Out My Window, a series by Gail Albert Halaban, is a penetrating exploration of modern community.
After moving to New York from Los Angeles, Albert Halaban began the project in an effort to combat feelings of loneliness and isolation, using art as a way to connect with her neighbors. She’s continued the project in Paris, Buenos Aires, Venice and Istanbul. The first step of each photograph is to explain her work to potential participants and ask for their involvement. If they agree, Albert Halaban arranges to photograph one neighbor from the window of another.
“In this way” writes George Eastman Museum in the press release for an upcoming exhibition of Out My Window, “Albert Halaban employs photography as a form of social engagement.”
Despite platitudes about modern technology making the world a smaller place, this same virtual environment can also result in feelings of isolation and self-absorption. Through connecting strangers who live across the street from each other, Albert Halaban’s large-scale photographs of urban – and voyeuristic – landscapes encourage viewers to take a fresh look at the people they see every day.
Out My Window
Gail Albert Halaban
George Eastman Musuem
July 7, 2018–January 1, 2019
Albert Halaban and Curator in Charge Lisa Hostetler will be in conversation in the gallery for the opening of Out My Window on July 6, 2018 at 6pm.
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