Additional information
by Priscilla Briggs (Photographer), Rob Schmitz (Contribution by), Susannah Magers (Foreword by)
During a decade of rapid economic growth, American photographer Priscilla Briggs traveled along the eastern seaboard of China. Impossible is Nothing explores various facets of Chinese society within the context of Communism that engages in "Capitalism with Chinese characteristics." These photographs examine constructed realities within China relating to luxury and status, with the West serving as a model for Capitalist consumerism. Portraits, still-life images, and urban landscapes are woven together to create a lyrical ode to the optimism and imagination of contemporary China.
Priscilla Briggs is a lens-based artist who investigates global representations of capitalism and consumerism. Her work has been exhibited internationally, most recently in the Landskrona Photo Salon in Sweden, the Minneapolis International Film Festival, the DeVos Museum in Michigan, and many more.
Author Biography
Priscilla Briggs is a lens-based artist living in Minneapolis, MN in the United States. She investigates global representations of capitalism and consumerism. Much of Priscilla's work over the past ten years was created in China while at artist residencies at the Chinese European Art Center in Xiamen and Art Channel in Beijing. Her work has been supported by artist grants from the McKnight Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board, and by professional research grants from Gustavus Adolphus College. Her work has been exhibited internationally, most recently in the Landskrona Photo Salon in Sweden, the Minneapolis International Film Festival, the DeVos Museum in Michigan, the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, the Lousiville Photobiennial, the Hillstrom Museum in St. Peter, MN, and the Living Arts New Genre Festival in Tulsa, OK. Priscilla has a BA in Graphic and Language Arts from Carnegie Mellon University and a MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. She is currently an Associate Professor of Studio Art at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN.
Rob Schmitz is Marketplace's China correspondent, based in Shanghai. Rob has won several awards for his reporting on China, including two national Edward R. Murrow awards and an Education Writers Association award. His work was also a finalist for the 2012 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award. His reporting in Japan -- from the hardest-hit areas near the failing Fukushima nuclear power plant following the earthquake and tsunami -- was included in the publication 100 Great Stories, celebrating the centennial of Columbia University's Journalism School. In 2012, Rob exposed the fabrications in Mike Daisey's account of Apple's supply chain on This American Life. His report was featured in the show's "Retraction" episode, the most downloaded episode in the program's 16-year history. Prior to joining Marketplace, Rob was the Los Angeles bureau chief for KQED's The California Report. He's also worked as the Orange County reporter for KPCC, and as a reporter for MPR, covering rural Minnesota. Prior to his radio career, Rob lived and worked in China; first as a teacher in the Peace Corps, then as a freelance print and video journalist. His television documentaries about China have appeared on The Learning Channel and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Among the honors Rob has received for his work: the Overseas Press Club Scholarship (2001); The Minnesota Society of Professional Journalist award (2001); the Scripps Howard Religion Writing Fellowship (2001); the International Reporting Project Fellowship (2002); the National Federation of Community Broadcasters award (2002); Golden Mic awards from the Radio and TV News Association of Southern California (2005 and 2006); the Peninsula Press Club award (2006); the ASU Media Fellowship, (2007); the Abe Fellowship for Journalists, (2009); the Education Writers Association (2011); finalist, Investigative Reporters and Editors award (2013); two national Edward R. Murrow awards (2012 and 2014). In 2011, the Rubin Museum of Art screened a short documentary Rob shot in Tibet. Rob has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree in Spanish from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He speaks Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. He's lived in Spain, Australia, and China. A native of Elk River, Minn., Rob currently resides in Shanghai, a city that's far enough away from his hometown to avoid having to watch his favorite football team, the Minnesota Vikings. Sometimes, he says, that's a good thing. A Bay Area, CA native, Susannah Magers has a passion for and background in intersectional and radical curatorial practice, writing, exhibition interpretation and management, and public engagement with the arts. Prior to joining Rochester Art Center as Deputy Director, Curator of Contemporary Art, her most recent experience includes working as the Interpretation Manager for the site-specific contemporary exhibition about global human rights, @Large: Ai Wei Wei on Alcatraz. Magers also co-directed the North Oakland, CA alternative arts and project space, The Royal NoneSuch Gallery, which supports emerging and mid-career artists in the Bay Area with an emphasis on experiential and experimental programming. Magers earned a BA in History and a BA in Photography from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an MA in Curatorial Practice from the California College of the Arts, in San Francisco, CA.
