Steve Turtell and Peter Hujar

Thursday, March 17, 7pm
Free to CCNY members, SVA students, faculty, and staff
$5 general admission, $3 for other students with ID

Q & A to follow the discussion

Peter Hujar: Portrait of the Life and Death of a Friendship.
In the dismal winter of 1980, Peter Hujar and Steve Turtell traveled together to New Orleans to attend Mardi Gras, a trip that had unexpected consequences and redefined their friendship. Turtell will read excerpts from his account of their friendship and the trip, and discuss Hujar’s work in the context of his contradictory personality— sometimes charming, sometimes antagonistic, always brilliant and fascinating.
Steve Turtell is a poet who lives in New York City. His first book, Heroes and Householders was published in 2009 by Orchard House Press. His 2001 chapbook, Letter to Frank O’Hara is the 2010 winner of the Rebound Chapbook Prize given by Seven Kitchens Press and will be reissued with an introduction by Joan Larkin in 2011. He is currently at work on Peter Hujar: Portrait of the Life and Death of a Friendship, a memoir of his friendship with the photographer Peter Hujar.
Peter Hujar (1937-1987) is best known for his powerful portraits of downtown New York personalities of the 1970’s and 80’s. His books include Portraits in Life and Death, Peter Hujar: Animals and Nudes; Peter Hujar: A Retrospective, and most recently Peter Hujar: Night. His work has been the subject of major retrospectives at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Fotomuseum in Winterthur, Switzerland. In 2005-2006 PS1 exhibited an important survey of his work.
Baxter St at CCNY thanks the Peter Hujar Archive and Stephen Koch for their kind permission for photo usage.