About the event:
Today the Borscht Belt is recalled through the nostalgic lens of summer swims, Saturday night dances, and comedy performances, but its current state, like that of many other formerly glorious regions, is nothing like its earlier status. Forgotten about and exhausted, much of its structural environment has been left to decay. This illustrated webinar features Marisa Scheinfeld’s photographs of abandoned sites where resorts, hotels, and bungalow colonies once boomed in the Catskill Mountain region of upstate New York. The images were shot inside and outside locations that once buzzed with life as year-round havens for generations of people. In her illustrated talk, Scheinfeld will discuss the rise, fall, and impact of the Borscht Belt long with the deeper, more layered meaning she finds in the series. Following her presentation, there will be an opportunity for questions and answers.

About Marisa Scheinfeld:
Marisa Scheinfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1980 and raised in the Catskills. She received a B.A. from the State University of Albany in 2002, and an MFA from San Diego State University in 2011. Her work is motivated by an interest in the landscape and its embedded histories, both apparent and hidden. Marisa’s photographic projects and books are among the collections of the Library of Congress, The New York Public Library, Yeshiva University Museum. The National Yiddish Book Center, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art & Life at UC Berkeley. The Simon Wisenthal Center, The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, and The Edmund and Nancy K. Dubois Library at the Museum of Photographic Arts. On October 4, 2016, Cornell University Press released her first book entitled The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland. Marisa is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Photography at SUNY Purchase and working on her second book.

Attendees will receive a link to join the webinar after completing the registration.