Chris Vail is a documentary and news photographer. His work includes:
- Remembering Nicaragua, Images From 1980-1990
- North Carolina, Rhythms of Change: North Carolina’s Msica Latina.
- Outcasts, Ukrainian prisoners fighting HIV/AIDS share their thougths
- Places, Urban and Rural Landscapes
- Mexican Music, Regional Mexico and its troubadors
Mr Vail is a long time Roosevelt Island resident. He brings his skills as a photojournalist to showing the “structures and spaces unique to Roosevelt Island” in a new exhibit opening today at RIVAA Gallery titled:
Roosevelt Island: The Vision Revisited.
RIVVA Gallery is hosting an opening reception for Roosevelt Island: The Vision Revisited exhibition on Saturday September 28 from 5-8 pm. You’re invited.
The Vision Revisited is a series of photographs that focus on structures and
spaces unique to Roosevelt Island. Combined with thoughts of notable
architects who have left their mark on the island, the series wanders
through evidence of its complex history.
I moved to the Island fourteen years ago and began this photographic
series. The work focuses on the interplay of elements: light, structure,
nature, and space, all amidst a tidal strait in constant motion. The
exhibition will be on view from September 26 to October 21 at the RIVAA
Gallery, 527 Main St. Roosevelt Island, NY, NY
I spoke with Mr Vail earlier today about his The Vision Revisited
exhibition.
Roosevelt Island resident and Gallery RIVAA member artist Laura Hussey interviewed Mr Vail recently about his “Roosevelt Island: The Vision Revisited exhibition in this question and answer format.
Q – You had a career as a professional photographer. What kind of work have
you done?
A – As a photojournalist I worked extensively in Latin America, starting in
the 80s in Central America and Haiti and continuing into the 2000s, based
in Mexico City. I later produced documentaries on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in
Africa, Ukraine, and the Americas.
Q – Is there any difference in your approach to photographing for an
assignment as opposed to creating a series with a topic of your own
choosing? If there is what is the difference?
A – The biggest difference is that when Im on assignment, Im providing an
answer to someone elses question. When I choose the topic, I get to ask the
question as well as provide the answer.
Q – How did photography come to be a career choice?
A – Working for my college newspaper, one day there was a big demonstration
and no photographers around. Someone showed me how to load a camera and sent
me out to take photos. I was hooked. I thought that if I could spend my life
making pictures, I would be a very lucky person. Turns out I was right.
Q – You print black and white photos then reveal one color element. Why do
youdo that?
A – When I view a scene, I tend to isolate individual elements in my mind.
It could be a color, a form, angle of light, shadow. Its how my mind works.
The great thing is it allows me to revisit a scene many times and see it
differently each time. I wanted to extend that experience to viewers with
these images.
Q – And how is it done?
A – I shoot digital images. All that information, black and white and color,
is in the file. I use masking to reveal bits of color in what are
predominantly black and white images. Do you generally work in series?
Q – Do you think of a series and of photography in general as a form of
storytelling?
A – I do work in series, and it is a form of storytelling, not
necessarily a linear narrative but a group of images that has its own
internal logic.
Q – Why did you choose to photograph Roosevelt Island? Are you drawn first
to the architecture, the history, the inhabitants or all of the above.
A – I moved here in 2007. The first things that struck me about Roosevelt
Island were the quality of the light, the expanse of the sky, and that
magnificent bridge. The rest was a process of discovery.
Q – You are a Roosevelt Island resident. How did living here impact or
change your approach to photography?
The geographic boundaries allowed me to have an almost meditative experience
with this place. I didnt start out thinking I would do a series, it just
sort of happened organically and then really gelled during Covid.
Q – Do you always do your own printing? What determines the size of a print?
A – I printed everything in the upcoming RIVAA exhibition. I do all my own
printing except when I need a very large print, then I create a master image
file and work with a professional printer.
Q – Do you manipulate the images in any way?
A – No, the images are not manipulated.
Q – What was the most interesting take away for you or the most surprising
thing you discovered in photographing Roosevelt Island?
A – Just how much I enjoy being out on this island in bad weather.
More info about Chris Vail at his website and Instagram page.
9/30 – Update from the September 28 openening reception.
