ICP MUSEUM EXTENDS FOR FREEDOMS: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? AND YOUR MIRROR: PORTRAITS FROM THE ICP COLLECTION EXHIBITIONS

Now On View: Through June 16, 2019
Location: ICP Museum, 250 Bowery, New York, NY
 
NEW YORK, NY (April 17, 2019) – The International Center of Photography (ICP) today announced the extension of its current exhibitions, For Freedoms: Where Do We Go From Here? and Your Mirror: Portraits from the ICP Collection. By popular demand, both will remain on view through June 16, 2019.
 
For Freedoms: Where Do We Go From Here? explores the role of art and visual representation in American civic life through the work of the For Freedoms collective. The exhibition features work from the collective’s 50 State Initiative—a network composed of over 300 artists and 200 institutional partners—which presented concurrent exhibitions, art installations, and public programs, as well as a nationwide artist-designed billboard campaign in all 50 states as well as in DC and Puerto Rico, in months before the 2018 midterm elections.
 
Also on view: For Freedoms’ series of photographs that re-envision American artist Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms paintings based on the freedoms FDR highlighted in his 1941 State of the Union address—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. These stylized scenes of the everyday reference Rockwell’s iconic style while bringing new, more inclusive representations of the country to the discussion of our core values. Since opening in early February, members of For Freedoms have been in residence at the ICP Museum, which continues to serve as the collective’s headquarters for the duration of the exhibition.
 
Your Mirror: Portraits from the ICP Collection surveys the nuanced and myriad ways people present themselves for the camera, how and by whom they are represented, and who is deemed worthy of commemoration. Featuring a range of images including studio portraits, snapshots, and documentary photographs—all drawn from the ICP Collection—it features a daguerreotype of a bedridden woman by Southworth & Hawes, a carte-de-visite featuring Sojourner Truth holding her knitting, Samuel Fosso’s performative self-portraits, as well as an FBI “wanted” poster.

“Thought-provoking and engaging shows like Your Mirror and For Freedoms help us look at and learn from the past while keeping our eyes on the future,” says Mark Lubell, Executive Director of the International Center of Photography. “Both exhibitions have garnered significant interest and have sparked powerful and important conversations. Extending the shows through mid-June allows us continue that dialogue.”

For Freedoms: Where Do We Go From Here? is curated by Ava Hess, exhibitions department manager, in collaboration with For Freedoms. Your Mirror: Portraits from the ICP Collection is curated by Erin Barnett, director of exhibitions and collections, and Claartje van Dijk, assistant curator, collections.
 
Your Mirror: Portraits from the ICP Collection has been made possible by the generous support of ICP’s Exhibitions and Acquisitions Committees.
 
For Freedoms: Where Do We Go From Here? has been made possible by the generous support of the ICP Exhibitions Committee.
 
Additional exhibition support is provided by the Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, Inc. and, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
 
ABOUT FOR FREEDOMS
Founded in 2016 by artists Hank Willis Thomas, Eric Gottesman, and others, For Freedoms is a collective of artists and a platform for creative civic engagement, discourse, and direct action. Inspired by American artist Norman Rockwell’s paintings of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms (1941)—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear—For Freedoms’ exhibitions, installations, and public programs use art to deepen public discussions on civic issues and core values, and to advocate for equality, dialogue, and civic participation. As a nexus between art, politics, commerce, and education, For Freedoms aims to inject anti-partisan, critical thinking that fine art requires into the political landscape through programming, exhibitions, and public artworks. In 2018, For Freedoms launched the 50 State Initiative: the largest creative collaboration in US history.
 
ABOUT ICP 
The International Center of Photography (ICP) is the world’s leading institution dedicated to photography and visual culture. Cornell Capa founded ICP in 1974 to preserve the legacy of “concerned photography”—the creation of socially and politically-minded images that have the potential to educate and change the world—and the center’s mission endures today, even as the photographic medium and imagemaking practices have evolved. Through its exhibitions, school, public programs, and community outreach, ICP offers an open forum for dialogue about the role that photographs, videos, and new media play in our society. To date, it has presented more than 700 exhibitions and offered thousands of classes at every level. ICP brings together photographers, artists, students, and scholars to create and interpret the realm of the image. Here, members of this unique community are encouraged to explore photography and visual culture as mediums of empowerment and as catalysts for wide-reaching social change. Visit icp.org to learn more.