In Plain Air

“Against the backdrop of the ever-morphing skyline of New York City … Rozovsky’s series frames Prospect Park as a vital source of calm at the centre of the borough and its communities – a preciousness only underscored by the onset of the pandemic” – Creative Review

“Poetic images present the environment as a quintessential American melting pot” – Aesthetica

“Irina Rozovsky asks us to consider how images affect each other and our ideas of meaning” – Brooklyn Rail

In Plain Air is a lyrical portrait of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park as seen through Rozovsky’s studies of its visitors, each seeking escape from the din of the city beyond. The seed of the idea for the work was planted ten years ago when Rozovsky took a small motorboat around the park’s southern lake. Floating by the tree-lined shore, she saw what first felt like a mirage — families, lovers, friends, a multitude of cultures and ethnicities, all sharing the same land and moment. The quintessential American melting pot that stretched like a panorama in this equalising space was a visible reality.

Rozovsky’s colour photographs capture the interplay between city and nature, creating a vision of the park as a democratic and nurturing public space, one where the landscape and seasons form a protean backdrop to a complex social reality.

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