Deborah Willis: The Closet as Archive
Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging, Dr. Deborah Willis, has a solo container show as a part of Photoville 2019. "The Closet as Archive" explores the ways in which the concept of memory, beauty, and desire is essential to storytelling while looking at concepts of meaning in dress while considering migration, identity, and transformation. The exhibition opens Thursday, September 12, 2019 and is on display at Brooklyn Bridge Park in DUMBO, Brooklyn until Sunday, September 22, 2019.
Curator and DPI faculty Kalia Brooks writes:
“The work shown in The Closet as Archive explores the innermost aspects of ourselves, symbolized through the closet space and archival boxes, and how we perform our identities based on how we desire to image ourselves to the world. By investigating the closet as a site where beauty, memory, and labor are enacted, this exhibition celebrates the closet as a space of empowerment for individuals authoring their own identities contrary to social or cultural convention.”
The photographs in the show include images from residential closets and photographic archives, garments found in collections, clothing that evokes personal and cultural identity, and closets and cabinets that store photographs.
By investigating the closet as a site where beauty, memory, and labor are enacted, this exhibition celebrates the closet as a space of empowerment for individuals authoring their own identities, contrary to social or cultural convention.
Make sure to also check out related Talk On Feeling Good: In Conversation with Dr. Deborah Willis and Tyler Mitchell on Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 5pm.
PHOTOVILLE is New York City’s FREE premier photo destination. Produced by United Photo Industries, the annual festival is a modular venue built from re-purposed shipping containers. By creating a physical platform for photographers of all stripes to come together and interact, Photoville provides a unique opportunity to engage with a diverse audience — a veritable cross-section of the world’s photographic community.
Photoville returns for an eight year in picturesque Brooklyn Bridge Plaza, from September 12-22, 2019. Once again, Brooklyn Bridge Plaza—located in Brooklyn Bridge Park in DUMBO beneath the majestic span of the Brooklyn Bridge— will be transformed into an immersive photography village populated by 65+ shipping containers repurposed into galleries.