Recently, I sat down (virtually) to hear a bit more about my wonderfully talented friend, Zeva Oelbaum's new project. May years back, Zeva and I collaborated on a textile line for Pallas using some of Zeva’s gorgeous cyanotypes as inspiration for weaves and pattern. Since then Zeva has continued working as a still photographer, but has expanded into film and creating some very impactful documentaries. She often focuses on telling the stories of ground-breaking women in history.
She is currently working on a documentary that I am most excited to see. It is about the groundbreaking dancer, Loïe Fuller. Join us in our conversation to learn a bit more about this often overlooked icon in modern dance as well as Zeva’s background!
Film stills of Loïe Fuller imitator Annabelle Moore, filmed by Thomas Edison, 1895
Can you tell us a little bit about your background?
I was born and raised in Kansas City and graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in anthropology. I have always been interested in people and their stories. When I was a junior in college, I fell in love with still photography. One of my college friends bought me a book entitled “The Concerned Photographer” edited by the wonderful Cornell Capa. After college, I moved to NYC to become an intern at International Center of Photography in the mansion up on 94th and 5th Ave. It was a magical time. There were probably only 10 staff people (including the faculty and Cornell and his secretary) at that time and the building was largely empty. We would print all night and could nap on couches in unused offices.
Highlights of your still photographer career?
In 2002, I was very fortunate to have two books of my photographs published by Rizzoli International Publishers. The first one was entitled “Flowers in Shadow: A Photographer Rediscovers an 1896 Botanical Journal” and Susan Orlean wrote a beautiful foreword for the book. I photographed a pressed flower book that I found in an antique store in Southwest Harbor in Maine. I have a real passion for discovering things that have been overlooked. When I opened this pressed flower book, I discovered that during the 100 years it had remained closed, the organic material of the plants had bled onto the opposing page, creating compositions that had been unintended and unimagined by the original creator. That was really exciting for me.
My second Rizzoli book was entitled “Blue Prints: The Natural World in Cyanotype Photographs” and Tracy Chevalier wrote a lovely foreword. The book is my homage to Anna Atkins, before she became known to a wider audience.
How do you know Lori?
The cyanotype photographs appealed to Lori and she was incredibly generous to invite me to work with her on a fabric line. It was a seamless and inspiring collaboration. It was so energizing to work with Lori, who could visualize my photographs in another medium.
Lori Weitzner for Pallas
Lori Weitzner for Pallas
Lori Weitzner for Pallas
How did you make a transition from still photography to documentary film?
My transition from photography to film was very organic. In 2005, I felt that I needed to do a film about a dear friend who had survived Auschwitz, along with her twin brother, when they were small children. That film experience led me to become the producer of a second film entitled “Ahead of Time” about the indomitable journalist Ruth Gruber. That film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2009.
Do you have a constant source of inspiration?
My work seems to revolve around telling people’s stories through the intersection of history, culture and film. I am deeply interested in making films that have a strong visual underpinning, particularly rarely-seen-before photographs or archival footage.
How did you decide to form a production company?
While producing “Ahead of Time,” I worked with the film editor Sabine Krayenbühl. We worked incredibly well together and were very compatible, both aesthetically and temperamentally. We discussed the possibility of doing a documentary about the British explorer and diplomat, Gertrude Bell. In 2012, Sabine and I founded Between the Rivers Productions, LLC and co-directed “Letters From Baghdad.” The film was voiced and exec produced by Tilda Swinton and premiered in 2016 at festivals around the world including Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, the BFI London Film Festival, IDFA in Amsterdam and DOC NYC.
Can you talk about the current film project you and Sabine are working on?
We’re especially interested in telling stories of extraordinary women who have been written out of history. There are many incredible women who fit into this category! Our new film project is about Loïe Fuller – visionary performer, impresario and the American inventor of modern dance. Fuller (1862-1928) began her acting career in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show and moved to Paris during the fin de siècle.
Loïe Fuller, performing her Serpentine Dance, 1905 @Zander & Labisch/Ullstein Bild/Roger-Viollet
She created a new kind of spectacle that combined dance, light, fabric and movement and premiered it at the Folies Bergère in 1892. She became wildly famous and revolutionized the way her contemporaries saw their world. An impresario, she also launched the modern dance career of Isadora Duncan and introduced Auguste Rodin’s work to collectors in the U.S.
Loïe Fuller, 1901 @The Jerome Robbins Dance Division of The New York Public Library
Amazingly, even though her name is largely forgotten by the general public, Fuller continues to influence contemporary artists, performers and designers. This process of discovering the artists who reference Fuller’s work, has been one of the great joys of our production.
The working title of our documentary is “Obsessed with Light” - check out the website here.
To see more of Zeva’s print and documentary work - check out her website here.
Addendum
My daughter Emma! Just finished her last day of high school and she is off - hopefully not remotely - to Penn State in fall to major in sports journalism. Proudest. Mom. Ever.