Hidden Treasure

On Second Thought… Panic

Mom, Listen to the Sea

Artist Statement
My son’s birth has meant an encounter with a completely new form of experiencing life and interacting with the world. Since the moment I knew I was pregnant, parenting has been an existential experiment –an involuntary, uncontrolled one– marked by the encounter with a being that was, first, a part of me, but then became an Other, becoming ever more different from me with each second, becoming more Other. Motherhood has been, for me, the progressive development of an I that opens to an Other in a process marked by a bittersweet recognition and simultaneous estrangement. It has brought the opportunity to experience the Other not by means of a confrontation, in time and space, of two different persons, but through the gradual separation of one in two.

I’m Open to You is a series of photographs –taken and digitally altered by the artist– in which some of my son’s favorite objects and toys appear. These objects have invaded every space of my everyday life, as a symbol of my son’s existence installing itself in my own existence, as well as in his father’s. I experience this existence as open to me, and at the same time as a door to revisit my own existence, an opportunity to formulate fantastic hypotheses to explain places and things that had become common for me over the years. Many of these photographs are also the telling of the act of daring to open and be open to something, with the hope to make an unexpected discovery through an irreversible process, like maternity itself.

Website
http://www.rebecaolguin.com/

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“Brooklyn Navy Yard: Building 128″, photograph

“Brooklyn Navy Yard: Admirals’ Row, Grand Ballroom”, photograph

“Brooklyn Navy Yard: GMD Shipyard”, photograph

Twilight on the Waterfront: Brooklyn’s Vanishing Industrial Heritage

My photographs bring you inside places you may have walked by a thousand times and always wondered about. They take you into Brooklyn’s industrial waterfront, a world closed to the public for decades. These fenced-off factories, refineries and shipyards lining our waterfront are often beautiful and full of surprises. They are also quickly disappearing. In 2007, the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed Brooklyn’s entire industrial waterfront at the top of their “Most Endangered” list. Many of the places in my photographs have already been torn down as the pace of development quickens.

Once, Brooklyn had the most vital working waterfront in America. Today, its industrial heritage is almost gone. My photographs document the twilight of the waterfront.

I grew up within view of the San Francisco Navy Yard and now live two blocks from the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. I have always been fascinated by the edges of waterfront cities. My documentary work is informed by many artists, including the anonymous photographers of the international Urban Exploration movement. They explore the off-limits parts of cities while ignoring traditional trespassing laws. Visiting old tunnels, factories and military bases, they document the true history of the urban landscape. Through their large network of online photography communities, I’ve met many talented photographers who were often with me as I explored the waterfront.

Now Exhibiting at the
Brooklyn Public Library
June 17, 2008 – August 30, 2008
Central Library, Grand Lobby

For more information on the exhibit, click here.

and at

The Brooklyn Museum
Click! A Crowd Curated Exhibit
June 27–August 10, 2008

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/click/

Contact the artist: http://kensinger.blogspot.com/

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Name:
Gavin Thomas

Neighborhood:
Greenpoint

Media/Materials/Tools:
Analog Cameras – Holga, LCA, Dianna, Yashica T3

Describe your process:
Double Exposures and using old expired Film

Is there a common theme or subject matter in your work?
People

How do you work with your materials, do you use any unique applications?
I still shoot film and use alternative processes.

Describe your studio or ideal working conditions, when are you most creative?
When Im exploring a new city or country. When I travel. I like being a tourist, never know what your going to find exploring the streets.

What factors make you consider a work finished or successful?
I like the viewers to be interested in the images. Whether it is simply enjoying the colors or asking how did you do that? Being able to get some reaction is key.

Website/Contact:
www.gavinthomasphoto.com
gavin@gavinthomasphoto.com
917.572.0884

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