Untapped Cities contributors James and Karla Murray are saving the memory of New York City’s disappearing mom-and-pop storefronts with their photography. The husband and wife team share their passion for preservation through photography with the public through free workshops where they equip participants with the tools to go out and capture the stories of their own neighborhoods. In a new exhibit opening this evening at the Theater For The New City Gallery, you can experience the activism and sense of community fostered by their work.
Capturing the Faces and Voices of Mom-and-Pop Storefronts will feature photographs of mom-and-pop shops around New York City and interviews with their owners collected by participants of James and Karla’s free public photography workshops. In two sessions at the East Village Community Coalition, James and Karla taught participants how to use photography and oral history to raise public awareness, build community, and encourage advocacy. Participants learned to create their own powerful photographs of neighborhood storefronts and to connect with the proprietors through personal interviews. On display alongside the work of participants James and Karla will show large-scale prints of their own photographs featuring their beloved East Village shops, which have sadly disappeared, including CBGB, Stage Delicatessen and Love Saves The Day.
The opening reception for the exhibit will be held tonight, Monday, September 16th at 5:00PM until 8:30PM at the Theater For The New City Gallery at 155 First Avenue (near 10th Street). There will be free beer from Singha, free cold brew from Joe Coffee Company and pastries and cookies from Veniero’s Pasticceria! The exhibition will be on display through October 27th, 2019.
Nicole Saraniero is the Insider-in-Chief at Untapped New York, leading our Untapped New York Insiders membership program. Nicole graduated from Hofstra University with a Bachelor of Science in Televis
