Ekphrasis Workshop with
Evgeniy (Zhenya) Rein
Coffee Cups and Laundry:
The Ethereal in the Mundane
April ISL Visiting Artist Call & Workshop: Open to the Public
SPECIFIC DATE ANNOUNCED SOON • Saturday @ 2-3:30 PM EST
Sliding Scale $150-215
Students participating in April 2026 ISL are automatically enrolled
After January session's electric ekphrasis workshop with Naima Green, our new ekphrasis series returns with photographer and visual artist Evgeniy (Zhenya) Rein. Join April ISL participants for a presentation of Rein's work, a Q&A, and a generative workshop. Hosted by Shira Erlichman, poets will be guided to write poems based off of Rein's immersive visual invitations.
As poets, we seek to evoke a sense of poignancy. With Rein's work as our portal, we'll explore the emotional grandeur of being human through the mundane, the daily. In Rein's photographs, dead yellow blooms curl against a blue that could be either sky or wallpaper; bubbles blown out of frame amorphously decorate a candid tourist scene; punctured glass distorts into a cunning spiderweb. Among the swapping blur and vividness of daily life, his subjects are caught off-kilter and mid-motion. Bodies rise from benches, turning their backs to us to gaze – at what, at whom? Children run and climb, shadows paint buildings, and a warm light-drenched nostalgia romantically coats every frame. Rein is a master of conjuring intimacy without force, and a sense of the epic without pretension. He shows us how, in coffee cups and laundry lines, our fleeting and extraordinary lives unfold.
​​​​Naima Green’s artwork has been exhibited at ICA VCU, Baxter Street CCNY, Fotografiska New York, Smart Museum of Art, MASS MoCA, International Center of Photography, Houston Center for Photography, Bronx Museum, BRIC, Ltd Los Angeles, Gallery 102, Gracie Mansion Conservancy, Shoot the Lobster, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and Arsenal Gallery. She’s participated in artist residencies at Recess, Mass MoCA, Pocoapoco, Bronx Museum, Vermont Studio Center, and is a recipient of the Myers Art Prize at Columbia University.
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Her works are in the collections of Barnard College Library, Decker Library at MICA, Fleet Library at RISD, High Musuem, Hessel Museum, International Center of Photography Library, Leslie-Lohman Museum, MoMA Library, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: Hirsch Library, National Gallery of Art, Olin Library, Cornell University, Smart Museum of Art, Teachers College, Columbia University.
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Green earned an MFA from Bard College, where she was awarded the Director’s Fellowship, an MA in Art & Art Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, where she was awarded a Merit Scholarship, and a BA in Urban Studies & Sociology from Barnard College.
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She was the Harnish Visiting Artist and Lecturer in Photography at Smith College from 2021 to 2023 and currently teaches in the Creative Practices program at the International Center of Photography and in New York City Public Schools.
Evgeniy (Zhenya) Rein (b. 1989) is a visual artist born in Moscow, Soviet Union. After working in graphic design and illustration for over a decade, his practice expanded to incorporate photography and line drawing as a primary visual language. His clients include The New Yorker, Le Monde, Monocle, The NYTimes, and FT Magazine. He is based in Paris.
Sign up for Coffee Cups and Laundry:
The Ethereal in the Mundane with Evgeniy Rein
Students participating in April 2026 ISL session are automatically enrolled in this workshop.
For those wanting to join the event: payment can be made through Venmo, PayPal, or Zelle.
Sliding scale $150-215. Send us an email and we'll guide you through next steps!