Sublet”

2021年 9月24日(金) – 10月10日(日)

会場: gallery commune

I talked about les archétypes d’une relation homme/femme, la masculinité toxique, et mes colocataires with Fisheye Magazine. They were kind enough to translate my  English answers into French, so if you're bilingual, you can read it twice.

I've got an interview up with Nowhere Diary about process, practice, and a particular bookmaking assignment.
The Special Edition of Summer Sublet  is available from Deadbeat Club.

Each book is signed and numbered.
8" x 10" Archival Pigment print on cotton rag paper made by the artist of photograph from the book also signed, numbered.
All of this comes in a specially designed foil stamped slipcase with tipped in photograph.
Very limited edition of only 20.

Corpo Opaco interviewed me about Summer Sublet. Take a look!
My little library was featured on Pier 24 Photography's Show Us Your Shelfie. They asked three questions:

3. What photobook do you wish was in your library?
Long Life Cool White by Moyra Davey.
My little library was featured on Pier 24 Photography's Show Us Your Shelfie. They asked three questions:

1. What is the first photobook you purchased for yourself?
Southern Photographs by William Christenberry.
My little library was featured on Pier 24 Photography's Show Us Your Shelfie. They asked three questions:

1. What is the most recent photobook you pulled off of your shelf?
The Notion of Family by LaToya Ruby Frazier.
Summer Sublet is now available from Deadbeat Club Press.
The Quality of Quiet, installed as a part of "Social Studies" at Parts & Labor. Oakland, November 2019.
The Quality of Quiet, installed as a part of "Social Studies" at Parts & Labor. Oakland, November 2019.
The Quality of Quiet, installed as a part of "Social Studies" at Parts & Labor. Oakland, November 2019.
"The Harvest" from Lone Doe Oracle, installed at the Houston Center of Photography as a part of "Profound Movement," curated by Shane Lavalette.
"The Harvest" from Lone Doe Oracle, installed at the Houston Center of Photography as a part of "Profound Movement," curated by Shane Lavalette.

I did a little interview about my practice with Saltbox Studio. Take a look at their tumblr (which might be blocked?), or read it below:


SB: Introduce yourself. Where are you from? What is your background in photography?


WL: I grew up in Los Angeles, went to school in North Carolina, spent time in lots of places, and now I live in Oakland. I have a book called Summer Sublet about moving and living here, and it's coming out later this year with Deadbeat Club. My relationship with photography started when I stopped going to class in college and started working my way through the TR.654s in the library. After working weird jobs and shooting on my own for a long time, I studied picture-making with my heroes at the Hartford Art School. Now I’m grateful to be part of a vibrant and dedicated community of photographers in the Bay Area.

SB: When creating a body of work, does the idea or the images come first and when do you know your work is done?


WL: For me, it’s more about how the pictures and the ideas finally find each other—there are so many missed connections! There’s a lot of less-than-organized enthusiasm at the beginning. When I’m out taking pictures, it’s usually before I know what I’m seeing. I start writing to figure out what I’m thinking, and I’m always reading too many books at once. It comes together later as I make work prints, paste them into notebooks, mock up layouts, and hang things on the wall. Some projects develop slowly, but sometimes a trip or an experience cracks me right open and I need to shoot and write right away until I understand what exactly broke my heart.


It’s difficult to know when a body of work is complete. On one hand, it’s done when there’s no challenge left. It’s done when you start repeating yourself. It’s done when you know what you’re doing. On the other hand, it’s not done until you’re honest with yourself, until it’s not about you anymore, until the work has a logic all its own. It’s not done until someone else sees it, takes it in, and breathes a whole new life into it. It’s not done until it’s true.






SB: Why photography? What about the medium allows you best to tell your story?


WL: Taking pictures is an attempt to hold on to things that can’t stay—to the light, to the people in the frame, to the thoughts in your head. It’s impossible, but there’s a real grace in the gesture. Dreams are beautiful because they are brief, and photography is a way for me to embrace the loss of time and the mystery of vision.


Book coming soon from Deadbeat Club. Click here for a preivew.
The Harvest, from Lone Doe Oracle has been selected by juror Shane Lavalette to be a part of the Annual Exhibition at the Houston Center for Photography.
I'm pleased to announced that I have been selected by the Magenta Foundation as one of the winners of Flash Forward 2019, a competition for emerging photographers. Congrats to all of the other winners, and a big thanks to the jury.
In tribute to one of my favorites, and to the very idea of the artist as a heroic figure of legendary reputation, I have made a blanket.
Between my first and second years of grad school, my advisor challenged me to make a zine every month for a year. I picked a topic on Day 1, shot until Day 29, and then had a day to edit and layout. It was an extremely helpful exercise, and after school I made this mammoth compilation of all 12.
Between my first and second years of grad school, my advisor challenged me to make a zine every month for a year. I picked a topic on Day 1, shot until Day 29, and then had a day to edit and layout. It was an extremely helpful exercise, and after school I made this mammoth compilation of all 12.
Annual Exhibition, Houston Center of Photography, 2018.
Pier 24 Photography has acquired Swimmers and Stranger Come Home.
Artist talk for the University of Hartford Photo MFA.
Houston Center of Photography, 2017.
Lone Doe Oracle, a card reading performance and collaboration with Annie Danis.
Over The Fence installed as a part of Home at the SFO Museum.
Over The Fence as a part of Home at the SFO Museum.
I organized this show at Baxter St CCNY in 2016.
First Coast Resonator at Baxter St CCNY's Self-Published Zine Fair, curated by Anouk Kruithof.
First Coast Resonator in good company at Arcana Books in LA.
Fourteen prints from Summer Sublet are on exhibit at gallery Commune in Tokyo.

