STEPHEN WILKES: ELLIS ISLAND, GHOSTS OF OUR ANCESTORS

Isolation ward, Statue of Liberty, Island 3, Ellis Island

On the 20th anniversary of Stephen Wilkes documentary project photographing the abandoned buildings on the southern side of Ellis Island, and with the future of immigration and refuge in America in contention, Wilkes takes us on an unforgettable journey through our collective past that reminds us how we became the diverse nation that we are today and asks us to reflect on our own humanity.

Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is pleased to present “Ellis Island: Ghosts of Our Ancestors”, a timely exhibition which opens with a public reception for the photographer on Friday, October 5, from 5 – 7 PM. The exhibition continues through November 18.

Twelve million people passed through Ellis Island from 1892 until its closing in 1954, and tens of millions of Americans today are descendants of immigrants who were thought deplorable by those already here. Wilkes's powerful images of the underbelly of the island—a purgatory between freedom and captivity—ask us to reflect on the defining experiences of millions. Photographed over five years beginning in 1998, the photographs are a visual history of the immigration center and adjoining hospital which grew to 22 medical buildings spread across three islands. In the era before antibiotics, tens of thousands of immigrant patients were healed from illness before becoming citizens. Neglected for almost fifty years, the buildings were in a state of extreme disrepair: lead paint peeled from the ceilings and walls, vines and trees grew through the floorboards, detritus and debris littered the hallways. In rooms long-abandoned, Wilkes captured a spirited new vision of this gateway to freedom.


“I photographed every corner, every crevice, in every light. Strange things happened. I’d photograph a mirror attached to a wall for half a century, only to return and find the mirror shattered. I’d photograph a shoe, only to come back and find it disappeared. I photographed the 500-foot long spine of the hospital, Corridor #9, a long tunnel of decay. In the photograph of it, you’ll see a golden glow of sunshine warming the walls at the far end. In all the times I went back, I’ve never seen this glow again, nor can I figure out its origin.

What I was obsessed to do, almost as if I was chosen to do it, was document the light and the energy and living spirit of this place. I added no light of my own, nor any artifice of the photographic craft. I wasn’t simply interested in graphics born from the patina of ruin. I just wanted to record the place as I found it.”


– Stephen Wilkes

THE AIPAD 2017 PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW

March 30-April 2, 2017

Monroe Gallery of Photography Booth # 534
     Pier 94 | New York City

TicketsPurchase Show and Vernissage tickets online for the best value and to avoid lines.

PURCHASE

Photographs made by Ashley Gilbertson of the refugee crisis in Greece, the Balkans, and Germany while on assignment for UNICEF in 2015 at Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, are among the fine examples of photojournalism on view. --ArtFix Daily

“Unframed — Ellis Island,” by the French artist JR; Inspired by Stephen Wilkes

Stephen Wilkes: Isolation ward, curved corridor, Island 3, Ellis Island

Via The New York Times




A new installation, “Unframed — Ellis Island,” by the French artist JR, which brings this landmark building, its patients and staff members, to grainy but wrenching life. It is the first time in 60 years that the Ellis Island hospital has been open to the public. Tickets go on sale Thursday for guided tours that begin on Oct. 1.


Unframed — Ellis Island” is part of JR’s larger “Unframed” series that puts archival photos in new contexts in places like Marseille, France; São Paulo, Brazil; and Washington. He was introduced to this project by a book, “Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom,” the photographer Stephen Wilkes’s exploration of the hospital in its wildest state, and quickly became obsessed with the grounds. Finishing the installation this month, he and his small team would arrive in the morning and wander all day, scouting out homes for their century-old charges, before taking the tourist ferry back to Manhattan, toting ladders and paste buckets.

“It’s a really powerful place,” said Mr. Wilkes, who photographed it the hospital from 1998 to 2003, and is now on the board of Save Ellis Island. He was particularly moved by the realization that some patients could see the Statue of Liberty from their sickbeds. “She’s so close, and for many people who came to America and who never got out of that hospital, they never got to see any more than that,” Mr. Wilkes said.

Their emotion lingered. “I would feel almost human energy in these empty rooms,” he said.

Read the full article here.

View Stephen Wilkes' Ellis Island collection here.

On Ellis Island, Examining Those Who Arrived Before and After

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Stephen Wilkes: Isolation ward, curved corridor, Island 3

Via The New York Times

Michael Nagle for The New York Times

The Ellis Island Immigration Museum is expanding its scope to include all immigrants,

not just who arrived on the island.

Officials of Ellis Island estimate that as many as one in three Americans can trace their ancestry to immigrants who landed there from overseas.

Now, the officials are focusing on the other roughly 200 million newcomers who arrived in the United States before Ellis Island opened its doors or after it stopped becoming a portal for immigrants. The national historic site in New York Harbor is halfway through a transformation into a more inclusive National Museum of Immigration.

“The Ellis story is a finite story; American immigration is continuing,” said David Luchsinger, the National Park Service superintendent who oversees the island and the Statue of Liberty.
And Stephen A. Briganti, president of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, said, “If we didn’t tell the current story we would be obsolete in 25 years.”

