Justine Reyes and I go way back- to the first day of high school at LaGuardia H.S. (a specialized school for the Arts in Manhattan). We were on the same train and I noticed her heading toward the 1/9 with all her anklets tinkering under her full length gypsy-like skirt, looking way cool. We ended up being in the same foundation art class and eventually in the same photography class. Her work has certainly matured and evolved since then and she's changed fashion styles many times over. Justine has been on a quest to explore and define herself (as we all do) and where her travel and work has taken her is right back to what defines her the most, her family. By photographing her family members, she shares what is closest in who is present and absent and the struggles within as she deals with aging loved ones.
Untitled, Home © Justine Reyes
Nymphoto: Tell us a little about yourself.
Justine Reyes: My mother left my father in 1980 by telling him she wanted to take my brother and I to my cousin’s wedding in NY so she could visit my family. She packed one suitcase and never looked back. That’s how I got to be a NYC girl instead of a sunny California girl. I often wonder who I would be if I had grown up on the west coast instead of in Queens with my mom, brother, grandmother and uncles, Al and Vinnie.
Untitled, (work in progress) © Justine Reyes
NP: How did you discover photography?
JR: Oddly enough it was one of my dad’s first visits to NY that he brought me a Polaroid camera. When I was nine my uncle Al bought me a neon-orange point and shoot that I took everywhere. I remember putting my mom’s shoe on her head while she was sleeping and taking a picture once. I have no idea why. I guess I’ve been terrorizing my family with a camera for a long time, although now they’re more active participants.
Bermuda, Away From Home © Justine Reyes
Palermo, Away From Home © Justine Reyes
NP: Where do you find inspiration?
JR: My process is very intuitive and each project builds organically. Much of my work demonstrates the power of objects to bear witness to intangible ideas and emotional truths and employs the iconography and symbols of common everyday objects as a means of communicating shared experiences.
Barcelona, Away From Home © Justine Reyes
The death of my uncle Vinnie profoundly impacted me and has in large part brought me to my most current bodies of work, many of which include my family, the idea of leaving and returning home, and the longing to hold on to things that are ephemeral and transitory in nature.
Untitled, Home © Justine Reyes
Untitled, Home © Justine Reyes
NP: How did this project come about?
JR: I have been photographing my immediate family for the past 6 years. This work entitled Home combines portraits, with images of empty interior spaces throughout the house. When I began I was photographing my mom and two uncles, all of whom raised me since I was two years old. These images portray them doing everyday things like cleaning, eating, watching TV, and doing nothing in particular. The catalyst for making this work began with my fear of losing them and trying to capture a moment slipping by faster and faster as they get older. After my uncle Vinnie died this work changed a lot. I began focusing more on their fragility; my uncle’s broken nose, or how tired my mom looks, etc. The image of the empty bedroom represents my Uncle Vinnie and his absence.
Away from Home began shortly after Uncle Vinnie’s death when I booked a cruise to Bermuda for my mom, uncle, brother and myself. I thought we all needed a vacation from grief and sadness. Since then we have gone to Spain, Italy and Australia together. The hotel rooms become grand stages for dramas that never quite unfold. I focus on the subtle underlying tension created by being slightly out of place and out of your comfort zone and the little things we do to try to recreate a small piece of home wherever we go. By staging them in foreign spaces costumed to have the look and feel of domestic comfort I begin to draw relationships between Home and Away from Home, both literally and metaphorically.
Untitled, (work in progress) © Justine Reyes
Untitled, (work in progress) © Justine Reyes
NP: What’s next?
JR: I am currently working on a still life series that I began while in residence at the Center for Photography at Woodstock. This series is inspired by Dutch Vanitas paintings and incorporates personal objects of my own as well as objects that belonged to my grandmother. Pairing these objects together speaks to memory and the legacy one leaves behind. Both the decomposition of the natural (rotting fruit and wilting flowers) as well as the break down of the man made objects, reference the physical body and mortality. These objects bear witness to a spiritual trace or imprint that is left behind or residual.
