Perception & Representation: Reframing “Modernity” exhibition at Photoville as part of FUTURE 400

Sat, Jun 1 - Sun, Jun 16  2024

Photoville, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 1 Water Street, Brooklyn

A dialogue between two independent, conceptually entwined projects, by a group of Dutch photographers and by American artist Kennedi Carter. Featuring: Humberto Tan, Ahmet Polat, Stacii Samidin, Milette Raats and Kennedi Carter

In Perception & Representation: Reframing “Modernity,” Photoville presents a dialogue between two independently created, conceptually entwined projects: In Dutch Masters Revisited, Dutch photographers recreate the styles of Rembrandt and his contemporaries with prominent models of color, countering the erasure of non-white people’s historic existence in the Netherlands, while in Flex, American artist Kennedi Carter combines visual references to European royalty and nobility with contemporary Black aesthetics, exploring ideas of Blackness related to wealth, power, and belonging.

Curated by: Jörgen Tjon A Fong and Sam Barzilay. Presented by: Photoville and the Amsterdam Museum, with support by While Wall. Part of the DutchCultureUSA FUTURE 400 program.

Location

Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza
1 Water Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Number 1 on the official photoville map (PDF).

About Dutch Masters Revisited

During the 17th century, Amsterdam was home to people from all over the world. Some of them arrived with merchants, sometimes Jews from Spain and Portugal, as servants or enslaved people. Others came to the city to trade or maintain diplomatic relations. Amsterdam offered a new home to both the international elite and seafarers alike. It’s been overlooked for a long time, but people of color left their mark on the city and were a visible part of daily life: they were to be seen on the streets, in the courts of justice and in the upper echelons of society. In paintings of that period, they were depicted as ancillary, often anonymous, figures. But those artworks didn’t reflect real life.

The Dutch Masters Revisited exhibition is giving some of the many people of color a face. Curator Jörgen Tjon A Fong went in search of 17th and 18th-century Dutch people of color and asked contemporary Dutch well-known personalities to pose as historical figures. Photographers Ahmet Polat, Humberto Tan, Milette Raats, and Stacii Samidin portrayed in their own style, inspired by Rembrandt and his contemporaries, as today’s Dutch masters.

This Dutch Masters Revisited became part of the exhibition The Portrait Gallery of the 17th Century in 2019: Thirty large seventeenth-century group portraits from the Amsterdam Collection (supplied by Amsterdam Museum and Rijksmuseum) that were on display at Hermitage Museum Amsterdam. The exhibition sparked an international debate about the use of the expression The Golden Age. That term was used to describe the period in the 17th and 18th century in which Holland was economically successful through overseas trade and colonization. The Amsterdam Museum decided not to use the term anymore, which led to international headlines in several news outlets, including The New York Times.

About Flex

Kennedi Carter (b. 1998) explores ideas of Blackness related to wealth, power, respect, and belonging in her new series of photographs. Carter dressed friends and acquaintances in historically-inspired costumes that represent wealth and power. History is referenced, rejected, and reimagined. The images compel us to ask questions: How can looking back in time move me forward? Who and what represents wealth? Does money mean respect? Where do I fit? What assumptions do I make based on appearance? Who is flexing? What is underneath wealth and power? What makes me feel seen? Where do I belong?

About Photoville

Founded in 2011 in Brooklyn, NY, Photoville was built on the principles of addressing cultural equity and inclusion, which we are always striving for, by ensuring that the artists we exhibit are diverse in gender, class, and race.

In pursuit of its mission, Photoville produces an annual, city-wide open air photography festival in New York City, a wide range of free educational community initiatives, and a nationwide program of public art exhibitions.

By activating public spaces, amplifying visual storytellers, and creating unique and highly innovative exhibition and programming environments, we join the cause of nurturing a new lens of representation.

Through creative partnerships with festivals, city agencies, and other nonprofit organizations, Photoville offers visual storytellers, educators, and students financial support, mentorship, and promotional & production resources, on a range of exhibition opportunities.

About Amsterdam Museum

The Amsterdam Museum, founded in 1926, is an innovative city museum which invites inhabitants and visitors of Amsterdam to become co-owners of our city – a metropolis in miniature. We do this not only by celebrating the city but also by addressing its less attractive aspects and investigating what can be improved.

About WhiteWall

WhiteWall is a brand owned by Berlin-based Avenso GmbH, which has operated the photo lab and WhiteWall.com online service since 2007. WhiteWall allows professional photographers and amateurs to upload, print, mount and frame their images in gallery quality, using award-winning acrylic glass, metal and aluminum prints, and hand-crafted solid wood frames. All products are available in large, custom sizes, 24/7 on WhiteWall.com. All orders are printed in our professional lab in Frechen, just outside of Cologne, Germany, and shipped worldwide in custom cut packaging for maximum protection.