
Photography at the 2017 Whitney Houston Biennial
This past Sunday the 2017 Whitney Houston Biennial: Greatest Love of All opened at chashama at XOCO 325 to a packed crowd of NYC art lovers and creatives of all kinds. This year, I had the honor of being invited to submit work and was accepted into the second edition of this unique group show which features only women artists, a move I can only attribute as a response to the gender inequality that is so rampant in more “established” art exhibitions.
No surprise this underdog biennial had already gotten TV and press coverage before it opened, so the line to get in was a block long. As I made my way into the exhibition space with my family, our eyes/hearts/minds became full of the glorious spectacle that is this all-female group show. The exhibition space itself is small but the floor-to-ceiling, salon-style hanging is democratic and accommodates humans of all sizes. My son and other children I saw there were thrilled by the work at their eye level.
Part of the artist submission process included having to write about a pioneering female that inspired your work. This requirement was easy for me given my current obsession with the black, PreRaphaelite model Fanny Eaton who I wrote about for the show. So not only is the show a visual celebration, but it also honors female legends big and small like Ms. Houston and 125 other women who have marked the world.
For me the biennial was a great way to discover new artists and below I highlighted the photographs, collages and lens-based images that were some of my favorites. All are available for purchase on the 2017 Whitney Houston Biennial website. The WHB is on view until March 29th so be sure check the website for other readings, panels, performances and other events.
Featured (Top) Image: Suzanne Wright – “8 Shuttles”

Nichole Washington – “I Considered Her My Blood and it don’t come no Thicker”

Marissa Long – “Forever Melon”

Juliana Paciulli – “Uh-huh (Basketball)”

Nick Alciati – “xoxo, Darlene (Bedroom View)”

Maureen Catbagan – “Hidden Sites – Blanton Museum Stairwell”

