“This is not another exhibition about the greatness of New York”, insists photographer Daniel Soares. So what is it about then? Perhaps this is an exhibition about the shoes of New York? Getting closer. It’s about the lesser seen city below the viewer’s eyeline, below the awe-inspiring skyscrapers, below the landmarks, below the feet. How rarely one looks down in a place like this.
NYC (Down to Earth) is an investigation of the humble side of the great city. Soares laid his camera down, amid the shuffling soles and scuffed boots, at times intermingling with a forest of legs in a crowded gathering, on other occasions capturing a broader pavement panorama. Soares’ lens is not lying in the gutter looking at the stars, it’s just lying in the gutter, but finding just as much to gaze at. The disembodied limbs that greet the gaze pose questions about who is attached to the other end, and what they are up to, whether the everyday characters of New York’s streets have a story to tell. The collection will be travelling cross-country to San Francisco for its next exhibition, at the Art Primo gallery from 27 to 31 January 2014.
