Javier Álvarez is a Chilean photographer focused on social issues. Álvarez holds a BFA in Photography from ARCOS Arts and Communications Institute at Santiago de Chile. Previously, Javier worked as a freelance editorial and press photographer for agencies in Brazil and Chile. His work is held by private and public collections, including the Chilean National Center for Contemporary Arts, Chilean National Museum of Modern Art, Colorado Photographic Arts Center in Denver, Aperture Foundation, and Fotografiska New York. In addition to his personal and commissioned work, Javier is a contributor to the Brazilian independent journalistic platform MidiaNinja, and was the Co-Founder and editor of the disappeared online platform for emerging photographers MUD (2011-2015). His studio is now based in Brooklyn, NY. https://www.javieralvarezm.com/ @javieralvarezm (all social media)
Yael Ben-Zion is a New York-based artist and educator working primarily in photography. Her work draws on personal narratives, or hints thereof, to reflect on the complexities of social and political issues. Yael’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is included in the MTA-Artists Unite Subway Elevator Poster Project. Both her monographs, 5683 miles away (2010) and Intermarried (2014), were published by Kehrer to critical acclaim and featured in numerous publications including the the NY Times Sunday Review, PDN Magazine, the Manhattan Times and CUNY-TV Shades of U.S. Yael is the recipient of ICP’s Directors’ Scholarship Award, the International Photography Awards and grants from NoMAA, the Puffin Foundation and LMCC’s Creative Engagement. She is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (LL.B/MBA), Yale Law School (LL.M; J.S.D) and the International Center of Photography (GS).yaelbenzion.com
Raymond W. Holman Jr. is a photojournalist and corporate documentary photographer. His clients include POLITICO, The Washington Post, New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, ConEdison Solutions, SEPTA, Barnes Foundation, and the Philadelphia International Airport. Portraits of Family Caregivers of People with Alzheimer’s/dementia, which he began in 2001 focused on family caregivers, the challenges they face. Since April of 2020 he has been working on a project titled “COVID19 in Black America” which focuses on Covid19 in the Black communities of Philadelphia. www.rholmanjr.photo
Angelo Merendino is a photographer who writes, “A great conversation requires two people, talking and listening. I think a great photograph requires the same. My approach to photography is not to tell people what to do or how to do it. Instead, I work to create environments where people feel like their most authentic selves – and then capture what happens. Although I went to school to study photography, life has been my best teacher. When making photographs, I try to capture moments that resonate with my heart. Usually, these moments are simple and right in front of me. While I usually have a camera in my hand, when I’m not making photographs, I love hanging with my dog, listening to records, or getting lost in a great book. I’m the youngest of eleven Italian kids and I discovered early that, in addition to learning how to eat quickly, following your heart is the best way to live.” Angelo is currently based in Cleveland, OH and works as an Editorial and Brand Narrative Photographer. https://www.angelomerendino.com/
Cheney Orr was born in Arizona and raised in New York City. His first long-term photo essay documenting his father’s journey with early-onset Alzheimer’s was published by The New York Times Lens Blog in 2018. Cheney’s photographs and reporting have also been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg News, VICE, among others. Cheney is the founder of Picturing Care, a newly launched participatory media project focused on family caregiving. https://www.cheneyorr.com/
Jordan and Anna Rathkopf are Brooklyn-based collaborative artists who work in photography and video art, creating stories that engage in meaningful dialogue around individual identity and community. The Rathkopfs’ work has been included in numerous recent exhibitions, such as #ICPConcerned at the International Center of Photography, Brooklyn Resists at the Brooklyn Public Libary, #ARTONLINK. Their work is included as part of the permanent exhibition at Simon Wiesenthal’s Tolerance Museum, the Brooklyn Public Library’s permanent collection and the Smithsonian Institution’s VACCINES AND USpermanent online exhibition. Recently, they were awarded in CommArts Photo’s 62nd Annual Photography Competition, AI-AP’s 2022 American Photography 38, and recognized in the 2021 APA Awards, in the Personal Projects category. Their long-term collaborative project documenting the impact of Anna’s breast cancer diagnosis from the patient and caregiver perspective has been featured internationally on Metro UK, Daily Mail, Yahoo!, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Susan G. Komen’s Master Brand Campaign “Moments,” as well as on Good Morning America. https://www.rathkopf.com/
Liz Sanders is a photographer based in Little Rock, Arkansas. She is currently working on Be Here to Love Me, which focuses on her father’s struggle with dementia and the bond of family during illness. She has shown her work in group exhibitions, including HELPHOTO, Helsinki Photo Festival (Helsinki, Finland), On Site 2019, Trestle Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), and at the Anacostia Community Museum. Her work has been featured in numerous print publications including, The New York Review of Books, TIME, The Nation, and BOOOOOOOM. Sanders is a recipient of both the Magnum Foundation and the Rita and Alex K. Hillman Foundation Fellowships and was recently named a winner of 1854 Media – British Journal of Photography’s inaugural Fast Track initiative year as an open-call for fresh, unsigned artists. https://lizmariesanders.com/
