‘Durga’ with photographs by Sara Hylton, curated by Kim Hubbard of National Geographic and nominated by Jamel Shabazz, exploring resilience in the aftermath of the 2015 Nepal earthquake. It is one of the “Emergi-Cubes” of work nominated by photo professionals for small shipping pallet displays at Photoville in Brooklyn Bridge Park. (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic)
Last weekend, the 2015 edition of Photoville opened the doors of its repurposed shipping containers for a two-week fair of photography. There are over 60 individual exhibitions presented by United Photo Industries (UPI) in the outdoor space alongside Pier 5 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, with a strong focus on photojournalism and ongoing global issues.
For this year’s edition of the annual event, which launched in 2012, the installations are both inside and outside the containers. Smaller displays of emerging photographers’ work nominated by seasoned professionals are presented on square shipping pallets called “Emergi-Cubes.” These have some captivating series like Sara Hylton’s “Durga,” on the aftermath of the 2015 Nepal earthquake; Alícia Rius’s “The Disturbing Beauty of Sphynx Cats,” on the odd appearance of the hairless house cats; and the “Welcome to Dilley” project by Chris Gregory, Natalie Keyssar, Jake Naughton, and Alejandro Torres Viera, on the largest immigrant detention center in the United States moving into a small Texas town.
Alicia Rius, ‘The Disturbing Beauty of Sphynx Cats,’ curated by Stella Kramer (click to enlarge)
Alongside are heavy photography hitters like National Geographic, Getty Images, the New York Times, and a double-decker container for Instagram. There is definitely an infiltration of the social media aesthetic and quick-fire availability of iPhone photography, such as with the Getty Images Instagram Grant Recipients, who include Dmitry Markov’s moving — even if heavily filtered — series on orphan children in Pskov, Russia.
Still, the most compelling work is among the in-depth photojournalism projects. Radcliffe Roye’s When Living Is a Protest is particularly immediate with his 2015 portraits on racial tensions and protest as a passive and aggressive act in New York, South Carolina, Mississippi, Memphis, and Ferguson, Missouri. There are also mapping projects like “Toxic Sites US,” presented by Open Society Foundations, with photography by Brooke Singer of 1,300 Superfund sites, and “The Geography of Poverty” cartographic installation with photos by Matt Black geotagged to census data on the poor communities of the United States. Alongside are series with a more international view, like Daniel Berehulak’s Pulitzer-winning “Scenes from the Ebola Crisis” for the New York Times from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea; and Stephanie Sinclair’s “Too Young to Wed” on child marriage in Afghanistan.
Photoville continues through this Sunday, with weekend programming including a discussion on documenting climate change, a medical response workshop for journalists in dangerous and remote areas, and a talk on alternative models for documentary storytelling.
Radcliffe Roye, ‘When Living Is a Protest,’ presented by United Photo Industries, on 2015 protests and everyday life in New York, South Carolina, Mississippi, Memphis, and Ferguson, Missouri
Radcliffe Roye, ‘When Living Is a Protest,’ presented by United Photo Industries, on 2015 protests and everyday life in New York, South Carolina, Mississippi, Memphis, and Ferguson, Missouri
‘Scenes from the Ebola Crisis,’ presented by the New York Times Lens Blog, with photography by Daniel Berehulak from covering the Ebola crisis in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea
Stephanie Sinclair, ‘Too Young to Wed,’ on child marriage in Afghanistan. Presented by Too Young To Wed, curated by Stephanie Sinclair and Christina Piaia
‘Toxic Sites US,’ presented by Open Society Foundations, with visual and text descriptions for 1,300 Superfund sites, featuring photography by Brooke Singer
‘Welcome to Dilley’ with photographs by Chris Gergory, Natalie Keyssar, Jake Naughton, and Alejandro Torres Viera, on the small town’s new South Texas Family Residential Center, the largest immigrant detention center in the country
‘American Exile: Detained, Deported, and Divided,’ with photographs by Graham Macindoe and interviews by Susan Stellin with immigrants who have been ordered deported from the United States and their family members. Supported by Pentagram, Families for Freedom, Parsons School of Design, and the Alicia Patterson Foundation
Photograph by Malin Fezehai, presented by Photo District News Magazine in their ‘Emerging Photographers to Watch’ installation
Photographs by Dmitry Markov from Pskov, Russia, focused on orphan children, presented by Getty Images and Instagram as part of the ‘2015 Getty Images Instagram Grant Recipients’
Glenna Gordon, ‘Diagram of the Heart,’ a series on Muslim romance novels in Northern Nigeria and the daily life they interpret, presented by Open Society Documentary Project and curated by Siobhan Riordan
Glenna Gordon, ‘Diagram of the Heart,’ a series on Muslim romance novels in Northern Nigeria and the daily life they interpret, presented by Open Society Documentary Project and curated by Siobhan Riordan
Tiffany Smith, ‘For Tropical Girls Who Have Considered Ethnogenesis When the Native Sun is Remote,’ nominated by Jerry Vezzuso
Edoardo Delille and Gabriele Galimberti, ‘En Plein Air,’ a series on sports in the lives of people in Rio de Janeiro
Lynn Johnson, ‘Blast Force Survivors,’ with portraits of soldiers who made masks visualizing the invisible trauma of blast force experiences
From left to right: photographs by Meg Wachter, Liam Sinnott, Federico Ciamei, and Kari Herer, in ‘Flora & Fauna’ presented by Feature Shoot
Ellen Kok, ‘Cadets,’ a series on the importance of the military in the lives of teenagers in an underserved area of the United States
Li Qiang, ‘WWII Chinese Veterans,’ presented by Yiheimage, a community of professional photographers in China, and curated by Siqi Yang
“The Geography of Poverty’” installation with photography by Matt Black geotagged with census data to map the poor communities of the United States
Photoville continues at the Pier 5 Uplands in Brooklyn Bridge Park (Corner of Joralemon Street and Furman Street, Brooklyn Heights) through September 20.
