FOR IMMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Islip Arts Council (IAC) and Seeing for Ourselves (SFO) are pleased to host in the IAC Gallery at the South Shore Mall this game-changing exhibit and film: SEEING FOR OURSELVES PARTICIPATORY PHOTOGRAPHY IN NEW YORK CITY 2010 - 2020 Wednesday, September 6, 2023 the exhibit opens at the IAC Gallery and runs through September 29th. The media is invited and encouraged to arrange for a private tour. Saturday, September 9th at 1:00 “In a Whole New Way”, the award-winning film that documents this participatory photography project of young people on probation will be shown. Gallery hours are 11am-4pm Tuesday through Saturday, and admission is free. This exhibit, several years in the making, is curated by Denise Bibro of Denise Bibro Fine Art, Manhattan and produced by master printer and fine art photographer Holly Gordon. This exhibit showcases the work of the Bay Shore nonprofit Seeing For Ourselves, SFO, founded in 2010 with the mission of empowering marginalized people to tell their own story by documenting their lives photographically. SFO’s first effort, on behalf of NYC public housing residents (2010-2013), led to the publication of their first book, Project Lives: New York Public Housing Residents Photograph Their World (powerHouse, 2015). The global acclaim greeting the work, reinforced by gallery exhibits of the work around the city, encouraged the city and state to restart public housing support and led the city to ask the nonprofit to conduct a similar program for New Yorkers on probation—another marginalized population. Thanks to the advocacy of New York’s Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) helped fund this effort. In a Whole New Way, the half-hour film documenting New Yorkers on probation (2018-2021), continues to receive acclaim on the film festival circuit—honored by 200 festivals around the world in 2021-23. The film has won over 60 awards, including Best Documentary, Best Human Rights Film, Best Black Lives Matter Film, Best Social Justice Film, Most Original Idea, and Most Inspirational Film. (The Love Wins International Film Festival in Patchogue was a local win.) Viewing the documentary as a unique cultural asset, the national probation industry will be utilizing the film to help reform America’s criminal justice system. Here is the film’s trailer. Gallery exhibits around the city punctuated this initiative as well. The companion book, “In A Whole New Way” was published in June (Prospecta Press). Meanwhile, SFO has embarked upon its third effort, “My Climate Future: High-Schoolers Picture Their World to Come.” A proof-of-concept was successfully conducted in Cape Elizabeth, Maine this past spring and a selection of these photographs is also part of this pertinent exhibit. This IAC Gallery exhibit includes a selection of photography from all three programs and the books Project Lives and In a Whole New Way will be available. Lynda Moran, Executive Director of IAC, had this to say: “The IAC is proud to host this exhibit showing the power of participatory photography. We believe that all those interested in the arts and/or social justice will find this exhibition and film enlightening.” George Carrano, Bay Shore resident and co-Executive Director of SFO, said the following: “We are thrilled to be partnering on this exhibit with IAC, which has built a reputation for innovative programming on the South Shore. The support shown by this arts organization in our backyard will be very helpful in expanding the audience for participatory photography, and the cause of helping those whose voices have not been heard to be heard.” For more information: Lynda Moran, Executive Director, Islip Arts Council Katrina Kuan, Gallery Administrator https://www.isliparts.org lynda@isliparts@gmail.com katrina.isliparts@gmail.com 631-888-3525 George Carrano and Jonathan Fisher Executive Directors, Seeing for Ourselves https://www.seeingforourselves.org https://www.projectlivesbook.com https://www.inawholenewway.com georgecarrano@yahoo.com 917-855-4909 914-413-5378 |