New Years with the Romps

Taken at Jane Street Park in lower Manhattan, these portraits tell the story of the Romp family. For the past 20 years they have camped out on the corner of Jane and Eighth Avenue selling Christmas trees every holiday season. From Thanksgiving Day to Christmas Day they are the vital part of the community's holiday spirit, each taking turns outside to mingle in the cold. We look forward heading up to Vermont to spend the New Year's with such a lovely bunch!!

Warm wishes for the holidays!
The Tribbles

Timmy Romp, Jane Street Park, NY 2006

Henry Romp, Jane Street Park, NY 2006

William Romp, Jane Street Park, NY 2006

To See Beyond the Usual

“There are moments in our lives, there are moments in a day, when we seem to see beyond the usual. Such are the moments of our greatest happiness. Such are the moments of our greatest wisdom. If one could but recall his vision by some sort of sign. It was in this hope that the arts were invented. Sign-posts on the way to what may be. Sign-posts toward greater knowledge.” - Robert Henri

Home Sweet Home

© Tribble & Mancenido

Joel Sternfeld : When It Changed

“Future generations are going to wonder about us, the inhabitants of the Earth when the climate began to change. If seas are rising and at the same time drinking water is scarce, they are going to want to know what scientific evidence was before us and what we did in response to it.” - Joel Sternfeld

Steidl will be releasing Joel Sternfeld's latest masterpiece : When It Changed. The monograph documents the attendees at the eleventh UN conference on climate change held in Montreal in 2005. The 55 portraits are accomanied by the subject's statements about the evidence of shifts in their nation's climate and its profound effect on its wildlife.

Though not yet released and available on pre-order,... we can't wait!!!

Bansky Does New York

©Bansky

Bansky Does New York : Currently on view thru Dec 29 at the Vanina Holasek Gallery

Guerilla graffiti artist makes his way to Chelsea, though this time not on the side of a building or smuggling his art in. To remind you of his tactics, he has smuggled one of his pieces of art into Tate Britain, stencilled “Mind the Crap” writing that appeared overnight on the steps to Tate Modern, smuggled 500 alternative copies of the Paris Hilton CD into record stores, placed a life-size replica of a Guantanamo Bay detainee in Disneyland, hung his perfectly framed pieces in the Metropolitan, MOMA, Brooklyn Museum and his "dead beetle with glued on sidewinder missiles and satellite dish" had pride of place in the Museum of Natural History NYC.

Oh yeah, THAT Bansky!!

Death with Dignity

Beautifully shot by Katy Grannan, this weekend's cover story of the New York Times Magazine tells the story of Booth Gardner, former governor of Washington State suffering with Parkinson's. At 71 years old he is running his final campaign to promote "physician-assisted suicide", hoping for a statewide law on Election Day 2008.

© Katy Grannan for the New York Times

This story immediately reminded us of an image by Taryn Simon from her latest series An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar. Don James who was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, was a citizen of Oregon where in 1994 the Oregon Death with Dignity Act was established. As of 2006, 292 people have taken their lives under Oregon's Death with Dignity Act.


Death with Dignity Act - Don James
© Taryn Simon from An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar

Both Katy Grannan and Taryn Simon are two exceptional female photographers we utterly admire. We can't begin to explain our enthusiasm for The Westerns, Katy Grannan's new series examining 'themes of escape, fantasy and reinvention so often connected with the mythology of the American West'. The series will be on view in January 2008, visit her personal site for further information.

The Hyena & Other Men

Another exemplary opening at Yossi Milo: Pieter Hugo's The Hyena & Other Men, on view through January 12.

Garuba Yawu with Mora, Ogere-Remo, Nigeria 2007
© Pieter Hugo

Upon discovering a cell phone image of a group of men with hyenas in chains, Pieter Hugo tracked down the "Gadawan Kura" as they are known in Hausa. They are traveling performers of a familial tradition, handed down from generation to generation entertaining crowds and selling traditional medicines with three hyenas, four monkeys, and a few rock pythons. Traveling with a Nigerian reporter who served as a translator, Hugo made two separate visits two years apart creating portraits of these men.

"Many people invariably only ask about the welfare of the animals but the question misses the point. Instead perhaps, we could ask why these performers need to catch wild animals to make a living. Or why they are economically marginalized if Nigeria is the world's sixth largest exporter of oil." - Pieter Hugo