Clarke, Stephen2025-02-142025-02-142024-09-20Clarke, S (2024, 20 September - 5 November). Stars, Stripes and Steam. Exhibited at Oriel Colwyn, Colwyn Bay, North Wales.http://hdl.handle.net/10034/629254The exhibition was comprised of 68 photographs of New York City. The prints were non-archival and pinned to the gallery wall. The curator decided the placement of the prints in relation to photographs that pictured street level to be situated at the eye level of the viewer, whilst above were images of skyscrapers and signs (viewpoint looking upwards). As well as photographs of the US flag and rising steam were images of shopfronts, skyscrapers, burger and donut stands, and street scenes. The emphasis was on buildings and general scenes, people were incidental in these pictures. Stephen Clarke provided the wall text that introduced this exhibition.The photographs of New York city in this exhibition were taken by Stephen Clarke during two visits to New York in the mid-1990s. Paul Sampson, curator at Oriel Colwyn, organised the exhibition to coincide with the 2024 Presidential Election in the United States of America. The closing night of the exhibition was the final polling day for presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The starting point for this exhibition was a number of photographs of the US Flag – the Stars and Stripes – along with images of steam rising from the underground heating systems in New York city centre which gave the show its title – Stars, Stripes and Steam. This is a humorous comment on the nature of political discourse that mixes patriotism and heated debates. Stephen Clarke (photographer) and the Paul Sampson (curator) wanted the audience to reflect on the historical perspective of New York city while considering the future of the new presidency and the USA. This was Stephen Clarke’s second solo exhibition at Oriel Colwyn; his first was ‘Shifting Sands’ (22/12/12 – 15/03/13). Some of the photographs in Stars, Stripes and Steam were previously published by the independent photobook publisher Out Of Place Books (2020) in the photobook ‘NYC-19XX’ by Stephen Clarke.Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/New YorkPhotographyDocumentary photographyShow/Exhibition