Featuring: Amaya Chesney, Austin Eleby, Farzanah Hai, Trecie Lefevre, Christelle Molien, Joverlie Molien, Anniyah Mooney, Deirdre Newman, Stephanie Rivera, Brieanna Sullivan, Laura Washington, Liam Willingham, Tom Wilson
The members of the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science’s photography club are high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors who are passionate about documenting school life as well as moments of beauty found throughout their everyday lives.
The all-girls photography club at the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women have taken the art of sunprinting, and have adapted it into a method of artfully cataloging the plants growing in the school’s hydroponics lab.
The project involves pairing photographic strobes with students’ cellphones to create images of plants to be converted into negative transparencies. The transparencies are then placed on top of cyanotype paper/cloth and exposed to light from the hydroponics systems in the lab.
The result is a physical print of the plant, which may be used by current and incoming students for research purposes. The entire process utilizes every part of the lab; from the plants, to the lights, to the water used throughout the systems.
The science of the cyanotype process—how light reacts with photo-sensitive emulsions—provides students with valuable lessons in chemistry, botany, and the history of camera-less photographic art as a method of preservation.
As the project grows, the documentation of our efforts in the lab will be used to make scientific observations and provide insight for future farming endeavors.
– Tom Wilson, science teacher at K527 Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women
Organizations
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The Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women
The photography club at the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women is an all-girls visual arts club that uniquely meshes science with art and gives members an avenue to express themselves through various photographic mediums.
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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.
For more information about Photoville visit, www.photoville.com
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PhotoWings
PhotoWings believes that photography has the power to influence the world. As such, we invest in strategic collaborations and programs that help make photography better understood, created, utilized, seen and saved. We also have a rich archive with hundreds of hours of original interviews and partner presentations from both within and outside the photo world, as well as curricula, tool kits, resources and community activities. We believe that meaningful engagement with photography can foster deep thinking, communication and help people better understand and navigate the world.For more information, visit https://photowings.org.PhotoWings has been a proud partner of the Eddie Adams Workshop since 2015 and Photoville since 2017.
Hydroponic Cyanotypes
Featuring: Various Artists
Curated by: Tom Wilson
Locations
View Location Details Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza1 Water St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
This location is part of Brooklyn Bridge Park
Explore other locations and exhibitions nearby
Recipient of the 2025 Photoville & PhotoWings Educator Exhibition Grant.
Background design by Deirdre Newman
The views and opinions expressed in this exhibit are those of the exhibition artists and partners and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Photoville or any other participants and partners of the Photoville Festival.
