Identity Identities (i/i): Perspectives on Identity in the Twenty-First Century

 

For those spending their summer vacation looking for culture on the streets of New York City, a group exhibition that recently opened in Chelsea holds a store of thought-provoking images centered on the shifting identities and role-playing apparent in twenty-first century life. Identity Identities (i/i), a photography exhibit concentrating on the evolution of identity in an ever-changing society, is on view at the Aperture Gallery until August 20.

The works on view are assembled from eleven alumni of the School of Visual Art’s photography BFA program. SVA and the Aperture Foundation have partnered to present this selection from these promising artists. Making this exhibit even more unique, it has traveled to New York after a debut at the Galleria San Ludovico in Parma, Italy, where it was originally coordinated as an exchange between photography students in Parma and the students of SVA.

Each artist was selected for his or her unique approach to the theme of identity, creating a very diverse and exciting exhibition. Stephen Frailey, curator for (i/i) explains, “I wanted as broad an aesthetic and ideological range as possible.”

Two artists’ works stand out in particular: that of Susanne Persson and Hugo Fernandez.  Persson’s concentration was on product and corporate identity specifically through the use of logos and branding.  Fernandez focused on a dark and guarded perspective of sexual identity.  Other graduates chose to concentrate on how identity manifests itself through group identification and how the places people live affect them. 

“I would like the audience to be enlivened by the playfulness and originality of much of the work, and understand also that self identity is key, no matter what the genre, to creating a meaningful body of work,” comments Frailey.

The Aperture Gallery on West 27^th Street will host this exceptional international exhibit until August 20. These creative perspectives on a never-ending challenge we each face is not to be missed. It may spark a change in how you look at your own life. For more information on the exhibit, please visit this link.

--Susan Guth, PDN intern

Comments

[retoque fotografico]

A photographic exhibition I would have loved to have seen!

[Sammie]

I wish I knew of this when I was in new york!

I think artist are constantly exploring the idea of identity in their own work. Self portraits always question the "who am I" question.