Untitled, (work in progress) © Justine Reyes
Thank you Justine. More images and projects can be found on justinereyes.com.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
A Conversation with Justine Reyes
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Opening Tomorrow: Young Curators, New Ideas II
2nd of January 2008 © Courtesy Michele Abeles & P.P.O.W.
Group Show
Young Curators, New Ideas II
Curated by: Karen Archey, Cleopatra's (Bridget Donahue, Bridget Finn, Cecilia Jurado), Kate McNamara, Women in Photography (Amy Elkins & Cara Phillips), Megha Ralapati, Jose Ruiz, Erin Somerville, Nico Wheadon
P.P.O.W.
511 West 25th Street
Room 301
New York, NY 10001
August 6th - August 28th
Opening Reception: August 6th 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
ARTISTS:
Michele Abeles
Norma Markley
Taylor Baldwin
Els Vanden Meersch
Daniel Chew
Jessica Ann Peavy
Alejandro Diaz
Dawit L. Petros
Tom Fruin
Victoria Sambunaris
Tierney Gearon
Segtram
Boyd Holbrook
Jaret Vadera
Las Hermanas Iglesias
Noelle Lorraine Williams
J&J
Bryan Zanisnik
It's a great line-up curated by very talented curators. Should be a great show.
And please revisit our conversation with the very talented Michele Abeles.
tArt at A.I.R. opens tomorrow
tArt at A.I.R.
A.I.R. Gallery
August 1 through August 29, 2009
Opening reception Thursday, August 6th from 6pm to 8pm
Closing reception on Thursday, August 27th from 6pm to 8pm.
tART at AIR includes the work of 35 artists who are part of the tART collective. tART is comprised of 46 emerging women artists nationwide, whose network facilitates dialogue, collaboration, learning and teaching, public engagement, and activism.
This exhibition is, in part, an examination of the Feminist Art Movement's influence on subsequent generations of female artists. While the majority of the work does not reveal feminist content, the exhibition is a cross section of art being made by emerging women artists. The pieces are wide-ranging in genre and materials, not tending towards any specific trend but rather demonstrating the depth and vitality of women artists today. The exhibition is presented “salon” style. The salon tradition provides a rich subject for a contemporary feminist exhibition as it is an inclusive survey of tART members. Historically, “salon style” exhibitions of the 19th Century were surveys of contemporary art that excluded women, minorities and artists working on the fringe.
A.I.R. Gallery and the tART collective are both organizations founded by women with the intention of fostering a strong community and public presence for women in the arts. Both A.I.R. Gallery and tART function as support networks, which continue to strengthen and celebrate women’s roles in the field.
The exhibiting artists are: Liz Ainslie, Jill Auckenthaler, Suzanne Bennett, Monica Carrier, Sydney Chastain-Chapman, Laurie Close, Melissa Cowper-Smith, Ann deVere, Maria Dumlao, Madora Frey, Tara Giannini, Rachael Gorchov, Anna Lise Jensen, Elsie Kagan, Katherine Keltner, Selena Kimball, Essye Klempner, Katy Krantz, Katerina Lanfranco, Lisa Lindgren, Rebecca Loyche, Cybele Lyle, Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow, Sandra Mack-Valencia, Ilse Murdock, Danielle Mysliwiec, Asya Reznikov, Susan Ross, Carrie Rubinstein, Nikki Schiro, Yasmin Spiro, Melissa Staiger, Rosemary Taylor, Petra Valentova, and Julia Whitney Barnes. For more information about tART, please visit www.tartnyc.org.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Stacy Arezou Mehrfar @ Perth Centre for Photography
The Perth Centre for Photography will exhibit a selection of works from
AMERICAN PALIMPSESTS | THIS WAS WHAT THERE WAS.
The exhibition opens on August 7th and will run through August 30th, 2009.
Perth Centre for Photography
91 Brisbane Street
Perth, Western Australia Opening: Friday, August 7th at 6pm
Artist Talk: Sunday, August 9th at 2pm
www.americanpalimpsests.
