Best known for his work documenting war and suffering around the world, photographer Q. Sakamaki’s new book, Tompkins Square Park, shows his earlier work in a place so close yet so far away: the Lower East Side well before there were $10 million penthouses on Avenue C. The NY Times talks with Sakamaki about his experiences documenting the community’s struggle against gentrification and sometimes simply to survive.
“Upon arriving in the city in 1986 he settled in the East Village, where he was alternately charmed and horrified by what he found. Dilapidated and abandoned buildings lined the streets. Entire blocks were filled with little more than rubble and bricks. Heroin was sold in candy stores, and gunshots sounded in the night. In the morning he sometimes spotted the bodies of people who had been killed or had died of overdoses.”
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Photographer Bryan Derballa shares some photos of Jay, “a former drug-dealer and ex-convict that began hustling at the age of 13.”
“Now 34, Jay has spent almost half his life in prison. Two years ago, he married Gladys, a well-educated school teacher. They live together in the projects where she grew up. Jay claims that her love has saved his life and for the first time in his 15 year-long addiction to heroin, he began seeking methadone treatment. Everyday is a struggle but not without hope.”
In addition to the photos, there is also an audio slideshow.
Tomorrow afternoon, Vice Magazine adds a gallery to its empire, with the east coast opening of their 2008 Annual Photo Show. In addition to the work of contributing photographers, the show also offers prints for sale (some very cheap) and a shop full of Vice schwag, including free copies of the latest photo issue. Take a look tomorrow, from 3 to 7 PM at the gallery below the Vice NY office (99 North 10th St, between Berry and Wythe, Brooklyn). The show will be on view through August 31, after which the gallery becomes office space for more Vice minions. The full list of featured photographers is below.
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White lines of light crisscross and circle the Los Angeles skate parks and ditches of photographer Lia Halloran. Skating these locations at and capturing the image at night, she lets her light trail be the self-portrait and record of the evening. Tonight, ten of Halloran’s photographs are featured in Dark Skate, her second New York solo show, at DCKT Contemporary (195 Bowery at Spring St, New York, NY) from 6 to 8 PM, and stays up through September 13.
Since 1992, Native New York photographer Craig Wetherby been photographing various musicians, athletes and artists, capturing their personalities with a bold and colorful style. Tonight, he is opening an exhibition of his photographic work tonight at Milk Gallery (450 W 15th St, Manhattan) from 7 to 10 PM. Wetherby recently collaborated with Manik Skateboards on a set of skateboard decks and apparel, featuring his shots of Ghostface Killah, Slick Rick, Method Man, Gwar and Bad Brains among others, which will also be on display. Music will be provided by Prince Paul, Ricky Powell aka The Funky Uncle, Smoke L.E.S. and Trouble Andrew. Don’t sleep, because after tonight the show is off to someplace else.
Photo of Prince Paul and Ewa da Cruz by Craig Weatherby for FRANK 151 Magazine.
Tonight, Cinders Gallery opens the first solo show for photographer Tod Seelie, Slow Dancing to Slayer. The show not only draws on his work in New York City, but from travels along the Mississippi, across the country and around the world as well. You can preview Tod’s work and keep tabs on his enviable adventures at Of Quiet, Every Day I Live, and Suckapants. The show opens from 7 to 10 PM tonight and stays up through August 9th. (Cinders Gallery, 103 Havemeyer St, Brooklyn, NY)
Tomorrow night, friend and photographer Ryan MacFarland opens his first solo exhibition at Merge Gallery. “The exhibition titled “almost” is taken from the idea that we are almost always on the brink of full awareness and understanding. The somberness that is evoked from the futile endeavor of understanding the universe is elegantly juxtaposed by the hope of his young subjects and the humor of his oblivious non-human subjects.” The opening reception is from 6 to 9 PM tomorrow night, and the show remains on view through August 30th. (Merge Gallery, 205 W 20th St, NY, NY)
Boogie, street photographer extraordinaire, has two recent interviews to pore over. PingMag talks about his photos of Brooklyn gang and street life, while XLR8R asks about his new self-titled book. “My first book, It’s All Good, was pretty heavy, all guns and needles. I really wanted this book to show another side of me. I don’t think I want to be remembered as the guy who shoots only dark and dirty subjects. Especially lately (even more since my kid was born), I see beauty all around, in normal, everyday things.”
Lost, Lonely and Viscious, a photography show by Flo Schapiro opens tonight at Halcyon in DUMBO. It’s “some sort of collection of fragmentary observations of New York’s people, places and pandemonium above and below ground.” So if you like NYC street photography, check it out. If that’s not enough, there will be beer from Brooklyn Brewery, Red Bull from Red Bull, and homemade cookies and cupcakes from the artist.
Check out some photos on her blog, and then get your ass over there.
Lost, Lonely and Viscious
HALCYON in DUMBO, Brooklyn
57 Pearl St, at corner of Water St.
Trains: F to York St and A or C to High St.
Merlin Bronques, photographer of 
