The Living Gallery
Brooklyn, New York –Writer Vanessa Mártir and photographer Meryl Meisler have teamed up again after the success of last year’s exhibit Defying Devastation: Bushwick in the 80s. In this year’s installment,Vanessa’s reflections of the neighborhood give voice to Meryl’s iconic images of urban decay at The LivingGallery as part of the seventh annual Bushwick Open Studios.
Between 1965 and1980, there were over a million fires in New York City. The South Bronx is infamous or the aftermath ofthe Fire Wars but Bushwick was just as ravaged. Add the black out of 1977, the resulting riots, andthe crack epidemic of the 1980s, and the result was a neighborhood that was apile of rubble. This was the neighborhood Vanessa grew up in and that Merylphotographed while she worked as a teacher in a local school. But Meryl wasn’tinterested in taking pictures of the crack vials that littered the gutter orthe addicts who walked the streets; she sought to chronicle the families andthe love that defied the devastation. Thirty years later, Vanessa, now awriter, found herself at seven in one of Meryl’s photographs.
The result of thatfind and their meeting is this second collaboration. In creating DefyingDevastation: Bushwick Then and Now, Vanessa and Meryl wanted to include thevoices of the community in the exhibit. As such,the exhibit includes an interactive wall where visitors can post their ownphotos, sketches, memories and thoughts about Bushwick then and now. Communityorganizations El Puente and Brooklyn Acts will perform on June 1st. And on thatsame day at 5pm, the event entitled “Brooklyn Writers Remember” will featurewriters ages 8 to 101 sharing their stories about the neighborhood as inspiredby Meryl’s photos. These narratives are also included in the installation.Artists talks are scheduled throughoutthe weekend, and on June 2nd, a Bushwick History and Walking Tour will takeplace at 2pm.
There will also be music, dance performances and readings throughout the month