Dressing by Ariana Page Russel
Heat Wave, 2008 © Ariana Page Russell
Head over to Art Most Fierce to see what Ariana Page Russel has been up to. And re-visit our Conversation with Ariana by clicking here.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Opening Tomorrow: Chibi Lai's "We Come From The Land of The Ice and Snow"
Chibi Lai
We Come From The Land of The Ice and Snow
From the artist:
'We Come From The Land of The Ice and Snow'
This series is a continuation of my 'Displacement' series, focusing on the concept of solidarity and wanderlust. This project was shot in Iceland. In comparison to the usual self portraits I make within landscape ('Displacement'), these images are not of myself but speak of how it feels to be in solitude and searching for the right place to be from a universal standpoint. With nature playing a huge role in this series, a timeless place has been created, where everything becomes dreamlike, where nothing seems to be real or certain.
www.chibilai.com ('Displacement' and 'We Come From The Land of The Ice and Snow' series could be viewed on site)
Sunday, August 2, 2009
The Vestiges Project: Land Marks
The Vestiges Project: Land Marks
Musings about the vestigial landscape and cultures of New Orleans began long before Katrina...
Works by: Courtney Egan, Jan Gilbert, Debra Howell & Michel Varisco
On view through August 26, 2009
The Opal Gallery
484 B-2 Moreland Avenue NE, Atlanta, GA 30307
To learn more about The Vestiges Project, visit http://www.thevestigesproject.org
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Tonight: An Evening with Mary Ellen Mark in Woodstock
(from The Center for Photography at Woodstock)
Mary Ellen Mark Lecture
The Center for Photography at Woodstock
Saturday August 1, 2009 7 PM
Address 59 Tinker Street, Woodstock NY 12498
Telephone 845-679-9957 fax 845-679-6337
Email info@cpw.org
Mary Ellen Mark is one of the most respected and loved documentary photographers in the world. Her photographs of world cultures, subcultures, and personalities are landmarks in the field. Mark has achieved worldwide visibility through her numerous photo-essays and portraits in such magazines as The New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Stern, Details, Allure, Rolling Stone, Vogue, US, Life, and the London Sunday Times Magazine. For almost three decades she has traveled extensively to make pictures that reflect a high degree of humanism. Mark, a socially committed photographer, who continues to make images of passion and integrity, has been the recipient of the Cornell Capa Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, ICP’s Infinity Award for Journalism, and three fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. Mark has published fourteen books including the most recent Seen Behind the Scene: Forty Years of Photographing on Set, (Phaidon, November 2008), Falkland Road, Mother Teresa’s Mission of Charity in Calcutta, A Cry for Help, Indian Circus, Mary Ellen Mark: 25 Years, American Odyssey, and Twins. Marianne Boesky Gallery in NYC represents her work. Her website is www.maryellenmark.com
Friday, July 31, 2009
Martien Moulder's From Blue to Blue
Martien Mulder
From Blue to Blue
Capricious Space
Williamsburg / Greenpoint / Bushwick
103 Broadway, 917-438-7015
July 9 - August 9, 2009
From the press release:
Capricious Space is proud to present FROM BLUE TO BLUE, a selection of images extracted from 10 years of personal work by Martien Mulder. With a focus on landscape and portraiture, this particular edit is based on the monochromatic quality of each photograph. The primary color in every image determines its place in the space. Even though the images have their own individual meaning on the level of representation, they are sorted by their formal values. Mulder treats them as colors in a color scheme while designing within the graphic space: whether it is the pages of a book, or a gallery. Her installations are site specific.
Dutch-born Martien Mulder discovered her love for photography as a teenager. Her first pictures date from her high school years, when friends would pose willingly in her homemade studio. After her art history studies, with a major in contemporary photography, she decided to take her own pictures more seriously. By composing handmade books of her photographs, she established a visual language that connected to the magazine world. She started traveling the world, wherever assignments would lead her, and created personal work at the same time. Mulder has always been interested in the relationship between people and their environment.
She currently lives in New York and her pictures have appeared in magazines such as Purple, 10 Magazine, French Vogue and Fantastic Man. She has had exhibitions staged in New York, Amsterdam and Tokyo. Her book, also titled “From Blue to Blue” will be available for purchase.
