Via National Gallery of Victoria
Looking back over the photographs that he made of New York in 2020 Australian photographer Ashley Gilbertson wrote, ‘The resulting photo essay is my requiem to the New York that we knew before the pandemic, but also a love letter to the resilient people who never gave up.’
One consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic was the shutting down of much of New York and the suspension of national and international travel. For Gilbertson, this enforced a shift in his focus had a profound impact on his life and work. Already a regular runner, his practice during 2020 involved daily distance running and using the camera in his phone to photograph the events unfolding around him as he ran through the streets of the city. Over the course of the year, he documented the trajectory of the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter protests, and the US presidential election, creating a visual diary of the unfolding events across the city.
Thursday, 5 May, 11am (AEST) Free entry
The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Fed Square Level 2
Booking is not required
General enquiries
Ph +61 3 8620 2222
ngvenquiries@ngv.vic.gov.au
9am–5pm, daily
Speakers
Susan van Wyk
Senior Curator, Photography
Ashley Gilbertson was born in Melbourne in 1978, lives and works in New York, and is a member of the VII Photo Agency. Gilbertson’s early work focused on refugees around the world, an interest that in 2002, led him to Iraq. His work in that country, made largely on contract for The New York Times, earned critical acclaim and he was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal for his 2004 work in Falluja. One of the leading photojournalists of his generation, Gilbertson has been recognised for his photographs in conflict zones, empathetic pictures of the global refugee crisis and his humanist approach to photography as a documentary medium.
