review: NOPA Pushpin show

The New Orleans Photo Alliance: Pushpin Show (photos via IG @photoalliance

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New Orleans Photo Alliance: Pushpin Show
Review by Dorian Hatchett

In a quiet uptown gallery, sunlight slants through huge windows. Outside, Oak Street is light filtered through chlorophyll, and inside, the air conditioner is working hard against the open front door. 

On the gallery-white wall in front of me, is a series of nine photographs, arranged in a square.  They are black and white prints of people on a Brazilian beach.  The seemingly effortless shots are tiny windows into another world, and belie an incredible natural talent.

I can’t stop staring down at all the sun-burnished faces. Overwhelmed with sonder, these individuals are each a world unto themselves, and their inner complexities are the unspoken story behind the silver prints. Paulo Steven Diniz, with his photos of Arpoador, is just one of the many artists who line the walls of the New Orleans Photo Alliance Pushpin Show. 

Shockingly intimate portraits of Mardi Gras Flambeau-bearers (Raymond Groscrand), of Second Line personalities usually hidden in the background (Eli Mergel), of abandoned Bayou homesteads, and toy flamingos in a range of contexts, of children whose smiles hold the secrets of a million summer twilight adventures,  line all four walls of the space.

Some shots are sculpted from light and models and the carefully constructed still-life of photographic tableau. Others, like the beach photos, are candid, but inspiring and revealing like only a camera can. The mix is eclectic, but in how varied it is, it captures perfectly the pursuit of photography for joy and story telling through the distinct lens of the Louisiana Photographer.  

Participation in the Pushpin Show is open to any member of the New Orleans Photo Alliance.  The opening reception (August 21st) was only the beginning of the slowly growing exhibit. Over the course of the month, more and more photos are added without predetermined order or curation, slowly changing and evolving the narrative of what it means to be a photographer from Louisiana. 

Details about membership, and all the benefits thereof (Including dark room access and members-only workshops), can be found on neworleansphotoalliance.org / New Orleans Photo Alliance runs through September 25th at 7800 Oak St