Utica, NY is a post industrial city in in Upstate New York that has gained fame as the "City that Loves Refugees" by welcoming immigrants fleeing climate disasters, war zones and persecution from all parts of the world, providing English language classes & other other orientation programs to prepare them to become citizens. Likewise it's an active center for the "Black Lives Matter" movement with rallies that attract multi cultural participation.
Portraits
A series of Portraits of family, friends and people whom I've known in places where I've lived or in passing during my travels in Mexico, Europe and America.
Sister Gertrude Morgan, New Orleans, LA, 1974, was a self taught artist, evangelist, musician and poet, who often used a multidisciplinary approach to express her religious faith. New Orleans. Louisiana
Hugo Velazquez & Aurora Suarez, ceramist/architect, old friends, Cuernavaca, Morelos 2010. Two of the first people I met when I moved to Mexico in 1961
Paula, Atlanta, 1975, Georgia, mother, grandmother, travler, writer, my sister
Pat O'Connor, Utica, NY 1980, lifelong seeker, yoga practitionar, friend
Marcia Menuez, Utica, NY 2008, friend
Dan Fuslier, New Orleans, La, 1972
Steven Pippin, Visual Artist, was in residence at Sculpture Space, Utica, NY 1992. In 1999, Pippin was short listed for theTurner Prizeat theTate GalleryinLondon. His entry was based on the workLaundromat Locomotion,[2]in which he converted a row of 12washing machinesin alaundromatinto a series of cameras triggered by trip wires, and then rode a horse through the laundromat to recreateEadweard Muybridge’sThe Horse in Motion(1878).
Leonora Carrington, Leonora Carrington(6 April 1917 – 25 May 2011 was an English bornartist, and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in Mexico and was one of the last surviving participants in the Surrealist movement of the 1930s. This photo was taken in 1975 in New Orleans, on the train heading back to Mexico City.
Paul & Linda McCartney, New Orleans, La, at the launching of the "Venus & Mars" album
Jeremy Steig and Daina, At the 30th class reunion of the High School of Music & Art- Jeremy was an acclaimed jazz flutist and the leader of one of the first jazz-rock bands. He died on April 13 in Yokohama, Japan at age 73.
Drago Yancar, writer, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 1989 , wrote The Dark Side of the Moon: A short history of the totalitarianism in Slovenia, 1945 -- 1990 - "Everything that took place in the forty-fiveyears of communist dictatorship must be clearly imprinted into Slovenianawareness, just like the memory, of the Holocaust lest a nation not wantingto know its past be condemned to re-live it again, maintains." -
Part of a series of portraits and interviews with writers and artist that I made during my two months stay in Ljubljana, questioning the change in identity from having been Yugoslavian to becoming Slovenian.
Gherorghe Marinca, My Servas host in Timisoara, Romania, 1994, telling me of the hardships during the communist time.
Rene Rusjan, visual artist, with her young daughter, Ljubljana, Slovenia 1989.
Part of a series of portraits and interviews with writers and artist that I made during my two months stay in Ljubljana, questioning the change in identity from having been Yugoslavian to becoming Slovenian.
Marina Abramowic, Visual Artist, Ljubljana, Slovenia 1989. Now world famous, at the time she was well known in Eastern Europe, having a small, exhibition at Mala Galerija in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Sasha Borenstien, New Orleans, LA 1980
Agnes Fellner, Utica, NY, graphic designer 2012
Dusty Miller with his son, Utica, NY, poet, editor of 1979,
Salomon de Swaan, Architect, Amsterdam, NL 2005 - my ex husband & lifelong friend
Leo de Swaan, Mexican rancher, Huapango singer, my brother in law on a visit in Amsterdam 2012
Rodrigo Moya, photographer, Cuernavaca, Morelos 2010. born April 10, 1934 is a Mexican photojournalist writer and publisher who is best known for his photographic work from 1955 to 1968. He worked for various news magazines covering stories in Mexico and Latin America, especially social and political upheavals in Venezuela and Guatemala. He was my neighbor, friend and photo teacher in 1968.
Abraham de Swaan, Phycisist, man of many talents, my brother-in-law
David Byrne, performing at an arts conference, Houston,TX
Sylvia de Swaan
Sylvia de Swaan is a Romanian born visual artist/photographer who has lived and worked in Mexico, Europe and the United States.
