Mitchell-Innes & Nash

Justine Kurland · February 24 - April 7, 2007

534 W 26th Street
February 24 - April 7, 2007

Press Release

Justine Kurland: Of Woman Born
February 24 – April 7, 2007

December 8, 2006: Mitchell-Innes & Nash will present the first New York exhibition in three years for photographer Justine Kurland. On view in the Chelsea gallery from February 24 through April 7, 2007, the exhibition unveils Kurland’s new series of color photographs of mothers and their young children.

To photograph this series, Kurland drove across the country while living in a van with her one-year old son. She began in New York City and made her way across the southern U.S. toward the Pacific Northwest. She stopped at some 45 locations, including national parks, beaches and campgrounds, to take photographs of other mothers and children that she met along the way. The exhibition’s title is taken from an essay by Adrienne Rich about the realities of motherhood.

Kurland uses the natural landscape as a stage for these photographs, constructing an optimistic fantasy about living in harmony with nature and finding faith in humankind, even as the world becomes increasingly unsettling. The images use as points of reference the Gnostic narrative of the fall of man from heaven to earth, and the search for the metaphorical Garden of Eden. The resulting pictures of nudes posed on beaches, foggy coastlines and under waterfalls give this timeless subject matter an otherworldly quality. Works reference Pictorialist photography, early 19th century landscape photographs intended to lure settlers to the American West, and even Arthur Rackham's turn-of-the-century fairy tale illustrations.

Justine Kurland was born in 1969 and lives in New York City. Her photographs have been exhibited at museums and galleries in the U.S. and internationally, including the Institute of Contemporary Photography, the Guggenheim, and the Whitney Museum, all in New York, and the Shirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt. She received her B.F.A from School of Visual Arts, NY in 1996, and her M.F.A. from Yale University in 1998. She is represented by Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York.

Listing Information:
Mitchell-Innes & Nash Chelsea: 534 West 26th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues.
Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat, 10am – 6pm
Public Information: T: (212) 744-7400 www.miandn.com
Opening reception: Saturday, February 24, 2006, from 6 – 8pm.

Press Contact:
Stacy Bolton Communications
T: 212.721.5350 E: Emily@StacyBolton.com