Behind the Binding | Fall 2024

Xiomara Bender | Waiting for the Rainbow: 10 Years in North Korea | September 14

Wendel A. White | Manifest | Thirteen Colonies | September 28

Jim Sullivan | Kitchen Verité | October 12

Greg Gulbransen | Say Less | November 16

Henry Leutwyler | 10+ Books with Steidl | November 23

More Photographers will be announced in the coming weeks!

Join us for our captivating Saturday morning talks starting promptly at 11:00 AM

Following each talk, indulge in signed books.

Seating is limited, so be sure to reserve your spot in advance!

Immerse yourself in the captivating world of photography at Leica Store and Gallery Meatpacking with our electrifying Saturday morning series, Behind the Binding! Join us for invigorating conversations with renowned photographers, unraveling the stories behind their captivating works and acclaimed books.

Xiomara Bender | Waiting for the Rainbow: 10 Years in North Korea | September 14

The few countries in the world that remain so closed off that practically no one from the outside gets an insight. North Korea is certainly one of the most secluded. Ruled by the same family for generations, the dictatorship virtually prohibits any contact beyond its borders, isolating 26 million inhabitants from the rest of humanity. This is why the photo book Waiting for the Rainbow by Xiomara Bender is so valuable, as it engages with the Korean region in a deeply honest way.

Bender portrays the lives and everyday routines of the people in this country that few have the chance to know. She seeks to draw attention to the many fates and the changes of recent years, which in this strict dictatorship are only possible in subtle micro-steps. Through her photographic journey through time, her readers can witness this transformation that brings hope.

Bender has undertaken nine journeys to North Korea in almost ten years, bringing back this unique photo documentation. The award-winning artist aims to break through the world's culture of willful ignorance regarding North Korea with her work, and without reproach, direct attention to the unvarnished daily lives of the people living there and their state-orchestrated routines.

Wendel A. White | Manifest | Thirteen Colonies | September 28

Manifest | Thirteen Colonies is a photographic project and journey through the repositories of African American material culture found in libraries, museums, and archives of the original thirteen English colonies and Washington, DC. Conceived by photographer Wendel A. White, this project is a personal reliquary of the remarkable evidence of Black agency and racial oppression stored in public collections. Accompanying his imagery, White discusses his approach to finding, selecting, and photographing artifacts—from rare singular objects to more quotidian materials—and highlights their significance as forensic evidence of Black life and history in the United States. Wendel will be joined by artist and educator Casey Ruble who shares similar interests and concerns in her own multidisciplinary practice.

Jim Sullivan | Kitchen Verité | October 12

Fashioned with a Leica M6 as his primary camera, Jim Sullivan captures the frenetic cadence and energetic pace of some of the most revered kitchen restaurants during service. Spanning 9 years, Kitchen Verité, Sullivan visits the kitchens from Los Angeles to New York, Paris, and Mexico City. Inspired by the seminal book by Chef Marco Pierre White called “White Heat," Sullivan takes a street photographer's approach to the project. His outcome is a no-hold-barred document of the life of a chef in and around the kitchen. The distinct look of black and white film makes the work timeless. Jim will be joined by filmmaker Ian Cumming who was inspired to make a short film of the project along with a Michelin star chef.

Greg Gulbransen | Say Less | November 16

Over the course of three years, Greg Gulbransen photographed Malik, a set leader of the violent street gang, the Crips. Malik was shot and paralysed in 2018 by the bullet from a rival gang, and as a result his world now centres around his small Bronx apartment in New York, where he is cared for by his family and fellow gang members.

Gulbransen, a practicing doctor, had been photographing in the Bronx during his spare time and had got to know some of the local kids. He began to notice a lot of young men in wheelchairs with spinal injuries and was professionally curious. He was told they had all been shot. He wanted to speak to someone in a wheelchair and was introduced to Malik through a fellow Crip.

Henry Leutwyler | 10+ Books with Steidl | November 23

Join Michael Foley as he and Henry Leutwyler discuss his long history working with Gerhard Steidl. With more than 10 books including two editions of Ballet, his work with Misty Copland culminating in Misty. His profound sensitivity with historic material including The Tiffany Archives, Document, Life (Philippe Halsman), Hi There! (Frank Sinatra) and Neverland Lost (Michael Jackson), his first book with Steidl.

About the Photographers

The German-Swiss photographer Xiomara Bender was born in Basel in 1987, left her homeland at the age of 17 and moved to India to complete her schooling. She then attended the Technical Art School in Berlin. Since graduating, she has worked as a freelance photographer. Numerous national and international awards, such as the C/O Berlin Foundation's "Close Up!" and the International Photography Award, have already recognized her distinctive visual language early in her career. In 2016, her book "North Korea. The Power of Dreams" was published by Kehrer Verlag, winning the Silver German Photobook Prize 2018 from the Hochschule der Medien. The series has been exhibited in numerous galleries. Her works have appeared in publications such as "Stern" and "Zeit."

