Ted Scheinman

2 months ago | smithsonianmag.com | Ted Scheinman

Wayne Martin Belger’s photographs sometimes look like the product of time travel, or peculiar magic. In a way, they are. In his journeys around the globe, Belger takes on grim assignments and produces photographs that have a quality of revelation. He’s reported for Smithsonian from a refugee camp in Greece, made intimate portraits of Native activists at Standing Rock and embedded with Zapatistas at an armed compound in Mexico.

Feb 14, 2024 | smithsonianmag.com | Ted Scheinman |Richard Grant

When Akito Kawahara was 8 years old, his father took him on a members-only tour of the insect collection at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. His father, the renowned conceptual artist On Kawara, had introduced him to butterfly collecting early, and Akito had already amassed about 500 of his own specimens.

Oct 4, 2023 | gq.com | Ted Scheinman

We all keep our favorite artists in a little cabinet, arrayed in loose categories. One of the most cherished shelves in mine contains artists I think of as elephant-ballerinas: Great Big Boys who each, in their own way, wrought an art of exquisite delicacy. These include Samuel Johnson; David Crosby; W.C. Fields; Jerry Garcia; and, no greater or lesser a figure than these, Jack Black.

Aug 29, 2023 | smithsonianmag.com | Ted Scheinman

Hew Morrison specializes in bringing the dead back to life, in giving a face to the faceless. Born in Inverness, Scotland, and currently based in Thailand, Morrison is a freelance forensic artist. His canvas is a laptop, and he often works with the police and private investigators to reconstruct faces of unidentified corpses. He also works with archaeologists, among whom he has become the go-to guy for recreating likenesses of figures from centuries or even millennia ago.

Jun 28, 2023 | smithsonianmag.com | Ted Scheinman