Upcoming Exhibition: PARK AVENUE IS DEAD: Sarah Singh and Robin Cofer

Written by Katie Grierson 

Edited by Hillary Mitchell

On February 17, Sarah Singh and Robin Cofer attended the opening of Occupy Art Project #3 held at the French Consulate which is displaying pieces from their collaborative new series Park Avenue Is Dead, curated by Sozita Goudouna.

Occupy Art Project #3, whose goal is to highlight the interconnectedness and social responsibilities of art, will showcase the effects of Covid-19 through art including Singh and Cofer’s series. Shot on Polaroid and 35mm digital cameras, Park Avenue Is Dead follows one woman's continuous reinvention in the wake of the isolating time of the pandemic. 

Talking with Art Speaks India, Singh discusses how the process of photographing this work was isolating within itself: New York was quiet, the stores boarded up and streets empty. The unseen is central to the series, as the character whose journey we observe recreates herself through fashion, gender, and even the architecture of New York, challenging the invisibility generated by our collective experiences in lockdowns, and also the historical invisibility of women. The woman’s transformations are motivated by survival, brought on by the unpredictability of the pandemic, an idea emphasized by the use of Polaroids. 
Eleven photographs from Park Avenue Is Dead will be on exhibition at the French Consulate in New York City for a month for the public by appointment only.