Stockton Brings Storytelling Background to Photography Courses
Yola Monakhov Stockton’s photographs have graced the pages of such publications as Harper’s, Le Monde, Marie Claire, Newsweek, the New York Times, and Time.
The Moscow, Russia, native is now sharing her talents with aspiring photographers and artists as an assistant professor in Buffalo State’s Fine Arts Department.
“I cover the full gamut of photography,” she said. “I want my students to learn about light-sensitive materials such as film and darkroom paper, but also digital workflows, all in the context of the rich history of the medium.”
Stockton also pushes students to try 3D printing as a way to graphically represent information and acquire a feeling for the beauty of fine photographic prints.
“Beyond process, I teach image-making as a form of storytelling, a way ideas become things,” she explained.
Before finding her place in the classroom, Stockton worked as a correspondent for various news organizations covering Moscow and Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Jerusalem. Some of her photos depicting scenes within New York City have appeared in the New Yorker’s Goings on About Town section.
Along with teaching the finer points of exposure and lighting, Stockton is an exhibiting artist. Her work is included in the current exhibition, A Matter of Memory: Photography as Object in the Digital Age, at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, through January 29.
“The exhibition speaks to memory and what constitutes memory,” she said. “There are notions of cultural history and of personal history. The pieces reflect both kinds as well as their intersection.”
In the fall she was lead curator for The Future Perfect at the International Center of Photography School in New York City, where she gathered emerging artists and photographers who engaged creatively or ethically with photographic language.
Her work is included in the permanent collections of the George Eastman Museum, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Smith College Museum of Art, JP Morgan Chase, and Fidelity Investments.
Her first monograph, The Nature of Imitation, came out with Schilt Publishing (Amsterdam) in 2015. Her work also has been included in exhibitions at the Alice Austen House, Sasha Wolf Gallery, Light Field Festival, and inaugural Tianshui Photography Biennial, and is represented by Rick Wester Fine Art and Schilt Publishing Gallery.
Prior to joining the Buffalo State faculty in August 2016, Stockton taught at Columbia University, the International Center of Photography, LaGuardia Community College, Pace University, and Smith College.