July 15 through August 30: “Humans of New Rochelle” at the NRCA Rotunda Gallery
July 17 at 5:30 pm: Opening Reception for “Humans of New Rochelle” at the NRCA Rotunda Gallery
Recent New Rochelle High School graduates Ann Gombiner and Veronica Yu are both heading to Cambridge this fall to attend Harvard University — but before they go they have a parting gift for their hometown. For the last three years the duo have produced the “Humans of New Rochelle” Instagram (@humansofnewro), examining and celebrating the city’s diversity through a journalistic lens pioneered by the popular (20 million followers) “Humans of New York” site, and they are turning their posts in to an exhibit that will run at the NRCA Rotunda Gallery from July 15 through August.
The exhibit will draw on their “Humans of New Rochelle” archive and feature photographs of about a dozen subjects interviewed by Gombiner and Yu; each photograph will be accompanied with an excerpt of the HONR interview (the full text will be available via a QR code.) In addition the public will be invited to submit their own stories when they visit the exhibit.
Gombiner and Yu will continue adding to their archive over the summer; they will also be working with children and teens at pop ups around the city and holding a workshop with City Historian Barbara Davis on oral histories and how people can share their stories to New Rochelle Public Library’s oral history collection.
The exhibit and the planned programs are part of SPARK, an immersive, paid, six-week public service program for incoming first-year students in which they develop a public service project at home while receiving ongoing support from Harvard staff, faculty, and student leaders. The “Humans of New Rochelle” exhibit is being co-sponsored by the New Rochelle Council on the Arts (NRCA) and the City of New Rochelle Department of Development.
City Hall Rotunda Gallery
515 North Ave
New Rochelle, NY 10801
