By
Erica Snyder

STEF MITCHELL'S GIRLS

As a young girl in the suburbs of Sydney, the photographer Stef Mitchell could often be found outdoors skating and running around the city. Like most kids with a good dose of curiosity, Mitchell went searching for ways to entertain herself, and soon she grew obsessed with photography. The suburbs transformed into an interactive classroom; the pupils, Mitchell and a close group of friends. The gang would take photographs of each other, honing their eye through experimentation and giving one another feedback. Mitchell explains that these friends were her first subjects as well as her first teachers, and her unjaded curiosity about the world remains prominent through her current work.

Last week, Mitchell debuted her series “Girl” at Red Hook Labs. The images share a thread of innocence and familiarity found in both public and private spaces. The soft focus of the lens is a spell of fleeting and dreamy dizziness, not allowing a firm grip of the context. The locations and subjects depicted in “Girl” are eclectic: Mitchell takes the viewer to Mexico, Portland, and Los Angeles and includes photographs of her sister when she was eight years old alongside the breasts of a woman who works at Magic City (a strip club in Atlanta). All images are treated with the same tenderness and adoration. The people in the pictures appear to be connected with Mitchell, free to behave naturally and unposed in front of the lens. Images of bruised and scarred limbs are interspersed amongst the landscapes and portraits as little reminders of impermanence. “I think I like to photograph bruises or scars because I know they’ll change or be gone within days or even hours,” she explains. “When I take a picture of one, the intention is always to preserve something I think is beautiful. Maybe I just think it’s beautiful because it will disappear soon.” In addition, the exhibition showcases a batch of Mitchell’s candid drawings, which have a similar air to her photography, unrefined with a ubiquitous benevolence.

11_magic_city

Mitchell is also launching a self-published zine, made in collaboration with the writer Emily Manning, at the exhibition. Mitchell confesses that when they first got together, their instant bond may have been induced by lime-flavored Bud Lights, but nonetheless, the pair managed to join forces to produce a collection of pictures, rants, and drawings. The zine will also include a collection of Manning’s personal collection of Carhartt workwear, and the two are already looking ahead. Mitchell alludes to her hopes for the next zine, “Emily and I have a collective crush on Susan Sarandon, so we’re trying to manifest that into something.” In the meantime, she will focus on her current main interest, traveling to rural France and going off the grid for a month to enjoy the rest of her summer.

Stef Mitchell’s “Girl” runs through July 24 at Red Hook Labs, 133-135 Imlay Street, Brooklyn.

1 /4
By
Erica Snyder

Related

Von Ammon Co. Remakes the DC Gallery Scene

At his Georgetown space, curator Todd von Ammon establishes a new template for the modern-day art gallery, bringing stimulating work to the nation’s capital, from digital media to sculptures by Helmut Lang.

Russell Tovey Is Terrified of the Future

The English actor soldiers through a bleak future in the new HBO series Years and Years, illuminating the refugee crisis as the moral center of a Manchester family buffeted by a distressing world that is just like our own—only more so.

Christina Kruse Finds Her Balance

After experimenting with photography, collage, and painting, the German model-turned-artist explores a sense of equilibrium in a new gallery show of her intricate sculptures inspired by the Bauhaus movement.

Claire Oswalt Follows Her Intuition

After planning to study medicine before becoming a writer and now an artist, the Austin native approaches her raw, delicate paintings, collages, drawings, and textiles with an open mind and trusts in her own instincts to roam as freely as the Texas landscape allows.

Bari Ziperstein's Ceramics Bridge Art and Commerce

With practices spanning both fine art and design, the Los Angeles-based sculptor and ceramicist questions the consumerist system while taking part in it—all with a feminist perspective.

FUMI NAGASAKA STARTS A 'TEENAGE RIOT'

In her second book, the Japanese photographer captures the individual personalities and æsthetics of four adolescent girls in their hometowns in a collection that is both intimate and anthropological.

ARTIST CONIE VALLESE'S MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER INSPIRED HER COLLECTION FOR AGMES

In her first jewelry collaboration, the painter and sculptor translates her large-scale plaster heads into necklaces, earrings, and brooches inspired by her family with the help of the two sisters behind sustainable line AGMES.

ECKHAUS LATTA MAKES ITS MUSEUM DÉBUT AT THE WHITNEY

For their first-ever museum exhibition, fashion groundbreakers Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta have created an immersive experience incorporating retail, art, and one-off clothing designs in their continuing drive to question established norms.

COLBY MUGRABI FINDS SURPRISING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN FASHION, ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND DESIGN ON MINNIE MUSE

Drawing on a wealth of visual knowledge gleaned from hours spent poring over books, Mugrabi reinterprets the concept of personal style to encompass art, architecture, and design as well in articles and her signature Muse Boards, which offer a new interpretation of the latest fashion collections.

BENOÎT MAIRE TURNS PHILOSOPHY INTO ART

The French artist pulls from his studies in philosophy and epistemology to create swirling abstract paintings and mixed-media sculptures assembled from found materials that touch on the basis of knowledge and rationality in the search for ultimate truth.

JENNA GRIBBON'S PAINTINGS SUBVERT THE MALE GAZE

The young painter reinvents centuries of art history in works that merge realism and abstraction, beauty and camp, and subversion and self-absorption.

MATS GUSTAFSON ILLUSTRATES THE BODY'S FRAGILITY IN 'NUDE'

In a book of watercolors, the Swedish artist and illustrator turns away from his fashion work for more intimate portraits that reflect the fragility of the human body as a protest against the slow response to the AIDS crisis.

NEW YORK BY THE LAST MAGAZINE: ARTIST BANKS VIOLETTE RETURNS TO THE ART WORLD AFTER HIS EARLY HEAVY METAL-INSPIRED CREATIONS

After bursting onto the New York art scene straight out of Columbia in the mid-2000s with his heavy metal-inspired works, the provocative artist is returning to the city from a stint upstate with newly sophisticated and subdued pieces.

NEW YORK BY THE LAST MAGAZINE: ARTIST VAHAKN ARSLANIAN FINDS SURPRISE IN THE EVERYDAY

Born hard-of-hearing and diagnosed early with autism, the Belgian artist creates work from strange juxtapositions of everyday objects, revealing new facets of their daily existences.

NEW YORK BY THE LAST MAGAZINE: ARTIST TSCHABALALA SELF REINTERPRETS THE BLACK URBAN EXPERIENCE

The young Manhattan-raised artist reinterprets the black urban experience in her paintings, sculptures, and installations, working with “avatars” composed of paint and recycled materials to reflect the city’s diverse energy.

NEW YORK BY THE LAST MAGAZINE: ARTIST RONI HORN FINDS IDEAS IN JAZZ AND NATURE

The legendary artist and native New Yorker takes inspiration from the untrammeled waters of Iceland and late-night West Village jazz sets in her works about identity, memory, and desire.

NEW YORK BY THE LAST MAGAZINE: THE MET'S SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER KIMBERLY DREW BRINGS ART HISTORY TO NEW AUDIENCES

After founding the Tumblr Black Contemporary Art and the Twitter and Instagram accounts Museum Mammy, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s social media manager works to bring new voices and audiences into the art history establishment.

LOUISE DESPONT

Geometric shapes, organic forms, and architectural patterns intermingle in the artist’s vast and richly spiritual drawings.