Accra Shepp
The Tobacco Project
May 8 - June 7, 2008
Gallery 138 West 17th Street, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10011
(212) 633-0324
contact@gallery138.com | http://www.gallery138.com
Opening reception
Thursday, May 8, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Accra Shepp reads from his book Atlas
Wednesday, May 21 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm
ACCRA SHEPP
The Tobacco Project
Exhibition Dates: May 8 – June 7, 2008
Opening Reception for the Artist: May 8, 2008, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Gallery 138 is pleased to present The Tobacco Project, a mixed media installation by Accra Shepp, opening on May 8, 2008. In this new series, Shepp investigates the cultural contradictions of tobacco by documenting the lives of tobacco plantation owners and migrant workers on farms in Kentucky, Georgia, and North Carolina. The exhibition includes life sized photographic portraits printed on tobacco leaves grown by the farmers, photographs of the interior and exteriors of the farms, jars of dirt from which the tobacco was grown, and tobacco ashes in tins of chewing tobacco.
Shepp’s work addresses the relationship between the natural world, science, and urban civilization. As a little boy, growing up in a concrete city, Shepp had no idea there was earth under his feet. It is not coincidence that the materials of his installation are leaves, dirt and ashes: to Shepp, they represent the cycle of life. Accra sees the leaf as a unit by which we measure nature. Tobacco is a cash crop made from this unit of measure.
“Tobacco is not ambiguous,” Accra says. “Guilty pleasure, deadly vice, no other substance has a similar array of known hazards, yet people smoke. Tobacco has a long and complicated history, from its cultivation through the labor of enslaved people during the founding of this country to its modern cultivation with the use of migrant labor.”
Despite this statement, Accra explores the world of tobacco without didactic malice or blame. Like a Buddhist monk, it is his intention that we see tobacco, and ourselves, more clearly.
Accra Shepp received his B.A. from Princeton University and his M.A. from New York University. His work has been recently exhibited at The African American Museum in Philadelphia, The Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., The Whitney Museum / Philip Morris, and the Jamaica Art Center. He has been the recipient of Fulbright and NYFA fellowships. His work is included in the collections of renowned museums such as The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney, The Art Institute of Chicago, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Gallery 138 is located at 138 West 17th Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011, (212) 633-0324. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm. Closed for holidays. For additional information, please contact Brookie Maxwell at 633-0324, contact@gallery138.com.
The Tobacco Project
May 8 - June 7, 2008
Gallery 138 West 17th Street, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10011
(212) 633-0324
contact@gallery138.com | http://www.gallery138.com
Opening reception
Thursday, May 8, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Accra Shepp reads from his book Atlas
Wednesday, May 21 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm
ACCRA SHEPP
The Tobacco Project
Exhibition Dates: May 8 – June 7, 2008
Opening Reception for the Artist: May 8, 2008, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Gallery 138 is pleased to present The Tobacco Project, a mixed media installation by Accra Shepp, opening on May 8, 2008. In this new series, Shepp investigates the cultural contradictions of tobacco by documenting the lives of tobacco plantation owners and migrant workers on farms in Kentucky, Georgia, and North Carolina. The exhibition includes life sized photographic portraits printed on tobacco leaves grown by the farmers, photographs of the interior and exteriors of the farms, jars of dirt from which the tobacco was grown, and tobacco ashes in tins of chewing tobacco.
Shepp’s work addresses the relationship between the natural world, science, and urban civilization. As a little boy, growing up in a concrete city, Shepp had no idea there was earth under his feet. It is not coincidence that the materials of his installation are leaves, dirt and ashes: to Shepp, they represent the cycle of life. Accra sees the leaf as a unit by which we measure nature. Tobacco is a cash crop made from this unit of measure.
“Tobacco is not ambiguous,” Accra says. “Guilty pleasure, deadly vice, no other substance has a similar array of known hazards, yet people smoke. Tobacco has a long and complicated history, from its cultivation through the labor of enslaved people during the founding of this country to its modern cultivation with the use of migrant labor.”
Despite this statement, Accra explores the world of tobacco without didactic malice or blame. Like a Buddhist monk, it is his intention that we see tobacco, and ourselves, more clearly.
Accra Shepp received his B.A. from Princeton University and his M.A. from New York University. His work has been recently exhibited at The African American Museum in Philadelphia, The Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., The Whitney Museum / Philip Morris, and the Jamaica Art Center. He has been the recipient of Fulbright and NYFA fellowships. His work is included in the collections of renowned museums such as The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney, The Art Institute of Chicago, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Gallery 138 is located at 138 West 17th Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011, (212) 633-0324. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm. Closed for holidays. For additional information, please contact Brookie Maxwell at 633-0324, contact@gallery138.com.
Labels: Accra Shepp, exhibitions, publications
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