White Plains Exhibit Explores the Diverse Faces of “Family”
A new exhibition opened Mar. 3 at ArtsWestchester’s gallery features a significant collection of 33 works, including six vintage prints, by Harlem Renaissance photographer James Van Der Zee.
In the era between the two World Wars, Van Der Zee’s New York studio was a place where the rising African American middle class in Harlem could be represented as they wished to be seen. Van Der Zee’s photographs, chosen and loaned by Westchester resident Donna Mussenden Van Der Zee, the photographer’s widow, provided the inspiration for ArtsWestchester’s new exhibit titled Modern Families. The show also features work by 10 contemporary photographers who address themes of family and community from diverse points of view.
“The bonds of family – both given and chosen – are some of the most powerful forces in our lives and our communities,” said Janet T. Langsam, CEO of ArtsWestchester. “This exhibition explores the diverse faces and relationships that represent ‘family’ from the perspectives of 11 regional photographers.”
The contemporary works in the exhibition include both studio-style portraiture and documentary work in which individuals and their given or chosen families interact in a variety of encounters between photographer and subject. Chris Verene and Gillian Laub document their own extended families and friends in Galesburg, Illinois (Verene) and suburban Westchester (Laub). Iaritza Menjivar records her experience as the daughter of immigrants in an ongoing project titled “First Generation.”
“The families we are given – blood relations – provide frameworks for the families we choose,” said Kathleen Reckling, ArtsWestchester Director of Public Programs. “Groups united by shared values, lifestyles, or emotional needs – religious associations, sports teams, or community groups, for example – may also be defined and experienced as family. Whether the ones made for us or the ones we make, the families we recognize are networks of support and interaction that contribute to our identities in the larger world. We invite you to explore all of this and more at ArtsWestchester.”
Modern Families is curated by Kathleen Reckling and Amy Kurlander. Group tours of Modern Families are available by appointment. To book your tour of the exhibition, email akurlander@artswestchester.org.
Modern Families runs through May 25 in the ArtsWestchester Gallery located at 31 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains. Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Friday: 12-5 p.m., Saturday: 12-6 p.m.
