Lauren Greenfield, Award Winning Photographer and Documentary Filmmaker, to Lecture at USC Upstate
February 21, 2012
SPARTANBURG, SC – The University of South Carolina Upstate is pleased to welcome Lauren Greenfield to campus for an open lecture and book signing on February 29, 2012 at 6 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. Clips from her films, “THIN,” “kids + money,” “Beauty Culture” and “The Queen of Versailles” will be shown and her lecture will discuss the content and development of her films and photography.
Tickets are free but are required for entrance; call or email the Box Office (864) 503-5695 or [email protected] to reserve.
Greenfield is considered a preeminent chronicler of youth culture and gender as a result of her groundbreaking projects “THIN,” “Girl Culture” and “Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood” and “kids+money.” Greenfield’s first feature-length documentary film, “THIN,” aired on HBO, and is accompanied by a photography book of the same name (Chronicle Books, 2006). In this unflinching and incisive study, Greenfield embarks on an emotional journey through the Renfrew Center in Coconut Creek, Fla., a residential facility dedicated to the treatment of eating disorders. The feature-length documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006 and was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding direction in 2007, and went on to win numerous awards. The project was featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Nightline, and CNN and was excerpted in People Magazine. “THIN” was also a traveling museum exhibition that debuted in 2007 at The Women’s Museum in Dallas, Texas.
“Girl Culture” provides a look into the secret worlds of girls’ private rituals and social lives, by combining a photojournalist’s sense of story with fine-art composition and color. From the dressing room and locker room, to the iconic subcultures of the popular cliques, the photos and interviews reveals the exhibitionist nature of modern femininity and how far it has drifted from the feminine ideologies of the past. “Girl Culture” was also a major traveling exhibition, seen by over 750,000 people in more than 25 venues around the world.
“Fast Forward” examines Los Angeles youth culture and its influence on the rest of our society. From the affluent children of the Westside to the graffiti gangs and party crews of East L.A., young Angelenos reckon with an overwhelming barrage of advertising and entertainment images emphasizing money, possessions, and eternal youth. This collection of photographs, accompanied by interviews with the children and their parents, reveal the realities of growing up fast in a culture that is irresistible and unforgiving.
Greenfield’s follow-up short film, “kids + money,” premiered at the AFI Fest and won the Shorts Audience Award. The 32-minute film is a conversation with young people from diverse Los Angeles communities about the role of money in their lives. From rich to poor, Pacific Palisades to East L.A., kids address how they are shaped by a culture of consumerism. “kids+money” has been licensed to HBO, and to other leading broadcasters around the world.
Greenfield graduated from Harvard in 1987 and started her career as an intern for National Geographic. Since 1991, her photographs have been regularly published in magazines including the New York Times Magazine, Time, Vanity Fair, People, National Geographic, Stern, The New Yorker, ELLE, Harper’s, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, The Guardian, and The Sunday Times Magazine. She has been the recipient of many awards, including the International Center for Photography Infinity Award, the Hasselblad Grant, the Community Awareness Award from the National Press Photographers, and the Moscow Biennial People’s Choice Award.
For more information about the lecture, please contact Dr. Rachel Snow, assistant professor of art history, at (864) 503-5853 or [email protected].