ワード ロング展 サマー サブレット
Ward Long Exhibition “Summer Sublet”

2021年 9月24日(金) – 10月10日(日)

会場: gallery commune

I talked about les archétypes d’une relation homme/femme, la masculinité toxique, et mes colocataires with Fisheye Magazine. They were kind enough to translate my  English answers into French, so if you're bilingual, you can read it twice.

I've got an interview up with Nowhere Diary about process, practice, and a particular bookmaking assignment.
The Special Edition of Summer Sublet  is available from Deadbeat Club.

Each book is signed and numbered.
8" x 10" Archival Pigment print on cotton rag paper made by the artist of photograph from the book also signed, numbered.
All of this comes in a specially designed foil stamped slipcase with tipped in photograph.
Very limited edition of only 20.

Corpo Opaco interviewed me about Summer Sublet. Take a look!
My little library was featured on Pier 24 Photography's Show Us Your Shelfie. They asked three questions:

3. What photobook do you wish was in your library?
Long Life Cool White by Moyra Davey.
My little library was featured on Pier 24 Photography's Show Us Your Shelfie. They asked three questions:

1. What is the first photobook you purchased for yourself?
Southern Photographs by William Christenberry.
My little library was featured on Pier 24 Photography's Show Us Your Shelfie. They asked three questions:

1. What is the most recent photobook you pulled off of your shelf?
The Notion of Family by LaToya Ruby Frazier.
Summer Sublet is now available from Deadbeat Club Press.
The Quality of Quiet, installed as a part of "Social Studies" at Parts & Labor. Oakland, November 2019.
The Quality of Quiet, installed as a part of "Social Studies" at Parts & Labor. Oakland, November 2019.
The Quality of Quiet, installed as a part of "Social Studies" at Parts & Labor. Oakland, November 2019.
"The Harvest" from Lone Doe Oracle, installed at the Houston Center of Photography as a part of "Profound Movement," curated by Shane Lavalette.
"The Harvest" from Lone Doe Oracle, installed at the Houston Center of Photography as a part of "Profound Movement," curated by Shane Lavalette.

I did a little interview about my practice with Saltbox Studio. Take a look at their tumblr (which might be blocked?), or read it below:


SB: Introduce yourself. Where are you from? What is your background in photography?


WL: I grew up in Los Angeles, went to school in North Carolina, spent time in lots of places, and now I live in Oakland. I have a book called Summer Sublet about moving and living here, and it's coming out later this year with Deadbeat Club. My relationship with photography started when I stopped going to class in college and started working my way through the TR.654s in the library. After working weird jobs and shooting on my own for a long time, I studied picture-making with my heroes at the Hartford Art School. Now I’m grateful to be part of a vibrant and dedicated community of photographers in the Bay Area.

SB: When creating a body of work, does the idea or the images come first and when do you know your work is done?


WL: For me, it’s more about how the pictures and the ideas finally find each other—there are so many missed connections! There’s a lot of less-than-organized enthusiasm at the beginning. When I’m out taking pictures, it’s usually before I know what I’m seeing. I start writing to figure out what I’m thinking, and I’m always reading too many books at once. It comes together later as I make work prints, paste them into notebooks, mock up layouts, and hang things on the wall. Some projects develop slowly, but sometimes a trip or an experience cracks me right open and I need to shoot and write right away until I understand what exactly broke my heart.


It’s difficult to know when a body of work is complete. On one hand, it’s done when there’s no challenge left. It’s done when you start repeating yourself. It’s done when you know what you’re doing. On the other hand, it’s not done until you’re honest with yourself, until it’s not about you anymore, until the work has a logic all its own. It’s not done until someone else sees it, takes it in, and breathes a whole new life into it. It’s not done until it’s true.






SB: Why photography? What about the medium allows you best to tell your story?


WL: Taking pictures is an attempt to hold on to things that can’t stay—to the light, to the people in the frame, to the thoughts in your head. It’s impossible, but there’s a real grace in the gesture. Dreams are beautiful because they are brief, and photography is a way for me to embrace the loss of time and the mystery of vision.


Book coming soon from Deadbeat Club. Click here for a preivew.
The Harvest, from Lone Doe Oracle has been selected by juror Shane Lavalette to be a part of the Annual Exhibition at the Houston Center for Photography.
I'm pleased to announced that I have been selected by the Magenta Foundation as one of the winners of Flash Forward 2019, a competition for emerging photographers. Congrats to all of the other winners, and a big thanks to the jury.
In tribute to one of my favorites, and to the very idea of the artist as a heroic figure of legendary reputation, I have made a blanket.
Between my first and second years of grad school, my advisor challenged me to make a zine every month for a year. I picked a topic on Day 1, shot until Day 29, and then had a day to edit and layout. It was an extremely helpful exercise, and after school I made this mammoth compilation of all 12.
Annual Exhibition, Houston Center of Photography, 2018.
Pier 24 Photography has acquired Swimmers and Stranger Come Home.
Artist talk for the University of Hartford Photo MFA.
Houston Center of Photography, 2017.
Lone Doe Oracle, a card reading performance and collaboration with Annie Danis.
Over The Fence installed as a part of Home at the SFO Museum.
Over The Fence as a part of Home at the SFO Museum.
I organized this show at Baxter St CCNY in 2016.
First Coast Resonator at Baxter St CCNY's Self-Published Zine Fair, curated by Anouk Kruithof.
First Coast Resonator in good company at Arcana Books in LA.