Solo exhibitions: “Flushing Creek into Bowery Bay: Selections from the Islands of New York,” and “The Islands and Waterways of New York City,” two exhibitions of photographs by Accra Shepp ’84.
Dates and locations: Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd., Flushing, N.Y., Nov. 16 – Jan. 12 (gallery hours: Sat. and Sun., 12-5 p.m.); and Queens Museum, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, N.Y., Feb. 2 – May 11.
The artist: A former lecturer in Visual Arts in the Lewis Center for the Arts, Shepp is a photographer who has exhibited in the United States and abroad. His work is represented in collections including the Museum of Modern Art, the Chicago Art Institute, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. His work also has appeared in The New York Times, Harper's Magazine, and Camera Arts, among other publications.
The shows: Shepp has been working on his Islands of New York project for five years. He photographed the more than 40 islands of New York City, and found that in a city of so many islands, “the waterfront is all but invisible.” By photographing the landscape and the people who live and work there, Shepp hopes to “lift the veil on a feature of the landscape hiding in plain sight.” He used a large format (4x5) camera to make multiple views on color film that were pieced together to create panoramic images. Some of the works are as wide as 12 feet, others as tall as five feet. The images in the Flushing Town Hall show — “Flushing Creek into Bowery Bay: Selections from the Islands of New York” — are of Flushing and the surrounding waterways. The photographs in the Queens Museum show — “The Islands and Waterways of New York City” — are a selection of work from all five boroughs.
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