I took this photo in 2014 and this week, it was selected for re: place – snapshots of Gowanus in transition. Curated by Miska Draskoczy, it was the Arts Gowanus exhibit at the Affordable Art Fair in New York City. I just found out it sold (!). This was my first art opening. But I am hoping that it won’t be the last as I am determined to get a showing for the Mapping Gowanus project I started on this blog years ago.
The opening was a fun event, like a local party – attended by so many Gowanus neighbors and artists I have known and seen in the neighborhood for years – who also had photos in the show. Miska did a great job selecting images that reflect the changes that have taken place over the years; they were familiar and yet taken as a whole, captured the bittersweet feelings of change.
As for the Mapping Gowanus project – it is interesting to me that when I started it over a decade ago, people followed the rules of the assignment quite well for the most part. You are assigned a block, you are to walk the block, and create something within 3 days in response to it. The exercise was meant to create a deadline, and force an instinctive response. People wrote songs, took photos, wrote essays, made videos. No overthinking. At some point, people suddenly stopped taking the deadline part seriously. And though many blocks have been assigned, getting people to turn in their “homework” has been nearly impossible for the past several years. Why is that? Is it something that happened post-Covid? Our current political climate? Or is it the changing neighborhood itself? Whatever it is… I will try to pull some teeth and get those projects turned in. After re: place I am eager to put up this show.
If you are interested in a block assignment – please reach out!