|
In her exhibition Intermarried opening next week at La Galeria at Boricua College in Washington Heights, New York, photographer Yael Ben-Zion fixes her camera on a personal and politically charged theme: intermarriage. An accompanying book published by Kehrer will be available during the exhibition and released nationally in the spring of 2014. Intermarried is curated by Gabriel de Guzman, Curator of Visual Arts at Wave Hill. The book includes a foreword by Amy Chua, an essay by Maurice Berger, an afterword by
Yael Ben-Zion, and is designed by Jeanne Verdoux.
Event Details:
Intermarried, photographs by Yael Ben-Zion
January 8 -- February 3, 2014
Artist Reception and Book Signing:
Friday, January 17, 6-8pm
Closing Reception and Artist Talk moderated by Gabriel de Guzman:
Monday, February 3, 6-8pm
La Galeria at Boricua College
3755 Broadway (at 156 St.)
New York, NY 10032 | (212) 694-1000
Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm
About the Project:
Ben-Zion initiated Intermarried in 2009 by contacting an online parenting group in Washington Heights, the Manhattan neighborhood where she resides with her husband and twin boys. She invited couples that define themselves as "mixed" to participate, leaving the definition of intermarriage open to the interpretation of the respondents. Her own marriage "mixed," she was interested in the many challenges faced by couples that choose to share their lives regardless of their different origins, ethnicities, races or religions.
"Murphy bed"
"The term "mixed" is strictly an outsider observation. It is a term that "others" would use to define what their eyes see.
Most people in "same/same" relationships would be surprised at how quickly "different" disappears ... " (Cedric)
The families presented in the show and book all gave Ben-Zion access to their homes to photograph themselves, their children, and the spaces they live in. These images are not straightforward portraiture or documentation, but rather intimate moments and depictions, which allude to the personal experiences of Ben-Zion's subjects within a wider social and political context. Through layered images and revealing texts culled from a questionnaire she asked her subjects to fill out, Ben-Zion constructs a subtle, reality based narrative in which she explores and interprets the complex, multifaceted issues posed by intermarriage.
It is Ben-Zion's hope that Intermarried will foster a dialogue and create a "platform for thinking and talking about issues that are very personal but have vast social and political implications." In light of the current public discourse surrounding interracial and interfaith marriage, her project is very timely.
"West Side Story"
"Jeff is Catholic and I am Jewish - that difference has defined us mostly because of the impact
our relationship had on our families, who were not supportive of our being together. ... " (Ilana)
"Frames"
Beatrice Rippy married Carroll Hollister in New York in 1959, one year after Mildred and
Richard Loving got married in Washington, D.C. to avoid the anti-miscegenation statutes
of their home state, Virginia. New York is one of the nine states in the US that never enacted
anti-miscegenation laws.
Book Details:
Hardcover
Publisher: Kehrer Verlag (spring 2014)
128 pages; 57 color illustrations
ISBN-13: 978-3-86828-418-8
Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9.4 x 0.7 inches
$50 U.S.
To order the book, go here:
Yael Ben-Zion was born in Minneapolis, MN and raised in Israel. She is a graduate of the International Center of Photography's General Studies Program. Prior to taking up photography, Yael had a diverse legal career that included pursuing LL.M. and J.S.D. degrees at the Yale Law School. It was at Yale that she took her first formal photography class. Ben-Zion's work has been exhibited in the United States and in Europe, and she is the recipient of various grants and awards, including ICP's Directors' Scholarship Award, the International Photography Awards and recent grants from NoMAA and the Puffin Foundation. In 2007, her photograph Crash was selected for the cover of American Photography 23. Yael's first monograph, 5683 miles away (Kehrer, 2010), was selected as one of photo-eye's Best Books of 2010 and for the PDN Photo Annual 2011. It was also a nominee for the German Photo Book Award 2011.
Gabriel de Guzman is Curator of Visual Arts at Wave Hill where he organizes the Sunroom Project Space series for emerging artists and coordinates thematic group exhibitions in Wave Hill's Glyndor Gallery. He was also co-curator of Bronx Calling: The Second AIM Biennial (summer 2013), featuring 73 artists who participated in the Bronx Museum of the Arts' Artist in the Marketplace (AIM) program in 2012-13. He served as guest curator of the group exhibitions Dimensions Variable: Multiracial Identity (spring 2013) at Rush Arts Gallery, New York, and Immigrant Too (fall 2013) at Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance. Before joining Wave Hill's staff in 2010, he was Neubauer Family Foundation Curatorial Assistant at The Jewish Museum, where he served as coordinator for exhibitions that included Houdini: Art and Magic (2010), Warhol's Jews: Ten Portraits Reconsidered (2008), and Schoenberg, Kandinsky, and the Blue Rider (2003). Mr. de Guzman contributed an essay in the Bronx Calling catalogue, an entry in Masterworks of The Jewish Museum, as well as biographical texts in catalogues for Houdini, Warhol's Jews, Louise Nevelson, and Schoenberg, Kandinsky, and the Blue Rider. He earned an M.A. in art history from Hunter College, City University of New York, and a B.A. in art history from the University of Virginia.
Media Contact: To receive a review copy of the book and artwork and to arrange an interview with Yael Ben-Zion, please contact Andrea Smith, 646-220-5950, [email protected].
| 
