From May 23 until September 2, Rein Jelle Terpstra’s “RFK Funeral Train: The People’s View” will be exhibited at International Center of Photography (ICP)
Whilst “The Train: RFK’s Last Journey” is still on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), CA, a collection of photographs and home videos by spectators of Robert F. Kennedy’s funeral train – assembled by Rein Jelle Terpstra – is coming to the International Center of Photography (ICP), New York. Rein Jelle Terpstra’s project will be on view from May 23rd until September 2nd, so get your tickets now!
This year will mark half a century since Robert F. Kennedy’s funeral train made its way from New York City to Washington DC. Several photographers, including Paul Fusco, travelled on the funeral train and photographed the entire journey from the train. The main subject of these images is the people who stand along the tracks, paying their last respects and expressing bewilderment and sorrow. Terpstra’s film installation aims to reverse the perspective that Fusco offered in his touching photographs by showing the snapshots and 8mm home movies of the train as taken by the spectators combined with their recollections of that day. The people along the track photographed the train for themselves in an attempt to hold on to a moment in history. Terpstra strives to link these images together once more, just as the people stood side by side along the railroad.
The International Center of Photography (ICP) is the world’s leading institution dedicated to photography and visual culture. Founded by Cornell Capa in 1974 to preserve the legacy of “concerned photography”—in which the reproduced image is both a catalyst and record of social change—ICP’s mission endures even as the medium and practices of socially engaged image-making have changed. Through its new museum, located at 250 Bowery, as well as exhibitions, school, public programs, and community outreach, ICP offers an open forum for dialogue about the role images play in our culture. Since its founding, more than 700 exhibitions and thousands of classes have been presented, providing instruction at every level. ICP brings together photographers and artists, students, and scholars to create and interpret the world of the image, exploring photography and visual culture as mediums of empowerment and as catalysts for wide-reaching social change.