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A Nuisance or Revolution, Occupy Wall Street Becomes Art

By Serena Solomon | November 9, 2011 7:58pm | Updated on November 10, 2011 10:21am
Images from Hugh Burckhardt are displayed in the window of Galley One Twenty Eight.
Images from Hugh Burckhardt are displayed in the window of Galley One Twenty Eight.
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Gallery One Twenty Eight

MIDTOWN — For some it might be a confusing movement, for others it is a generation’s revolution, but for one Lower East Side gallery, Occupy Wall Street is art.

In an exhibition titled “Waves...the Tides of Time,” gallery onetwentyeight has chosen to include images of the protest, which is nearly two months old and only blocks away. The images of the movement, taken by 21-year-old Hugh Burckhardt, a photography student at FIT, are on display until Dec. 3 at the gallery on Rivington Street between Essex and Norfolk streets.

“I wanted to bring the energy, the atmosphere from Zuccotti Park, from all over the world, from what is happening these days,” said gallery owner and exhibition curator Kazuko Miyamoto, referring to the protesters' Lower Manhattan encampment.

Hugh Burckhardt's image of a lone Occupy Wall Street protester.
Hugh Burckhardt's image of a lone Occupy Wall Street protester.
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Gallery One Twenty Eight

The exhibit's theme is change — inspired by the changeability of water and the role of water in this year's deadly tsunami in Japan.  

“It started from the earthquake in Japan from...the bottom of the sea,” she said. The powerful March earthquake, with a 9.0 magnitude, had an epicenter that was about 40 miles out to sea and killed thouands.

After a trip to Europe, Miyamoto, a Lower East Side resident, returned to a city in the process of change. 

“After I came back here, people started demonstrating all over the world about Wall Street, so it is changing, it is moving,” Miyamoto said. The two examples of change, the earthquake and the protest, were pulled together in the exhibit as examples of change.

Burckhardt says that having his images of Occupy Wall Street in a gallery as the protest continues brings objectivity to how the movement is viewed.

“I feel like with the media, with other artists, they are classifying 'this is this' and 'that is that,'” he said. “I want my work to be open ended... I want to make the person think and not be told what to think.”

In one of Burckhardt’s images a protester stares blankly at the camera holding an American flag along with a sign that reads I could lose my job 4 having a voice.” Nothing more is said about the man, who is dressed in a suit, a tie and a white collared shirt. His name, political bias or details about his situation are untold.

Burckhardt says that he sympathizes with the protesters and occasionally joins in different marches, but other times he is artist and observer.

“Many galleries don’t feel like this is important enough to be viewed as art,” he said, “but I got to showcase something that is heating up and getting bigger and bigger.”

For more Occupy Wall Street coverage click here.