It’s taken me a while to fully collect my thoughts on the 2025 ICP Winter show — which includes what I believe it is so in line with their previously stated ideas of showing “urgent photography.” Among the images are those curated by a fellow Guyanese photographer (a genuine rarity in the New York photo scene), the balance between WeeGee’s in-camera trickery and his photojournalism, and the history of the American Worker’s rights — if that’s what you want to call them. The show and the space greatly improve on lots of the issues that have plagued ICP in the past, but I truly believe that they could’ve and should’ve driven their point into our hearts even deeper. I attended the Winter Press Preview a while back, and for the first time in 15 years, I think I need to go back and see the shows again.
You can visit the ICP winter show until May 05, 2025. Check it out at this link.
Weegee: Society of the Spectacle
I’m going to start with my favorite thing first: and that’s Weegee. It’s not about the fact that he is who he is, but it’s more about the fact that you’re bound to see work from him that is going to impress and amaze you the way a magician captivates audiences. Of course, there’s Weegee’s photojournalism work that’s important to many photographers because of the stories of him following the police around and such. But what’s even more important today is the artistic work he decided to do using special glass in front of his lens and other in-camera tricks.
Yes, I said in-camera tricks. These weren’t done in photoshop because it wasn’t around. And they weren’t done in the darkroom. Most importantly and to the point of why it’s important today — they weren’t done using AI. A human, in collaboration with other humans, made these images the kooky and fun work that they are. I truly only wish that the images were printed larger and took up more real estate space on ICP’s walls.
And, of course, this wouldn’t be an ICP exhibit if there weren’t issues with reflections on the images. If you can somehow or another get past that, then you’ll really be inspired and enjoy the work that is present in this part of the show.
To ICP’s credit, his show is clearly labelled and there are hard, defined, indicators that tell you when you’re going from the American Job show to Weegee’s. For example, they use paint in some parts and actual signs in others.
Weegee’s exhibit is, in my mind, the most important because we sincerely need to alert the world to how humans can still outdo generative AI. And in order to do that, we have to get super weird.
To Conjure: New Archives in Recent Photography
While Weegee’s exhibit is the one that I feel is most important, my favorite has to be To Conjure on the 3rd floor. This exhibit is fascinating and hard to really describe. At one point in my notes I talk about how it’s experimental and uses elements of mixed media to make the images stand out. But like Weegee’s I couldn’t also see how someone would even try to make a prompt for this kind of work using Generative AI. With that said, it shows off how inherently human it is.
My only major critique of this section at the ICP Winter Exhibit is that the text is so small and dark that we can’t see it very clearly.
But at the same time, the work is weird, abnormal, and archival at the same time. And that’s what I really love about it. In my notes, I wondered why the curator chose these images. In fact, her own work is in the exhibit. But upon reviewing my images from the exhibit, I understand why. Because it’s so uncontemporary that it needs to be seen — and even then, you might not understand it.
American Job: 1940 – 2011
In the light of everything happening these days, American Job is one that I truly believe could’ve been stronger. Eugene Smith’s images are some of the most striking and him and others try to showcase the plights that American workers have faced for years. It details protests, working conditions, issues around labor, etc. But at times, if you look at the images, you’ll wonder why it belongs in the exhibit. That’s where the captions are so needed — even though the captions are treated like an afterthought in being small and often separated from the images.
Truly, you can probably skip this exhibit at ICP. It surely needed to be curated better and have much stronger work. And it surely could’ve covered the women’s rights movement and minority rights workers issues much more. Even though the exhibit stopped in 2011, I wish it had gone until a year like 2016 when B&H Photo was suppressing the rights of unions.
