Y Gallery presents "Our Eyes Would Burn" by Hanna Whitaker-Opening Reception

OUR EYES WOULD BURN
By Hannah Whitaker
Curated by Cecilia Jurado
April 27th to May 27th 2007
Reception for the artist: Friday, April 27th from 6-9 pm

Y Gallery is pleased to present “Our Eyes Would Burn” by Hannah Whitaker, a sequence of photographs that examines natural forces with poetry and humor. Combining scientific, mystical, and animal elements, these photographs convey a sense of naïve curiosity and experimentation. The title emphasizes a common thread in many of the pictures--the notion that looking directly at something can be dangerous. So the lightheartedness of certain photographs (X-Ray Specs as fashion accessory or white rabbit as backdrop for a rainbow) is undercut by a sense of encroaching harm and the heavy sublimity of the natural world.


Hannah’s images could be considered magical in the realistic panorama usually associated with photography. This magic, originating in curiosity and the impulse to modify, takes the image beyond the mere issue of its credibility. Visually both jaunting and enamoring, Hannah’s photographs combine the unpredictability of nature with human elements, lending mental and visual cleverness to each photograph and the series as a whole.


Hannah Whitaker was born in Washington, D.C. in 1980. She received a B.A. in art from Yale University in 2002 and an MFA in photography from Bard College at the International Center of Photography in 2006, where she was awarded the ICP Director’s Award. Her work has been exhibited in group shows in New York and Philadelphia. The exhibition “Our Eyes Would Burn” at Y Gallery will be her first solo show. Hannah Whitaker lives in New York City.

For further information, please contact Y Gallery at 718.565.6285.
www.ygallerynewyork.com

Ian Rankin reading and signing books at The Jackson Heights branch of the Queens Library

via The Leonard Lopate Show

Ian Rankin’s Latest Mystery Novel: The Naming of the Dead.

Events: Ian Rankin will be reading and signing books

Saturday, April 14 at 2:30 pm
The Jackson Heights branch of the Queens Library
3551 81st Street, between 35th and 37th Avenues

Satruday, April 14 at 7 pm
RJ Julia Bookstore
Madison, CT

New Spanish-language paper takes on electeds

By Adam Pincus for Times Ledger 04/12/2007

A former columnist for the Spanish-language daily Hoy and the Queens Courier's El Correo is publishing a provocative monthly in Spanish that mocked Assemblyman Jose Peralta (D-Jackson Heights) in its premier edition.

Ramon Ramirez, originally from the Dominican Republic, is the feisty publisher of the monthly Tren 7, a reference to the No. 7 train that travels through the Spanish-speaking neighborhoods in Queens.

He decided to publish the paper because he said there was not a serious community paper in Spanish in the Jackson Heights, Corona and Elmhurst...

...Tren 7 is one of two papers with political roots recently started in Jackson Heights. Orlando Tobon, a travel agent and community fixture in Jackson Heights, was co-founder of Cronicas de Nueva York, or Chronicles of New York. He won his first political post as Democratic state committeeman for the 39th District in September, representing Jackson Heights, Corona and Elmhurst.

Landmarks Has A New Queens Face

By Theresa Juva for the Queens Tribune
(via Historic Districts Council Newsstand)

...Diana Chapin of Jackson Heights begins her new role this week as a newly appointed landmarks commissioner while historic preservationists around the borough wait to see what the 64-year-old Michigan native will accomplish during her three-year term.

Last week, the Landmarks Preservation Commission appointed Chapin to the 11-person committee in charge of protecting the City buildings that show historical, cultural and architectural importance...

Unpopular Opinions

by IFC for Epifurious, April 08, 2007

...When I first moved to Jackson Heights, I was warned by several of my friends to avoid Jackson Diner at all costs...
...But at some point, for some reason, I did go to Jackson Diner.

I ate the lunch buffet. I went back and ordered dinner a la carte. I got the lunch buffet again, and again, and again. Guess what? Jackson Diner is amazing. Their lunch buffet is expansive and uniformly tasty. Their dinner menu, though indeed on the expensive side, is filled with dishes of great nuance and care, and deliciousness. The naan served at dinner, enormous platter-sized, pillowy bread glistening with ghee, is itself meal-worthy...
...I am not ashamed to say it: I love Jackson Diner.

Making the Cut: A Matter of Interpretation

By EMILY BRADY for The NYTimes, Published: April 8, 2007

...the carnicerías, or butcher shops, of Jackson Heights, Queens, were bustling last week with Hispanic customers tempted by glossy lobes of liver and super-thin slices of top round steak.

The carnicerías, where meat is carved and sold just as it is in the old country, are a sign of a year-round culinary tradition, as are the empanadas and roast chicken brought by the Colombians, Argentines and other Latin American immigrants in the area. But they are a tradition becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. Butchers who are skilled in satisfying the preferences of their pan-Latin clientele are hard to find because of competition for their small numbers....

Google Map of Obscure Street food in Eastern Jackson Heights

by Jim Leff on Chowhound Apr 05, 2007