Photographer, RIT Professor, and owner of Booksmart Studio, Eric Kunsman talks about his ongoing multi-faceted and social activist project, Felicific Calculus, Technology as a Social Marker of Race, Class, & Economics in Rochester, NY. Eric discusses how the work started and was influenced by his experiences growing up in declining steel town and later, as an adult, his family faced a dire financial crisis. Eric and Michael also talk about their connection at Mercer County Community College.
https://www.erickunsman.com
Bonus Content: https://youtu.be/9dZ_vpIY1gg
More Vidoes about Eric’s work: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWeP6Y6BGspCNvTEOh4AN4w
This episode is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club
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Eric T. Kunsman (b. 1975) was born and raised in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. While in high school, he was heavily influenced by the death of the steel industry and its place in American history. The exposure to the work of Walker Evans during this time hooked Eric onto photography. Eric had the privilege to study under Lou Draper, who became Eric’s most formative mentor. He credits Lou with influencing his approach as an educator, photographer, and contributing human being.
Eric holds his MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and holds an MS in Electronic Publishing/Graphic Arts Media, BS in Biomedical Photography, BFA in Fine Art photography, all from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.
Currently, he is a photographer and book artist based out of Rochester, New York. Eric works at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) as an Assistant Professor in the Visual Communications Studies Department at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and is an adjunct professor for the School of Photographic Arts & Sciences.
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