All photos © Jason Florio.

“For 62 years, in what is now the world’s longest ongoing conflict, the ill-fed and ill-equipped people of Karen State, (locally called Kawtoolie), Burma have been fighting for an independent homeland against the ruling Burmese military government. The junta has been applying a brutal, systematic policy of murder, rape, forced labor and wholesale destruction of Karan villages. Working on assignment in Karan State for Men’s Journal in November 2010, I was enamored by the calm resilience of the Karen people, both soldiers and civilians, who all seem to possess a quiet determination, backed by their motto ‘never surrender.’ I decided to return in February 2011, to bring the face of the Karen people, and their highly under-reported struggle to survive against the brutal junta, to a greater audience in the hopes of affecting some positive change.” – Jason Florio
The Long Fight for Kawtoolie: Portraits from the Jungles of Burma opens this Thursday March 8 at Messineo Art Projects and Wyman Contemporary. The show is on view until April 28, 2012.

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All photos © Emily Shur.
Editorial and commercial photographer Emily Shur photographed Lindsey Vonn in San Diego for the January 2012 issue of the Red Bulletin. Vonn, a World Cup Champion ski racer, was quite comfortable in front of the camera. Shur says, “I love a strong, talented woman so I really wanted the pictures to be feminine and soft, but at the same time illustrate her confidence and strength.”

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"Untitled Film Still #6." (1977) The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the generosity of Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder in memory of Eugene M. Schwartz © 2012 Cindy Sherman

It’s been 15 years since influential artist and photographer Cindy Sherman has had a major, comprehensive exhibit—and luckily fans of her work don’t have much longer to wait. Beginning February 26, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City is presenting a “retrospective survey” of her artwork, which will feature over 180 photographs made from the mid-1970s through the present.

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"Daddy Tattoo, Philadelphia," 2004 © Zoe Strauss/Courtesy of Philadelphia Museum of Art

Photographer Zoe Strauss, who from 2001 to 2010 installed her work on pillars below an I-95 overpass in South Philadelphia and hosted an annual day-long exhibition, is getting a mid-career retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The survey includes 150 images and extends beyond the museum with the Billboard Project, a series of 54 billboards throughout the Philadelphia area that will each display one of Strauss’s photos, blown up to 12 x 25 feet, without any text, logos, etc. A self-taught photographer who focuses on the “the beauty and struggle of everyday life,” Strauss is a true testament to DIY ingenuity. The exhibit runs through April 22, 2012.

"South Philly (Mattress Flip Front)," 2001 © Zoe Strauss/Courtesy of Philadelphia Museum of Art

"Vanessa, Philadelphia," 2006 © Zoe Strauss/Courtesy of Philadelphia Museum of Art

"Girl reading comic book in newsstand" by Teenie Harris (c. 1940-1945) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

For over 40 years Charles “Teenie” Harris documented life in and around Pittsburgh’s Hill District for the influential black newspaper the Pittsburgh Courier. Affectionately called “One Shot” due to the brisk manner in which he photographed his subjects, Harris spent as much time shooting the everyday people of the neighborhood as he did the famous people who visited it. With close to 80,000 negatives in his archive, he is said to have best captured the urban African-American experience during the 20th century.

The Carnegie Museum of Art acquired Harris’s archive in 2001 and set out preserving, cataloguing and digitizing the images. The museum is currently exhibiting the first major retrospective of his work, “Teenie Harris, Photographer: An American Story.” The exhibit includes a life-size projection of close to 1,000 of Harris’s images set to an original jazz score; a chronological display featuring small prints of those same images; and a mini-exhibit of 12 16 x 20-inch prints selected by various experts. The exhibit will stay in Pittsburgh through April 7 and then move on to the Harold Washington Library Center in Chicago, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library.

"Duke Ellington at piano, with dancer Honey Coles and Billy Strayhorn looking on, in the Stanley Theatre" by Teenie Harris (c. 1942-1943) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

"Woman outside Kay’s Valet Shoppe" by Teenie Harris (c. 1938–1945) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

"Soldiers from the 372nd Infantry marching in parade, Fifth Avenue, Downtown" by Teenie Harris (c. July 1942) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

"Three men and a woman at a restaurant counter" by Teenie Harris (c. 1948–1960) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

"Protesters with UNPC signs outside United Mine Safety Appliance Company, Braddock Avenue, Homewood" by Teenie Harris (c. October 1963) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

"Lena Horne reflected in mirror in dressing room at Stanley Theatre" by Teenie Harris (c. 1944) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

"Roland M. Sawyer and Aileen Eckstein Sawyer posed on their wedding day on steps of The Thimble Shop, 5913 Bryant Street, Highland Park" by Teenie Harris (c. August 1938) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art