Stephen Wilkes (b.1957), Isolation Ward, Curved Corridor, Island 3, Ellis Island,
ca.1998-2003. Ilfochrome print, H. 39 x W. 48 inches. Collection of the artist.
Fred Beans Gallery
It's hard to imagine a place that says more about the American experience
than Ellis Island. For twelve million people, Ellis Island was the doorway to a
new life. The hopes and dreams of several generations of immigrants began and
sometimes ended there, and there are few American families who can't trace
their heritage back to someone whose first footsteps on American soil happened
at Ellis Island. For five years, renowned photographer Stephen Wilkes had
free reign of the island's hospital complex. Neglected for nearly fifty years,
the buildings were in an extreme state of disrepair: lead paint peeled from the
ceilings and walls, vines and trees grew through the floorboards of once
cramped wards. In these long-abandoned spaces, Wilkes discovered an unyielding
solitude, yet also found undeniable evidence of life, not only in the implicit
remembrances of the people who resided there, but in the radiant, beckoning
light in which these scenes were captured.
Organized by the Michener Art Museum with the cooperation the George Eastman House,
Rochester, and ClampArt Gallery, New York, this exhibition presents a selection
of Wilkes's evocative contemporary images of Ellis Island as well as a group of
vintage prints from the Eastman House collection by the legendary photographer
Lewis Hine (1874-1940), who began documenting the immigrant experience around
1904 and produced a major body of work focusing specifically on Ellis Island.
Lead Sponsor:
Silverman Family Partnerships
Co-sponsor:
Carroll's Jewelers
Additional Support:
Happ Contractors, Inc.
Doreen H. Paynton
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