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Anastasia Photo Gallery in New York opens an exhibition by photographer Tomas van Houtryve of his award-winning "Blue Sky Days" photo essay on Tuesday, October 4, 2016. Artist reception on Thursday, October 13 for the solo exhibition, which runs through November 23, 2016.
"Starting in 2013, I traveled across America to aerially photograph the kind of gatherings that have become habitual targets for drone strikes abroad–including weddings, funerals, and groups of people praying or exercising. I also flew my camera over settings where government surveillance drones have been used domestically," van Houtryve wrote on his website announcing the solo exhibition.
"In October 2012, a drone strike in northeast Pakistan killed a 67-year-old woman picking okra outside her home. At a U.S. Congressional hearing held in Washington in October 2013, the woman’s 13-year-old grandson, Zubair Rehman, spoke to a group of lawmakers. “I no longer love blue skies,” said Rehman, who was injured by shrapnel in the attack. “In fact, I now prefer gray skies. The drones do not fly when the skies are gray.”
Van Houtryve wrote, "The images captured from the drone’s perspective engage with the changing nature of surveillance, personal privacy, and war."
The production of "Blue Sky Days" was supported with grants from the Pulitzer Center, and was first published by Harper’s magazine as a 16-page spread, the largest photo essay in the magazine’s 166-year history.
Praise for "Blue Sky Days" includes from James Estrin, editor of The New York Times LENS blog, who said, “Blue Sky Days is one of the most important photo essays done in the last few years. It tackles issues that are very difficult to photograph but central to modern existence — privacy, government intrusion and modern antiseptic warfare.”
"Blue Sky Days" has received multiple awards including the ICP Infinity Award, World Press Photo (Second Prize), White House News Photographers Association (First Prize), POYi Award of Excellence
and TIME’s Top 10 Photos of 2014.
"Blue Sky Days"
Anastasia Photo Gallery
143 Ludlow Street,
New York, NY 10002
Opens Tuesday, October 4, 2016; Closes Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Artist reception Thursday, October 13 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM