On view now in a sprawling illuminated exhibition space nestled between the affluence of Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood and a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) housing project, works by 20 photographers who are only known to they come from the lens of a Google Pixel 7 camera phone if told. The images, presented in partnership with Google Creator Labstransmit lessons of openness, individuality and vulnerability.
THE collective exhibition On view at 456 West 18th Street is the seventh season and 100th project from Google Creator Labs, a visual arts incubator created in partnership with Google Pixel and talent agency SN37. The program is fully funded by Google and has followed the same model since its inception in 2019: a group of artists aged 18 and over are assigned the latest Google Pixel phone and invited to take pictures with it. Selected artists receive a $5,000 prize for their work. For the latest edition of the exhibition, on view until March 24, the photographers have created works under the theme “Be Seen, Be Heard, Belong”.
Andy Jackson, a fashion and lifestyle photographer who has been part of the group show since the sixth season, says the lab has helped him focus on his mission to capture a person’s feelings. “I think generally when I do my work, it’s pretty fashion-based,” Jackson said. Hyperallergic. “So sometimes I don’t necessarily understand people’s deep ideas and concepts around their filming in that kind of world. It was an opportunity for me to explore those kinds of stories and conversations about the identity and also to immerse myself in myself.
Jackson’s untitled photo series puts a new spin on the portrayal of transgender youth and non-binary women, challenging the way movies and TV shows enjoy Laid (2018) and The Rocky Picture Horror Show (1975) describe their aesthetic as “campy”.
“I wanted to do something so you could see a trans person of color in different ways in different environments,” Jackson said.
The resulting portraits express her desire to make trans, queer, and non-binary women feel seen. His photographs come together to tell a story of separation and closeness: in the first image, he captured his model, Dylan, alone, and in the next series of images, the subjects Dylan and Theron stand side by side. In the final frame, the viewer sees Theron alone. Jackson’s use of soft light and monochrome colors throughout the series allows Dylan and Theron’s personalities to bleed through the frame.
Myesha Evon Gardner, a photographer and art director from Cleveland, Ohio who also joined the lab in season six, used images to highlight the experience of five black women navigating change in their bodies through plastic surgery to define beauty for themselves. His work Our bodies (2022) consists of three rows of three images. The color photos on the outside are close-ups of black women’s faces, and the black-and-white photographs in the center, printed on contact sheets, show women in tight-fitting corsets. Each woman photographed has undergone a cosmetic procedure.
“Each of the subjects was photographed in the studio to explore and embrace their journeys of this physical expression of self,” Gardner said. Hyperallergic. “They wore undergarments such as corsets, stockings and corsets, basically pieces that really mold and sculpt the body to achieve the body type you want. I wanted to keep exploring [how] pain inspires and creates beauty, and examine how healing, discomfort, and beauty are ultimately personally defined by the subjects I photograph.
She hopes to continue her series even after the exhibit ends to further her philosophy “that there’s not just one way to be a woman – there are multiple levels of femininity.”
MaryV, a portrait photographer whose work has been featured in the Creator Lab since her debut, asks individuals to re-examine their biases towards others. MaryV was born in Denver, Colorado, and her portraits of subjects including friends, strangers, and even a baby explore the variety of people she encountered growing up and examine the typology of Coloradans.
“When people think of Colorado, it’s kind of like Central America, white cowboys and mountains,” she said. “And yes, it’s a big part of Colorado, but there’s also so much diversity here, and there’s so many different cultures and ethnicities coming together.”
MaryV creatively sought out New Yorkers from Colorado. She chose to include 30 photos in her series because her birthday is March 30. The last image of her photo report is of herself.
Other artists in the exhibition include Adrian Octavius Walker, Aidan Cullen, Amber Grace Johnson, Andre D. Wagner, Andrew Thomas Huang, Anthony Prince Leslie, Chiara Gabellini, Coyote Park, Glassface, Kennedi Carter, Lawrence Agyei, Lelanie Foster, Mayan Toledano, Natalia Mantini, Neva Wireko, Shikeith, Texas Isaiah and Tim Kellner.
Their art is on display behind NYCHA Chelsea housing, whose residents mostly lack the resources to access art of this magnitude. They are also the ones most likely to identify with the stories being told. Michelle Venson, resident of Chelsea NYCHA housing, thinks art should be more accessible to the people who live there. “It’s something new – some people have probably never been there, so it might be a new experience for them,” she said. “They might like it, they might not, but you know, as long as you experience something new, it’s cool.”
Venson’s observation makes it clear that for the featured artwork to tell the stories of loneliness, gayness, wealth and motherhood as the show intends, Google should support not just the artists, but the communities that represent people in art.
