This week, we completed a fascinating project for one of our longtime clients, the Ricco Maresca Gallery in Chelsea. The exhibit we installed, called I.D. Photo Badge Portraiture, consisted of 250 workers’ photo badges from the 1930s through the 1950s, hung side-by-side around the gallery.
What we found so interesting about this particular exhibit, was the idea behind it. According to a statement about the exhibit from the gallery, “These vintage badges, from a possibly simpler time, were all that was necessary to prove one’s authentic self and place in society. The concept of identity is increasingly complex. Contemporary identification badges such as Facebook and other social platforms on the Internet give us the false impression we have complete control over our private identities, while at the same time, we are forced to take extreme measures to prove our public identities.”
To display the badges, we hung them a few inches apart around the perimeter of the space. Here’s a glimpse at what it took to hang each of these badges in a straight line around the gallery, plus a closer look at a few of the badges.
If you have a chance, stop by the Ricco Maresca gallery to see this exhibit. It runs from today, January 24, through February 15.