November 2 - 22, 2017

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Amos Eno Gallery presents ADDRESSES, an exhibition of recent works by Gwen Shockey. A reception will be held on Friday, November 3 from 6 - 8 PM at the gallery’s new location on the first floor of 56 Bogart Street in Brooklyn, NY.

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ADDRESSES investigates sites of lesbian and queer community gathering in New York City. Consisting of an expanding archive of prints and oral history interviews, ADDRESSES tracks the history of the Gay Rights Movement, shifts in identity building (and shedding) and the sociopolitical conditions of the city itself over the past six decades. Shockey began working on this project in 2015 and has since gathered over a hundred addresses and names of bars, clubs and venues that once hosted lesbian and queer gatherings. Shockey traveled to locations in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx, following instructions given to her by women she interviewed, to photograph what is there now. Because many of these spaces were mafia-owned or kept hidden to protect individual identities from law enforcement there is little recorded information about their histories. ADDRESSES creates an alternate map of New York based on word-of-mouth, memory and the search for difference, community and space for free expression.

 

Gwen Shockey received her MFA from Pratt Institute in 2017. Her work has been exhibited nationally and in New York City venues such as A.I.R. Gallery, Equity Gallery, the Prince Street Project Space, and the Leslie-Lohman Museum, which recently acquired three of her pieces into their permanent collection. Gwen was interviewed for the Huffington Post's "Gay Voices" column in 2013 about her artwork. She has been a member of Amos Eno Gallery since 2013 where she serves as the secretary of the Board.