PHOTOGRAPHERs IN RESIDENCE: FREE FILM : NYC

FREE FILM : NYC is a program that catalogued our communities and our city in new ways, democratizing the documentation of our ever-shifting realities. Migrating to different neighborhoods across New York City, WORTHLESSSTUDIOS' Airstream-darkroom took up residence in six neighborhoods: Red Hook, LES, South Bronx, Sunset Park, Harlem, and East Williamsburg. During the residency in each neighborhood, WORTHLESSSTUDIOS distributed free rolls of film to the general public, partnered with community organizations, and ran programs with local youth.

All six neighborhoods had its’ own Photographer in Residence. The photographers chosen for the opportunity were Rachel Stern, Destiny Mata, Sofie Vasquez, Adalena Kavanagh, Kevin Claiborne, and Raine Roberts. Each photographer was allocated a $2,500 stipend, 24/7 access to the Airstream Darkroom for 1 month, use of darkroom equipment and chemicals for personal work, and 5 rolls of Kodak Tri-x 400.

The photographers were then responsible for being the faces of the project and helping curate the FREE FILM : NYC book. Additionally, they developed and taught 1-2 workshops and photo walks as well as being involved in photographic community-based projects during their residency.

FREE FILM : NYC was made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. 

RACHEL STERN

RED HOOK

Rachel Stern is a photographer whose work considers the intersection of beauty and power. Her photo-based installations turn to the tableaux and the proscenium creating dialogue between the histories and uses of kitsch and leftist aesthetics. Using materials culled from strip malls and thrift stores she creates images which ask art and visual culture to enter into a discourse of accessibility and, in the spirit of ‘bread and roses’,  demand immediate access to beauty. Her work images a world that might be, built out of the world that is. It is a kitsch paradise, a queer-washed history, and an attempt at hope. She received her BFA in Photography and the History of Art and Visual Culture in 2011 from the Rhode Island School of Design, attended Skowhegan in 2014, and graduated from Columbia University in 2016 with an MFA in Visual Arts. She has exhibited her work at The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Baxter St., Brandies University Kniznick Gallery, Ortega Y Gasset Project, Invisible-Exports, and Asya Geisberg Gallery among others. Her work has been featured in BOMB, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, Vice, Hyperallergic, and Matte Magazine.

Website: www.msrachelstern.com
Instagram: @rachelstern

Destiny Mata is a Mexican American photographer and filmmaker based in her native New York City as she focuses on issues of subculture and community. After studying photojournalism at LaGuardia Community College and San Antonio College, she spent 2 years as Director of Photography Programs at the Lower East Side Girls Club Mata and has had work published and featured in Teen Vogue, Vice’s Noisey, Vibe, The Source, and Mass Appeal. Mata has recently exhibited La Vida En Loisaida: Life on the Lower East Side at Photoville Festival 2020. She has taken part in a group exhibition at ICP Concerned Global Images for Global Crisis at the International Center of Photography 2020, Mexic-Arte Museum, Young Latino Artists 21: Amexican@ 2016 and in 2014 she exhibited photographs of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy at the Museum of New York City’s, Rising Waters: Photographs of Sandy exhibition.

Website: www.destinymata.com
Instagram: @destiny.mata

SOFIE VASQUEZ

SOUTH BRONX

Sofie Vasquez (b. 1998) is an Ecuadorian documentary photographer born and raised in The Bronx, New York.

Her artwork is focused on long term projects that explores subcultures and communities through the relationships and connections she makes with everyone involved. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Cut, The Guardian and has been exhibited with the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Ecuadorian-American Cultural Center, The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center, Photoville and En Foco Inc.

She is an alumni of the International Center of Photography's Community Fellows, and is a part of the first graduating class of the fellowship (2018-2020) She is an alumni of the Bronx Documentary Center’s Film Fellows 2021-2022 as well as a recipient of the BRIO 2021 award. She is currently an educator working in The Bronx as well as a freelancing documentarian.

Website: sofievasquezphotography
Instagram: @bullsinthebrnx

ADALENA KAVANAGH

SUNSET PARK

Born and raised in New York City, Adalena Kavanagh is a photographer, writer and librarian living in Brooklyn, New York. She has exhibited photography at the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia and published photographs, essays, stories and interviews in places like Epoch, Believer Magazine, Air/Light, The Literary Review and Electric Literature. In 2018 she was a NYFA Fiction Fellowship finalist.

Website: adalenakavanagh.com
Instagram: @mamiyaroid

Kevin Claiborne is a multidisciplinary conceptual artist whose work examines intersections of identity, social environment, & mental health within the Black American experience. Moving between collage, silkscreen, photography, painting, and sculpture, while frequently using language as material, Claiborne is interested in finding new ways to look at history and its connection to the present. Claiborne holds a B.S. in Mathematics from the historically Black college North Carolina Central University (2012), an M.S. in Higher Education from Syracuse University (2016), and an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University (2021).

Claiborne is currently living and working in Harlem, New York City.

Website: kevinclaiborne.com
Instagram: @kevinclaiborne

RAINE ROBERTS

EAST WILLIAMSBURG

Raine Roberts is a Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based photographer, video artist and sculptor whose work delves into the delicate fluctuations between structure and chaos. She photographs architecture, bodies, and the natural environment and displays these works on mediums that will erode and change over time.

She earned her BFA in Film Productions (2019) and BA in Communications - Rhetorical Analysis (2019) from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Raine studied at the International Center of Photography (2023), honing her analog photography and darkroom processes, in order to transition to photographic-sculpture work. Since graduating, she has exhibited her work in a solo exhibition at Westlab + Gallery, and a group exhibition with APStudiosBrooklyn. Raine is a member of the photography group SmallTable Collective.

Website: www.raineroberts.com
Instagram: @raine_roberts