Libby Pratt On The Changing Face Of New York’s Oldest Photography Institution
By Something CuratedAs one of the oldest arts organisations in New York City, Baxter Street at the Camera Club of New York serves as one of the most important international institutions for lens-based artists. Previously known as The Camera Club of New York, they renamed the organisation in 2012, after a move downtown and a recognition that there was a need for change within the community, as well as the space. Now collectively referred to as Baxter St. at CCNY, the club provides workspaces to their members, exhibits solo and group shows, hosts a conversation series, as well as offers a workspace residency.
“Baxter St is a non-profit dedicated to supporting emerging lens-based artists at crucial moments in their careers,” Director Libby Pratt told Something Curated. “Our aim is to connect with artists and nurture them, in a sense, from start to finish. That’s why our Workspace Residents receive a solo show to culminate their time working in our space. Additionally, we strive to create connections and conversations across practices and different forms of lens-based art making. Our ethos is one of openness and inclusion, and we constantly seek to widen our community of artists, curators, and educators.”
Founded in 1884, the Camera Club was initially created for photography enthusiasts who wanted to find a place to work away from the mass population of the medium. Early members of the club included renowned photographers Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Strand. Over the years, the organization developed into a creative meeting place for artists, and helped to launch groundbreaking creations and initiatives within the photography field. X-ray photography was demonstrated there in 1898, as well as the Autochrome Lumière process, which was an early form of colour photography.
For 2018’s residency programme, lens-based artists Tommy Kha, Elliot Jerome Brown Jr, Zalika Azim, and Arash Fewzee join Baxter St. at CCNY for the course of a year. “Perhaps now more than ever, New York is a difficult place to live as a working artist,” Pratt tells us. She continues: “Our workspace residency program aims to provide artists with the funding and space to carry out their projects, which would otherwise be difficult in a large and competitive city like New York.”
Among the current resident artists, Tennessee native, Tommy Kha’s work focuses primarily on the self-portrait, exploring issues and themes of comedy, tragedy, familiarity, and foreignness. As of recent, Kha has been experimenting with his own body and how that relates to photography. Elliot Jerome Brown Jr’s work focuses on ideas of intimacy, domestic space, and marginality. He documents the abstractions of everyday life, working as singular moments in ongoing narratives.
Fellow resident Zalika Azim is not only a lens-based artist, but also an archivist and curator. She works in collage, installation, performance and sound to explore themes and complexities of history, memory, locality, and the body as they relate to the construction of personal and collective narratives. Similarly, artist Arash Fewzee’s practice is not limited to photography. Born in Mashhad, Iran, Fewzee lives and works in New York. His work has been featured most recently at the Lishui Photography Biennial at the Lishui Museum of Art in China.
Baxter St at CCNY are currently accepting applications for their 2019 Workspace Residency until 30 November. Apply here.
Words by Jane Herz | Feature image: Male (Itabira, Iron Mine), 2005 by Vik Muniz (via Baxter Street at the Camera Club of New York)