As part of a $20 million project privately financed by the foundation, 20,000 square feet, comprised of a former railroad ticket office and offices for Park Service staff, are being converted into a new museum that encompasses the story of immigration from the 16th century through today. The first phase, which covers 1550 to 1892, when Ellis Island began operating as an immigration station, opened informally last fall. The second phase, which focuses on the period after 1924—, when strict quotas on foreigners were imposed and the island was used primarily as a detention center—, and especially on the influx following World War II, is scheduled to open about a year from now with a formal ceremony to celebrate the new museum.

Full article here.

57 YEARS AGO, ELLIS ISLAND CLOSED

Stephen Wilkes: Tuberculosis Ward, Statue of Liberty, Island 3, Ellis Island

November 12 marks the 57th anniversary of the closing of Ellis Island, a facility that will forever be linked to the concept of the American dream. From 1892 to 1954, over 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island. They came from Ireland, England, Germany, Italy, and many other countries, and together they formed the backbone of America.

beginning in 1998,  Stephen Wilkes immortalized the remaining ruins in his epic "Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom" project.

For the anniversary, Life.com has a slideshow "Faces of Ellis Island".

SAVE THE DATE - A CONVERSATION WITH STEPHEN WILKES: SAVE ELLIS ISLAND

Stephen Wilkes: Curved Corridor, Island 2, Ellis Island

On Sunday, November 7, join the Save Ellis Island Foundation for a very special tour and talk with Stephen Wilkes.

Included will be an illustrated presentation by renowned photographer Stephen Wilkes, who will discuss his work and the personal project that involved photographing the south side of Ellis Island...the inspiration for his poignant book "Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom".

For the very first time, since the book was published, Stephen Wilkes visits Ellis Island to present his work, taking us on a journey to our collective past. The event begins at 10:00 am, starting with a fabulous brunch followed by Stephen's presentation and finally a emotional and inspirational walking tour of the unrestored south side Hospital Buildings.

-Each guest will be presented with an autographed copy of Stephen's book, "Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom" and a few additional surprises in a gift bag provided by your host, Save Ellis Island

-Seats are limited for this one-time fundraising event

-Donations: Individual $1,000 - Order tickets on line. For corporate reservations, please call 973-347-8400

-Complimentary transportation provided from Battery park, New York City and Liberty State Park, New Jersey

-To lean more, visit http://www.saveellisisland.org/

Ticket information here.

"In the southern shadows of Ellis Island’s Great Hall, forgotten by history and ill-equipped in its battle with nature, I came upon the ruins of a vast hospital: the contagious-disease wards and isolation rooms for the people whose spirits carried them across oceans but whose bodies failed them, just inches from Paradise. What I was obsessed to do, almost as if I was chosen to do it, was document the light and the energy and living spirit of this place. I added no light of my own, nor any artifice of the photographic craft. I wasn’t simply interested in graphics born from the patina of ruin. I just wanted to record the place as I found it."

--Stephen Wilkes


View Stephen Wilkes' Ellis Island Collection here.

NPR PICTURE SHOW: EERIE ELLIS ISLAND with photos by Stephen Wilkes

Nation Public Radio

by Claire O'Neill

August 20, 2010
In grade school, I was obsessed with Ellis Island, which I attribute to a fascination with my grandmother's Irish accent. In my mind, it was a bustling, brimming, turn of the century checkpoint for immigrants in search of brighter prospects.

Corridor #9, Island 3: "There was a palatable sense of collaboration with an unknown force when I made this photograph. Red afternoon sunlight created an aura at the end of the corridor unlike any light I have ever seen"--Stephen Wilkes

 

In Stephen Wilkes' mind, on the other hand, Ellis Island means decay. He discovered the island's abandoned hospitals while on a photo assignment in the 1990s, and it quickly devolved into obsession (of course, I can sympathize). For five years he had free reign of the island's ghostly buildings.

Wilkes' photo project, Ellis Island: Ghosts Of Freedom, shows the somber side of immigration — the side you don't see while on island tours. For many, the dream of a better life terminated in Ellis Island hospitals, where they were detained at any sign of disease. In one of Wilkes' images, the Statue of Liberty is reflected in a mirror. "I suddenly imagined a petite Eastern European woman rising out of her bed every morning," he writes in the caption."Seeing the reflection would be the closest she'd ever come to freedom."


The hospitals were closed in 1954 and basically left untouched, except by the elements of nature, and unseen, until Wilkes came along. Empty rooms, peeling paint, a lonely shoe left on a table — this deterioration is what Wilkes finds beautiful. His meditative studies of light and composition guide the viewer through Ellis Island's dark side, oddly illuminated by an afternoon glow.

His book was featured on Weekend Edition Saturday in 2006; and now, his photographs are part of a new exhibition at the James A. Michener Art Museum outside of Philadelphia. (Related review here) Brian Peterson, the exhibition curator, has made an interesting contrast by pairing Wilkes' color prints with the early documentary photographs of Lewis Hine.

Ellis Island, 1926 

Lewis W. Hine/Courtesy of George Eastman House

I've never actually visited Ellis Island, but after seeing Wilkes photographs, I just might have to revisit and old obsession.
 
 
Original post here with slide show of photographs.
 
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