27 Feb Ed Kashi – EYE CONTACT
In the Main Gallery: February 17 – March 23, 2012
Pictures of people reacting to the camera are often discarded as uncomfortable reminders that the photojournalist’s camera can be an intrusion into the world it observes. These previously unseen images pulled from photojournalist Ed Kashi’s outtakes reveal the world looking right back at him, directly engaging us with his subjects in an array of spontaneous responses to the camera. The pictures are startling in their honesty, telling us much about the subjects and even more about the photographer and the practice of photojournalism. Eye Contact raises questions about the assumed neutrality and invisibility of the photographer, our own role as viewers and the assumptions we make about the world as we see it in photographs.
Ed Kashi describes Eye Contact as “a collection of photographs normally rejected during the editing process because someone in the frame is looking straight into the camera or at me. Representing a look back at my work through this unusual prism, Eye Contact also demonstrates how the public reacts to photographers.
[I]n the digital age of publishing, the camera is often perceived as a violation of privacy and conjures up a potential threat of invasion to an individual’s personal space and identity. Eye Contact puts the viewer, in a visceral way, into the shoes of the photographer who is constantly prodding and pushing against a world of reactions, much of the time a world of defenses.”
Ed Kashi is a photographer, filmmaker and educator dedicated to documenting the social and political issues that define our times. As a member of the photo agency VII, Kashi has been recognized for his complex imagery and its compelling rendering of the human condition. He lives with his family close to NYC. Ed Kashi’s images have been published and exhibited worldwide, and his editorial assignments and personal projects have generated six books.
VISUAL STORYTELLING with Passion and Purpose
One-Day Workshop with ED KASHI – SOLD OUT – THANK YOU!
Saturday, February 18, 10-4 pm. $175/158
-
- Ed Kashi: Port Harcourt, Nigeria, 2006. Residents of Aker Camp pick through the remains of their lives one week after their neighborhood was attacked and burned down by the Nigerian military
-
- Ed Kashi: Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1989. Watching an Orange parade
-
- Ed Kashi: Brighton, England, 1977. Old man sitting on a bench reflected in a broken mirror on the beach
-
- Ed Kashi: Afrin, Syria 1991. A nervous Kurdish bride starts her chaotic ride to her wedding in Afrin, Syria
-
- Ed Kashi: Madanayakana Halli, India 2007. A trucker along the Golden Quadrilateral highway has sex with a eunuch, or transgender sex worker in a bathhouse outside of Bangalore, India
-
- Ed Kashi: Armenia, Colombia 1981. Soldiers marching in the streets of Armenia, Colombia
-
- Ed Kashi: San Francisco, California 1981. A woman glares at the camera at dusk in the financial district of San Francisco, CA
-
- Ed Kashi: East Berlin, Germany 1991. A squatter stands outside a WWII bomb-damaged building, which was once a department store, then became a Nazi administration facility. Now run by a group of squatter artists, Tachles has become an intermingling of artist’s studios, galleries, cafes, and a dance club
-
- Ed Kashi: Muratganj, India 2007. A one kilometer bridge over the Ganges River in Muratganj is nearly finished, with local farmers, water buffalo, fishermen and boats all existing under this modern, massive bridge that now extends over this sacred river
-
- Ed Kashi: Baghdad, Iraq 2003. A family spills onto the street after a fight breaks out in their neighborhood of Baghdad on July 5, 2003.