Sheila Smith

Sheila Smith is a photographer whose subjects are the streets of New York
and the places to which she travels. Her unique perspective and the resulting
images offer a glimpse into the way that memory functions. They also speak
to the differences between observing one's home turf and observing the
unfamiliar.

In Smith's Barcelona and Scheveningen montages, some fragments are grainy, some are faded and some are crystal clear. This range suggests a tangible vision of how memory itself works. Some mental images retain their clarity when recalled, while others hover on the brink of retention. Smith's juxtaposed digital images are a seamless scrapbook preserving a record of her travels into the unknown. Yet her record is not of monuments and tourist attractions. Instead her eye searches out people as they go about their lives, on a crowded beach or bustling through a railway station. Candid rather than posed, her subjects are lost in their private thoughts.

Smith also photographs her hometown, New York. Here her eye is caught both by the glamorous, and by small episodes and spaces that ordinarily pass unnoticed. Smith comes close to her New York subjects, their familiarity inviting a high level of engagement and intimacy. Even the mannequins in their shop windows take on a vibrant presence, looming large in their niches. The montage format returns with Christo's Gates, which transformed the familiar landscape of Central Park.

In Smith's work, the long debate about photography as documentation or art
becomes moot. Her evocative images move between the two and invite us to
take a closer look at our own worlds, as observers and participants.

Julie Reiss

Julie Reiss is an independent scholar and art historian who lives in New York. She lectures and writes frequently about contemporary art.

My first camera was a Brownie box camera. The now yellowed photos taken with that camera show a thirteen year old's desire to record a moment on film.

Fast forward to the sixties when I was a secretary to the creative director of Columbia Records. My boss gave me the responsibility to review photographers' portfolios and select the best for potential assignments.

I was exposed to the great photographers of that era: Gary Winogrand, Lee Friedlander and Gordon Parks to name a few. It was inspiring. I went on to study advertising concept and design at The School of Visual Arts and ultimately became an Art Director. During those years I continued to work with top photographers, including Richard Avedon. My first camera as an adult was a used 35mm Pentax. I took a few courses in photography at the New School and began to shoot whatever interested me. At the same time I had a passion to paint so I enrolled at the Art Students League to take drawing and painting classes.

I painted for many years but never abandoned photography. I have devoted myself full time to photography since 1997. The moments I capture today are no longer on film but on a CompactFlash card. And yes, I have gone digital.