Eric Gottesman is a photographic artist and organizer whose work addresses history, pedagogy, trauma and healing and asks, "How does 'Who gets to speak?' affect what we see in the world?" Central to his practice is collaboration; photographs, text and video become vehicles for Gottesman to engage in critical thought and conversation with others. He works slowly, often spending a long time in a community, and he exhibits work locally first, to an audience of the people with whom he made it.
Gottesman came to artmaking after studying politics and economics at Duke University, and later he earned an MFA in photography from Bard College. In 25 Under 25 (2003), he was named one of the top young American photographers. He has been awarded an Artadia award, an Aaron Siskind Fellowship, the apexart Franchise award, a Fulbright Fellowship in Art and grants from the Magnum Foundation, the Open Society Foundation and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. His work is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and in private collections. In 2012, the Addison Gallery of American Art, the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park and the Clark Gallery exhibited his work. He was the 2012 artist-in-residence at Amherst College and the 2012 Elson artist-in-residence at the Addison Gallery of American Art. Umbrage Editions will publish his first collaborative book, Sudden Flowers: May The Finest In The World Always Accompany You.
He has taught at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Amherst College, the International Center for Photography, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston and in collaborative workshops in Lebanon, Jordan and Ethiopia.