Roxana Kadyrova using a gossamer visual alphabet, disentangles our collective surreality. Through collage (spanning autobiographical photography and a personally totemic symbology) Kadyrova’s project is to evince a primitive sensitivity that approaches rootlessness. Her influences range from her Russian-Uzbeki roots in Moscow, her time spent in the School of Dramatic Arts (SFA), and her travels in the Maghreb. Roxana has the MFA Visual Arts Program at Columbia University (2023) roxanakadyrova.com 

Johanna Velasquez is an interdisciplinary artist based in New York. Through a combination of photomechanical and traditional processes, she investigates the complex relationship between her cultural identities, that of a Latin American raised in suburban “white” America. Her works reference themes of education, identity, labor, politics, and time. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking from SUNY Purchase College and a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University. johannavelas.com 

Together we are to experiment with an alternative/analog photography process utilizing a large scale camera obscura that we would build in the woods of the Catskills, in an attempt to capture the landscape using a combination of printmaking and early photography. 

https://johannavelas.com

https://roxanakadyrova.com

Affiliation: Columbia

Noe Kidder and Mark Gallay are filmmakers creating field recordings for the soundtrack of their new film, The Impossible Garden. The film explores the recent revelation of a profound family secret. Through this story, they delve into the nature of genetic inheritance, the influence of nurture, and how the repression of truths about ourselves and our origins can shape and haunt our lives, influencing how we experience ourselves and the world around us.

Their recent films can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvrBdz9c8U https://f.io/UR9klzUi

Affiliation: Columbia

Jean Zimmerman is an acclaimed author known for her fiction and nonfiction, who transitioned to a career as a Certified Arborist in 2015, focusing on tree preservation. During her residency at Catwalk, she is developing her memoir Heartwood, which explores her profound connection with woodlands, the cultural history of American forests, and her journey of personal reinvention after midlife. The memoir also addresses her recent ALS diagnosis, aiming to resonate with those facing significant health challenges.

Zimmerman's previous works include The Women of the House, detailing a female fur trader in Dutch New York, The Orphanmaster, a suspense novel set in New Amsterdam, and Love, Fiercely, a dual biography of Gilded Age philanthropists. She frequently highlights the flora and fauna of the Catwalk estate in her writing, which she describes as one of the most magical places on earth.

https://jeanzimmerman.com

Affiliation: Columbia