Photographs by Joe Clementi

November 1–December 12, 2021
Opening Reception: November 13, 5–10pm
Public Event: November 19, 7pm – A Photographer’s Life: Artist Talk with Photographer, Joe Clementi

Joe Clementi, a local legend and man on the beat, lived and photographed in NYC for years. Curator, Jackie Neale, isolates some analog highlights of NYC 1970s–1990s life from Joe’s vast archive. Rich in tone, vibrant in cast, Joe Clementi’s photographs fortify the cultural epitome that New York City is.

The photographs in the exhibition, NYC 1970-1990s at Big Day Film Collective, are all analog film photographs taken on one of three of Joe’s favorite Canon 35mm cameras, and are all 12×15 black and white archival prints. Though Joe had a thriving commercial studio in the Flower District of Manhattan, Joe thrived amongst the street scene photographing red carpets events, nightclubs, nightlifes, protests, celebrities, and the general seedy and energetic quotidien life of NYC back then. For Joe, he does not “take pictures” he makes photographs. Through photography his goal is to show an interpretation of the world around himself. The photographs are basic images he found in everyday life, like a diary. Joe has a love for his old analog cameras, because of their simplicity. Joe’s method of creating photographs has always been to capture the contrast between darks and lights, and continuously uses film for his personal work.