Cinthya Santos Briones is a Mexican participatory artist, anthropologist, ethnohistorian and community organizer based in New York. Her multimedia work uses community narratives to tell stories about immigration, memory, and identity. For ten years Cinthya worked as a researcher at the National Institute of Anthropology and History. She is recipient of fellowships and grants from the Magnum Foundation, En Foco, We Woman, the National Fund for Culture and the Arts of México and others. Her work has been published in The New York Times, La Jornada, Vogue, Buzzfeed, The Intercept and The Nation, among others. Cinthya is co-author of the book The Indigenous Worldview and its Representations in Textiles of the Nahua community of Santa Ana Tzacuala, Hidalgo; and the documentary, The Huichapan Codex. http://www.cinthya-santosbriones.com/
Accra Shepp, a New York–based artist and writer. His images have been exhibited worldwide and are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and many other institutions. His writing has appeared in The New York Times and the New York Review of Books as well as the artist book collection of the Whitney Museum and the New York Public Library, and Windbook, an artist-book installation at the National Library of Luxembourg. He spent the past several years working on a photo-based project titled “The Covid Journals.” His first monograph, Radical Justice: Lifting Every Voice was published by Convoke in 2022. www.accrashepp.com
care:work (www.careworkproject.org) is a national initiative to foreground the importance of caregiving in our homes, institutions, and neighborhoods. The urgency and intensity of the Covid-19 pandemic has underscored the essential role of caregivers in the health, family life, community, and economy of the United States. Caregivers may be volunteers, relatives, or professionals and are often women of color and frequently immigrants from the global south. Too often caregivers have been made invisible, and certainly have gone unrecognized. Care:work is delighted to collaborate with the artists in this exhibition to recognize and honor their importance.
In selecting this group of photographers, our ideas about what caregiving means expanded with each new image we reviewed. Javier Álvarez provides us with intimate portraits of Latino food deliverers; Cinthya Santos Briones helps up-end the meaning of caregiving with her unexpected images of indigenous performers who provide care and healing within their communities, using ancient cultural traditions. In the stunning portraits by Accra Shepp, Angelo Merendino, and Raymond Holman, Jr., we see the strength, dignity, and pride of a diverse group of nurses whose work is long and hard and largely unsung. Anna and Jordan Rathkopf record the minions of volunteers who stepped up without hesitation during the pandemic, and who found support amongst the growing movement of mutual aid societies. Liz Sanders, Cheney Orr, and Yael Ben-Zion provide us with intimate images of family caregiving—replete with poignancy, joy, and tragedy. Together this group of images is about collective care, devotion, empathy, and compassion.
This project was originally inspired by the work of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, an organization that has been a leader in the struggle to recognize the rights of professional caregivers, fighting against the violence and abuse those caregivers all too often face. This exhibition actively supports the rights of caregivers by sharing the work of photographers who have captured their beauty and strength and the importance they have in our lives and communities. Our hope is that everyone who sees this exhibition also will see all the caregivers in their communities and support their essential work.
Organizations
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care:work
care:work is a new national initiative to foreground the importance of caregiving in our homes, institutions, schools, and communities. Whether they are professionals or family members, caregivers are essential workers that are increasingly critical to our quality of life. Too often they have been invisible; care: work is delighted to collaborate with artists on this exhibition to recognize and share their importance.
Founded by Eric Siegel in 2019, care:work is now a partnership among Siegel, Curator and Producer Deborah Schwartz, and Artist Liaison Jordan Rathkopf.
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NYC Parks
NYC Parks is the steward of more than 30,000 acres of land — 14 percent of New York City — including more than 5,000 individual properties ranging from Coney Island Beach and Central Park to community gardens and Greenstreets. We operate more than 800 athletic fields and nearly 1,000 playgrounds, 1,800 basketball courts, 550 tennis courts, 65 public pools, 51 recreational facilities, 15 nature centers, 14 golf courses, and 14 miles of beaches. We care for 1,200 monuments and 23 historic house museums. We look after 600,000 street trees, and two million more in parks. We are New York City’s principal providers of recreational and athletic facilities and programs. We are home to free concerts, world-class sports events, and cultural festivals.
care:work
Featuring: Various Artists
Curated by: Deborah Schwartz
Locations
View Location Details Old Fulton Street and Prospect StreetOld Fulton Street and Prospect Street
DUMBO, Brooklyn 11201
This location is part of Brooklyn Bridge Park
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Location open 24 hours
Presented by care:work
Eric Siegel, is the founder and director of care:work. He has worked in museums for 40 years and has been supported by caregivers throughout his life.
Deborah Schwartz, is the producer and curator of care:work. She teaches in the Museum Studies program at Johns Hopkins University, and was the former president of Brooklyn Historical Society.
Anna and Jordan Rathkopf have assisted care:work exhibitions as artist advisors. Their passion for this initiative comes from their recent personal experiences receiving and providing caregiving in their own family.
