by Maria Gotay
Just in case CMJ hasn’t slapped you in the face enough, tonight is also Bushwick Community Darkroom‘s official launching fundraiser, with drinks, t-shirts, and bands. First of all, we photography lovers at Bushwick Daily are beyond excited to have this incredible resource at our disposal. The darkroom, which is a private, one-room do-it-all space is Bushwick’s first affordable printing facility… and best of all, it’s affordable! I spoke with the owner of the darkroom, Lucia Rollow, briefly about it.
Lucia studied photography at SVA and had been working in the darkroom since she was 13. Disheartened by the fact that black-and-white printing is an art that’s slowly dying out commercially, she put her efforts after graduating into making a communal space where old school printers could continue working on their own time and not feel intimidated.
The Darkroom is located in BushBurg, the owners of which also own the loom, that modern office-building looking space near Troutman and Irving. Lucia lives and works doing art out of her apartment and has set up the darkroom in the basement, although one of the purposes of the fundraiser is to move into a larger space! During Bushwick Open Studios I got to check out a small but awesome photography show in the hallway of the building. Lucia says they plan to do more shows in the future, especially featuring work of people who use the community darkroom.
Just for fun I asked Lucia for her favorite spots around Bushwick and she said she loved the Bushwick Starr, which has briefly opens its sleepy doors during CMJ for a handful of shows. She also loves Shea Stadium, which is where the fundraiser will take place TONIGHT. We can’t wait for this darkroom to really take off, and I will be doing a write-up and show-and-tell of one day’s work in the darkroom sometime in the future to show everyone how great the results will be (at least I hope so- I grew up in the darkroom, too, but haven’t printed anything really for a few months!!) Hope to see EVERYONE at the fundraiser tonight.
What: Bushwick Community Darkroom Fundraiser
Where: Shea Stadium , 20 meadow street 1st floor Brooklyn NY 11206, Grand st L stop
Why: Raising money to get a larger space. And meeting other photographers in Bushwick.
How: $10 Suggested Donation, $3 Drinks, Limited edition t-shirts for sale from WERDINK Screen printing & Pop up shop.
What else: GREAT BUSHWICK MUSIC from Backwords, Broken Glow , The Furies , Chicks Throwing Bricks, and DJ Slimmy Jimmy.
More info over at their website.
Also a great interview Lucia did for Bushwick Open Studios.