Wendel A. White is currently Distinguished Professor of Art at Stockton University and has taught photography at the School of Visual Arts; The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art; the International Center of Photography; and the Rochester Institute of Technology. His work has received various awards and fellowships, including: Doctor of Arts (hc), Oakland University; Robert Gardner Fellow in Photography, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University; John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in Photography; Bunn Lectureship in Photography, Bradley University; three artist fellowships from the New Jersey State Council for the Arts; Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; and New Works Photography Fellowship from En Foco Inc. His work is represented in museum and corporate collections, including the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; and Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; among many others.

Casey Ruble is a multidisciplinary artist who has worked in painting, collage, artists books, film, and photography. Her work focuses on place, memory, and the excavation of hidden histories, often as they pertain to race in the U.S. She was represented for sixteen years by Foley Gallery (New York) until the gallery closed in September 2023. Ruble has received fellowships from the Smithsonian Institution, Warhol Foundation (through the arts residency PARSEnola), Tulane’s New Orleans Center for the Gulf South, New Jersey Council for the Humanities, and New Jersey Council on the Arts. Her work and curatorial projects have been reviewed in publications including the New York Times, New Yorker, Hyperallergic, Wall Street Journal, Kolaj, and Sculpture Magazine. She has written for Art in America magazine and was an artist contributor to Rebecca Solnit and Rebecca Snedeker’s Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas. Raised in rural eastern Montana, Ruble received a BA from Smith College and an MFA from Hunter College CUNY. She is currently an Associate Clinical Professor at Fordham University. When not in New Orleans, she resides in a Pennsylvania village on the Delaware River.

Jim Sullivan is a classically trained chef with a degree in Culinary Arts from the Art Institute of California. He's been working as a professional food photographer for over 10 years. He is a Leica Akademie instructor, and his latest Akademie class will be held this October at the Leica Store in the Meatpacking District. His clientele ranges from 3-star Michelin Restaurants to local mom-and-pop shops. He has worked in every kind of kitchen worldwide, from open restaurants in the jungle to world-class establishments. He is proud of his relationships over his 10-year career, from dishwashers to elite-level chefs, fishermen to farmers, bartenders to the Front of the house, and everyone in between.

Ian Cumming is a documentary and commercial director based in Los Angeles, California. He has a decade of experience directing original documentary films, branded content, and broadcast commercials for some of the world's leading brands and publishers. Ian crafts compelling narratives that champion advocacy and equality through cinematic documentary work. His client roster includes Red Bull, United States Navy, Special Olympics, BBC, Electronic Arts, John Deere, and many more.

Greg Gulbransen started out shooting fashion but transitioned over to documenting the lives of unique individuals with interesting stories. Greg loves meeting new people and tries to preserve their legacy with photography.

"As a physician, Say Less was a way to explore one facet of the epidemic of gun violence in this country. There are shootings every day in the five boroughs of New York City and the Bronx is the worst. But across the country, gun violence and the availability of guns is a public health emergency. The effects are devastating. The physician in me wants to show people who don’t live in areas with high rates of gun violence how terrible it can be in these places, how complicated the problem is, how far-reaching the effects of the gun-violence epidemic are. The photographer in me is trying to show what it’s like to be a victim of gun violence while also being a partof the problem."His images have been published in the New York Times, Daily Mail, ELLE, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Northwell Health, The Weather Channel, Spirit and Flesh, Grazia and Pandora to name a few. Some of Greg’s documentary work has been featured on the A & E Network’s History Channel.

Born in Switzerland in 1961, Henry Leutwyler is a self-taught photographer with a stubborn streak and unflappable love for the medium. His grandfather and father were both printers. He decided not to follow their path, instead to travel and photograph, soaking up color and culture from around the world.

After being rejected by one of Switzerland’s leading photography schools, he opened his own photo studio in Lausanne, photographing cheese, chocolates and watches and went bankrupt in a year-and-a-half.

In 1985, Leutwyler moved to Paris where he apprenticed with photographer Gilles Tapie and rapidly established himself as an editorial photographer. A decade later, Leutwyler moved to New York City.

He has photographed the likes of Michelle Obama, Julia Roberts, Tom Wolfe, Iggy Pop, Rihanna and Martin Scorsese to name a few.

Leutwyler lives in downtown Manhattan.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Leica Store and Gallery New York, 406 West 13th Street, New York, United States