Nasrah Omar – “Azia 2”
Qiana Mestrich is a photographer, writer, digital marketer and mother from Brooklyn, NY. She is the founder of Dodge & Burn: Decolonizing Photography History, a blog that seeks to establish a more inclusive history of photography, highlighting contributions to the medium by and about people of underrepresented cultures.
Read her other guest posts on the Baxter St blog:
Conversation with Marco Scozzaro on Digital Deli
Five Visual Motifs in the Photographs of Ren Hang
Photography and the Black Panther Party
The Black Female Self in Landscape
In Memoriam: John Berger and Uses of Photography Quotes
Forthcoming Photobooks by African American and Black African Photographers
New Image Library Specializes in Race and Cultural Diversity
TONIGHT: 2011 CCNY Photo Benefit Auction
Big event tonight for the Camera Club. I haven’t been to the annual Auction before so I’m looking forward to seeing all the action. Many many great photographs (including the one below) will be available. Check out the press release and I hope to see you there.
Amy Stein, Cage, digital c-print, 20 x 16”, 2005
Join Us Tonight, Monday, November 7, 2011, 6 – 8pm
Location:
25CPW
25 Central Park West (at 62nd Street)
Featuring work by emerging and established photographers, including :
Mariette Pathy Allen / Rachel Barrett / Jacqueline Bates / Matthew Baum / Michael Berkowitz / Per Billgren / Anita Blank / Timothy Briner / Jesse Burke / Eric William Carroll / Sean Carroll / James Casebere / Lindsey Castillo / Jesse Chan / Vincent Cianni / Annabel Clark / Margarida Correia / Megan Cump / Pradeep Dalal / Bobby Davidson / Allison Davies / Isaac Diggs / Maureen Drennan / Emile Hyperion Dubuisson / Mark Fernandes / Larry Fink / Lauren Fleishman / Martine Fougeron / Jona Frank / Fryd Frydendahl / Theresa Ganz / Anders Goldfarb / Curtis Hamilton / Jason Hanasik / Daniel Handal / Kara Hayden / Jeanne Hilary / Francine Hofstee / Henry Horenstein / Michi Jigarjian / Erica Leone / Sze Tsung Leong / David Levinthal / Sam Levinthal / Wayne Liu / Feng Lu / Ryan MacFarland / Jerome Mallmann / Chris McCaw / Jo Meer / Dana Miller / Azikiwe Mohammed / Paolo Morales / Keren Moscovitch / Laurel Nakadate / Katherine Newbegin / Lori Nix / Heather O’Brien / Brayden Olson / Alice O’Malley / Cara Phillips / Libby Pratt / Richard Renaldi / Mauro Restiffe / Saul Robbins / Caren Rosenblatt / Michael Schmelling / Tina Schula / Manjari Sharma / Aline Smithson / John Stanley / Chad States / Amy Stein / Joni Sternbach / Motohiro Takeda / Maureen Testa / Sally Tosti / William Wegman / Randy West / Grant Willing / Jessica Yatrofsky / Rona Yefman / Pinar Yolaçan / Arin Yoon
Benefit Committee:
Mariette Pathy Allen, Paul Amador, Brian Paul Clamp, Daniel Cooney, Michael Foley, Martine Fougeron, Susan Fulwiler, Françoise Girard, Tom Gitterman, Peter Hay Halpert, Henry Horenstein, David Knott, Michael Mazzeo, Lizanne Merrill, L. Parker Stephenson, Spencer Throckmorton, Sasha Wolf, and Alice Sachs Zimet.
$20 admission.
All proceeds go to The Camera Club of New York (CCNY), a non-profit 501(c)3 arts organization that has been nurturing talented photographers since 1884.
Catering provided by Moustache.
To see the donated works, please go to CCNY’s online auction preview.
CCNY wishes to thank 25CPW Gallery for their generosity in hosting this year’s auction.
For further inquires, contact CCNY at baxterst@cameraclubny.org or by phone: 212-260-9927
Please visit us at www.cameraclubny.org
Openings and Events this week – November 1 – 6
Simen Johan, Untitled #159, From the series Until the Kingdom Comes, C-Print, 2010. Opening at Yossi Milo Gallery on Thursday, Nov. 3.
Tuesday, November 1
Performance: Jen DeNike “The Hostess Never Lies” curated by Anne Apparu
Vogt Gallery
526 W 26 street, suite 911, 11am-6pm
Lecture: “Surfland: Joni Sternbach”
Center for Alternative Photography
36 East 30th Street
RSVP to info@capworkshops.org, 7-8:30pm
Photography: Peter Hujar “Influential Friends”
John McWhinnie @ Glenn Horowitz Bookseller
50 1/2 E 64 street, 6-8pm
Wednesday, November 2
Inge Morath “Bal D’Hiver”
Esopus Space
64 W 3 street, suite 210, 6-8pm
Gilles Larrain “Idols”
Steven Kasher Gallery
521 W 23 street, 6-8pm
Thursday, November 3
Performance: Matthew Stone “Anatomy of Immaterial Worlds”
The Hole
312 Bowery, 9pm
Heather Goodchild, Mike Bayne “Walking the Pattern (Goodchild) / Kingston Spring and Muffler (Bayne)” curated by Katharine Mulherin
Mulherin + Pollard
187 Chrystie street, 6-9pm
Chris Johanson, Haim Steinbach, Lawrence Weiner, Matthew Brannon, Odilon Redon, Todd Eberle, Will Cotton, William Wegman “Pop-Up Shop”
RxArt
208 Forsyth Street, 6-8pm
“Cory Arcangel vs. Pierre Bismuth”
Cristina Lei Rodriguez “Through Excess and Ruin”
Team Gallery
83 Grand street, b/w wooster & greene, 6-8pm
Benefit: “Question Bridge: Black Males” a project by Chris Johnson and Hank Willis Thomas in collaboration with Bayeté Ross Smith and Kamal Sinclair
Jack Shainman Gallery
513 W 20 street, RSVP to rsvp@questionbridge.com, 6-8pm
Claire Fontaine “Working Together”
Metro Pictures
519 W 24 street, 6-8pm
Jon Kessler, Mika Rottenberg “Seven”
Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery (Project)
534 West 24th st, Tenth avenue, 6-8pm
Zachari Logan “Tramua and Other Stories”
Daniel Cooney Fine Art
511 W 25 street, floor 5
Photography: Simen Johan
Yossi Milo Gallery
525 W 25 street, 6-8pm
Photography: Erwin Blumenfeld “Vintage Fashion”
Edwynn Houk Gallery
745 Fifth avenue, at w 57 street, 6-8pm
“The Mask and The Mirror” curated by Shirin Neshat
Leila Heller Gallery
39 East 78th street, floor 3, 6-8pm
Photography: Lori Waselchuk “Grace Before Dying”
Umbrage
Brooklyn, 111 Front street, floor 2, 6-8pm
Friday, November 4
Brock Enright
Kate Werble Gallery
83 Vandam street, at hudson street, 6-8pm
Eva Rothschild
303 Gallery
547 W 21 street, 6-8pm
Photography: “Incomparable Women of Style: Selections from the Rose Hartman Photography Archives, 1977 – 2011”
FIT – Fashion Institute of Technology
West 27 street at 7th avenue, Gladys Marcus Library
Panel Discussion: “Osteobiographies” with Eric Stover, the Monument Group, Thomas Keenan, and Eyal Weizman
Cabinet
Brooklyn, 300 Nevins street, 6-8pm
Saturday, November 5
“Lady Pink”
Woodward Gallery
133 Eldridge street, b/w broome & delancey, floor 5, 6-8pm
Performance: Joan Jonas, Rachel Mason, Shana Moulton “The Hostess Never Lies” curated by Anne Apparu
Vogt Gallery
526 W 26 street, suite 911, 4-6pm
Workshop: Daido Moriyama “Printing Show- TKY”
Aperture Foundation
547 W 27 street, floor 4, $75, noon-3pm & 5- 8pm
Sunday, November 6
Photography: Lucas Blalock “xyz”
Ramiken Crucible
389 Grand street, 6-9pm
Performance: Agathe Snow “The Hostess Never Lies” curated by Anne Apparu
Vogt Gallery
526 W 26 street, suite 911, 4:30pm
Openings and Events this week – October 19 – 23
Thursday, October 20
Alessandro Zuek Simonetti, Andrea Sonnenberg, Dave Potes, Lele Saveri, Lisa Weiss, Patrick Griffin, Yuri Shibuya
“The Inferno” curated by Hamburger Eyes + Ed. Varie
Ed. Varie
208 East 7th street, 7-10pm
Bill Jacobson, “Into the Loving Nowhere (1989 till now)”
Julie Saul Gallery
535 West 22nd street, 6-8pm
Artist Talk: Yvonne Veneg at Camera Club of New York Lecture Series
SVA (Eastside Gallery)
209 East 23rd street, $5, 7-9pm
Saturday, October 22

Chris Verene "Candi, Cody and Caity" 2005, Type-C Archival print, ed. of 6, with handwritten caption in oil by the artist.
Panel Discussion: “Family Matters” Elinor Carucci, Gillian Laub and Chris Verene moderated by Susan Bright
Aperture Foundation
547 West 27th street, floor 4, 4pm
Sunday, October 23
Artist Talk: “Walead Beshty And Peter Eleey in conversation”
White Columns
320 West 13th street, 6pm