Also of Hope and Aspiration Do We Live
De Ilusión También Se Vive
November 9, 2013 – January 4, 2014
Collaborative Workspace Residency
Karen Cintron and Matt Greco
 
Guest Artist: Shayok Mukhopadhyay
"People of Port Chester"
 
Open Studio with Residency Artists
November 16th Noon-4pm

Reception and Gallery Talk
December 7th, 2013 5pm
 
"Also of Hope and Aspiration Do We Live", or De Ilusión También Se Vive, a Spanish expression which roughly translates to life is not only about “getting there” but also about “dreaming of getting there”. This residency and exhibition of photography and recorded interviews explores and celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit of the Port Chester's immigrant owned businesses, especially although not exclusively the Latin American community. Port Chester has long been a thriving immigrant community, from Italian and Polish to the vibrant Mexican, Central and South American community of today.  Some have struggled while others have flourished, some have followed while others have led, but all have hope and desire.  Karen Cintron and Matt Greco will spend their residency interviewing and photographing the people in the immigrant businesses of Port Chester, creating a visual and sound archive of the faces and spaces of this diverse thriving river town. In the gallery they will invite the business people and their families to collaborate in creating an exhibition in both sound and photo, showing the faces and lives of our community. Together they bring an entrepreneurial spirit to an exploration of Port Chester’s thriving communities.
 
In concert with Karen & Matt's exhibition guest artist Shayok Mukhopadhyay will show images from his Port Chester based photography project. Mukhopadhyay received an ArtsWestchester Arts Alive Grant for his Port Chester Project. Unbeknownst to each other, all three artists organized independent photo projects around Port Chester’s community, a testament to the town’s vibrant scene. The serendipity of these projects turned into an exciting opportunity for the gallery to highlight the Port Chester community though the eyes and vision of three talented artists.
 
Karen Cintron, born in Peru, feels a connection to Peru and its traditions. Cintron’s work experiments with different kinds of mediums and methodologies that investigate and express the historical, cultural and technical aspects of South American traditional crafts with an emphasis on Peru. Creating work with a high level of handcraft, focus, precision and patience, she embodies the “chosen women”, or in Quechua the “Aclla Cuna”, who, during the time of the Inca, wove the ritual garments worn by royalty and were celebrated and esteemed for their talent. 
 
Matt Greco considers himself a student of human behavior, and an amateur scientist. Interested in the complexity of systems, the elegance in the universe, and the interactions between invisible forces, he builds with his hands, finding the familiar and comfortable in making. The preparation, the hard work, the tactility of materials, all speak of how an amazement in the working of the world.
 
Shayok Mukhopadhyay is a documentary photographer and filmmaker. He was born in India and lives in White Plains, NY.