Art in the Parks

Photoville NYC 2021 marks the 10th year of the annual festival and its second year bringing photography to all five boroughs in New York City. The festival celebrates and showcases photographers and organizations from New York and around the world and vitally broadens the possibilities of art experienced beyond museum and gallery spaces. At Photoville NYC 2021, the beauty and specificity of New York’s myriad outdoor settings become backdrops for arresting visions of multitudinous and diverging realities.

In addition to the public displays, Photoville has also put together a calendar of events surrounding the festival, including artist talks, workshops, demonstrations, educational programs, storytelling events, and community programming.

Locations: Exhibitions in parks can be found in Barretto Point Park and Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx; Anchorage Plaza in Brooklyn; Chelsea Park, East River Esplanade, First Park, Little Flower Playground, and St. Nicholas Park in Manhattan; Astoria Park and Travers Park in Queens; and Alice Austen House and South Beach Promenade in Staten Island. This exhibition is presented by Photoville.

In addition to the public displays, Photoville has also put together an abundant calendar of virtual events surrounding the festival, including artist talks, workshops, demonstrations, educational programs, storytelling events, and community programming.

Locations: Exhibitions in parks can be found in Soundview Park and Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx; Anchorage Plaza in Brooklyn; Chelsea Park, Jackie Robinson Park, and St. Nicholas Park in Manhattan; Astoria Park and Travers Park in Queens; and South Beach Promenade in Staten Island. For more more locations, please visit photoville.nyc.

This exhibition is presented by Photoville.

This mural is inspired by Concrete Plant Park and the wealth of activities and opportunities it gives the community to connect with nature. The imagery walks you through the park trail, navigating through the food forest, neighboring plants, and the Bronx River.

This exhibition is presented by the Bronx River Alliance and Bronx Health REACH.

Please note: Concrete Plant Park will be closed from November 1, 2021 through March 1, 2022 due to nearby construction. The mural will not be viewable during this time. For more information about this closure, please visit our Concrete Plant Park page. 

BIRDLINK is an interactive habitat sculpture whose mission is to support migratory birds by inserting native plant systems throughout the urban and suburban corridors through which they travel. BIRDLINK attracts the wild birds that reside or migrate through the city with native plants at the empty lower and middle canopy levels. It responds to community interests, highlights the shared the urban ecosystem, bridges cultural differences through the universality of birds, and serves as an educational tool.

This interactive installation of multiple cut out figures made of plywood are applied with collage and photographs from Mardok’s @ny.strong photography project. As people walk through the portals they’re transported into the energy of the protests of 2020: the unified experience of citizens across ethnicities and genders fighting for freedom and justice for Black lives. The team has also collaborated with the Bronx River Art Center on a program focused on public art and activism, offered to a team of young adults who are creating their own sculptures and photographs. Their work will be shown in a group exhibition responding to the Black lives Matter movement, in conjunction with the installation of KaN+Mardok’s sculptures at Poe Park in the Bronx.

The Plywood Protection Project is an initiative to collect the plywood used by NYC businesses to board up their windows during the protests of 2020 and redistribute it to artists, extending and repurposing the life of this material. Arts not-for-profit worthless studios collected over 200 boards of plywood and initiated an open call for artists, eventually selecting five local makers to participate in a unifying public art project across all five boroughs of New York. This piece is one of the five created by the project, each installed in a different borough of New York City.

This exhibition is presented by worthless studios.

This project is about connecting the history of the Aqueduct Walk, tying its role in public health during the cholera epidemic to the community's resilience through COVID-19 today. Community members' family photos and memories in and around Aqueduct Walk were collected through email and in-person scanning events. These photos are displayed alongside historical photos of the area, collected in partnership with the Bronx Community College, and oral history interviews with longtime community members.

This mural’s abstract design captures motion with colors that convey an abundance of energy and brings life to this exterior retaining wall along Walton Avenue. Residents in the community and park visitors will develop a joy and appreciation of color, and how it affects our moods and behavior. This mural was painted by Publicolor, a youth development program that fights poverty by aggressively addressing the alarming dropout rate and low levels of educational attainment and youth employment in New York City. The program engages high-risk, low-income students, ages 12-24, in a multi-year continuum of design-based programs to encourage academic achievement, college preparation, job readiness, and community service.

BEAM ENSEMBLE is an outdoor orchestra that creates a space intended for the public to establish a connection with the buried history of African American composers. The piece has four distinct sections, each representing a different instrument originating from the African diaspora, including a kora, percussion, an amadinda, and a tongue drum. The significance of this structure runs deeper than the visual appeal of art in public spaces—it is an invitation for interpersonal and intercultural connection. Even if it’s only for a few minutes, both friends and strangers become a part of an impromptu ensemble.

This exhibition is presented by More Art.

Time to Soar is a public art installation featuring youth photography and poetry excerpts provided by the Hunts Point Alliance for Children. The brightly colored imagery is presented on adhesive ground stickers. The project gives young artists in the neighborhood an outlet to showcase their artistic talent along with other local artists and musicians the festival centers on. Time to Soar contrasts feelings associated with the pandemic and presents an optimistic message with liberating imagery.

This exhibition is presented by Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education, Southern Boulevard Business Improvement District, and Hunts Point Alliance for Children.