Christine Osinski: Staten Island

Christine Osinski: Staten Island by Aline SmithsonFebruary 13, 2013

©Christine Oskinski

Though I didn’t get a chance to review Christine Oskinski’s work at Photo NOLA, I saw her stunning images at the portfolio walk and they left and impression with me that still remains. The work was created in the 1980’s and it is as fresh and as interesting as the time it was produced–indeed a meter of quality.

Christine hails from the South Side of Chicago. She holds her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her MFA from Yale University. She currently teaches at The Cooper Union School of Art in New York City and lives in the NYC Metropolitan Area.In 2005, Christine became a Guggenheim Fellow. Her work has also received support from the New York State Council on the Arts, The Graham Foundation, Connecticut Council on the Arts and Lightwork.Christine’s work has been included in recent exhibitions at The Portland Art Museum, Oregon, The Museum of the City of New York, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Danforth Museum, Framinham, Mass. and Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, Oregon.

Her photographs can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, NYC; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Portland Art Museum, Oregon; La Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; The Fogg Museum at Harvard and in numerous other museums.

©Christine Oskinski

Staten Island

I have always thought that taking pictures is an opportunity to recognize people and places that often go unnoticed. New York City may be the most photographed place on earth, but parts are virtually unknown. When I moved to Staten Island, New York in 1982 I discovered that the “forgotten borough” was different world from Manattan. The people, houses and landscapes were perfectly ordinary, yet exotic at the same time. What was visible to my eye had a hidden component. In my new home base of Staten Island, I recognized a similar working-class culture to that of my Chicago childhood.

©Christine Oskinski

Perhaps it was the ferry ride from Manhattan to Staten Island, the distance traveled by water that created a psychological break and a cultural time warp that enabled Staten Island to remain unnoticed and mostly undocumented even though it was so very close to Manhattan and its landmarks. All of these photographs were taken between 1983-84. Every time I went out to photograph, I felt a sense of adventure as I walked through the borough with my 4×5 camera, then later twin lens reflex. I am now in the process of developing a book proposal with these images.