Aferro Mobile Portrait Studio for Newark
350 portraits of Newarkers for Newark’s 350th Year
Why choose only one way of seeing Newark, when we can see it three hundred and fifty ways?
Check out current images here!
Artist-led Newark nonprofit Gallery Aferro has created a mobile professional photographic portrait studio for Newark! The studio will travel across the city during 2016 offering free portraits of citizens like you. Imagine the city’s people being able to revisit the portraits in 2066 (Newark’s 400th), or in 2166 (Newark’s 500th), when the descendants of the original subjects can access the images. Just as we wonder about the lives of the people whose images we have from the 19th-20th centuries…
One of the most fundamental, core attributes of photographic portrait art is accessibility, and the way it gains meaning continuously over time. We love to look. We love to be seen. All of us. And we love to look back, and think about how we dreamed of the future.
Portrait days, the dates and locations of which will be publicized via social media, posted on aferro.org, and announced on our email list, will be offered across Newark’s 5 neighborhood zones, with the possibility of additional “popup” days based on public requests.
After your portrait is taken you will be able to download a high -resolution file of the image that can be shared and printed as you wish. Portrait images will be added to aferro.org as they are made, to be shared with the city and the world.
The 350 portraits will be exhibited during October 2016 with a fun and exciting launch reception for everyone. After that, the portraits of Newarkers will belong to the city of Newark in perpetuity, available for traveling exhibits, or simply to be held in the palm of someone’s hand on a phone screen as they tell friends about the day their portrait was made: That’s me! Look!
This program is proudly sponsored by Newark Celebration 350. Newark Celebration 350 commemorates Newark’s rich 350-year history by celebrating the talents of its citizenry and its remarkable achievements.