Brooklyn-based photographer gets personal instead of superficial

Photographer Erin Patrice O’Brien, who typically does commercial shoots (featured in magazines such as Time, Entertainment Weekly, and Newsweek), decided that for her next photo series she would work on something more long-term and meaningful: “I wanted to take a break from that mentality and tell the story of people who are largely invisible from the media,” she says. O’Brien, who gave birth to her daughter in 2005, realized the hardships that come with being a mom and wanted to explore the struggles that young Mexican-American teenagers in Brooklyn faced. But after meeting her subjects, O’Brien ultimately could not just point and shoot without doing something to help: “When I was visiting Yolanda, I found out she had lost her bed and was sleeping on the floor. A family in Bed-Stuy donated a bed, and my assistant Federico carried it up to her third-floor walk-up.” Yolanda, 17, is just one of five girls photographed in the two-year project, Mamas Adolescentes: NYC 2006–2007. The opening reception on Saturday will feature a panel that includes O’Brien, Dr. Yvette Martas, and former Latina Magazine editor Franziska Castillo.
Fridays, Saturdays, noon. Starts: Aug. 22. Continues through Aug. 30, 2008
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