RADCLIFFE 'RUDDY' ROYE: Instagram Activist

 

January 10, 2014 Gabriel -- self proclaimed son of David.

Photograph © Ruddy Roye Instagram.com/ruddyroye

December 31, 2013 The Designer (Unfinished and Unedited) I believe by design I am a designer. Shiny as a petal that was stained from last mornings early rain: Polluted water, skipping on second hand smoke to fill the banks of the raging rivers, rising again like streaming steam, steeped in soilings, to fall again like a Congolese Sapeur on flavoured flowers. I am by design, a designer. Grounded as any root pushing pass dirt and the contaminated loot we pretend to be fodder We call it organic, stringing, and slinging, profane pharmaceuticals into the earth to fertilize our minds I am by design, a designer. Made by man reaching to be higher, but being developed by our local sponsors Acting like we are better than the four legged creatures we carry in our DNA like that man Adam or was it Noah? Watching the world from our hand as we click away blindly with our index finger, Our gaze firmly pointed at the other. Instagram.com/ruddyroye

November 19, 2013 Extract from The Four Seasons (Unfinished, Unedited) Fall And he carried a broken black bag, with his needs and things. A bag that carried no food or clothes, But was filled with his dreams and pills. It is his whole-- Filled with all his earthly possession. Clutching tight it's twisted secrets He uses it to deflect life's cruel weapons. It's is a traveled bag, A carried bag Through centuries and Cross terrains It has been a beaten bag A mistreated bag left to hang in the harsh sun and the pouring rain. I watched him, face blackened, hidden by frustration, he is Everyman invisible and worn. Slowly, I watch him run from the sun and straight into the shadow and pleats of his broken black bag. Instagram.com/ruddyroye

January 29, 2014 "Another Year" -- Happy Birthday, Mom. Every year time sifts each atom that magically shapes her cheeks. It bunches up her brows And tries to redraw the smile etched across her two molded peaks used to pull the universe in. It pulls her eyes forward and forces her to weep Changed in a blink, stopped with a click. She was someone's moon, The waning pregnant shape now wrinkled and barren Was what I first howled at. I wore my first crown sliding down her future while she laid on her back. These days I bemoan time spent chasing a liquid dream hugging this brittle basket of American pies and picket fences watching my dough slip through unraveling seams. I am missing all her seasons. She sits for my camera singing, about a day to come when she will again see her beginning. So I steal a page, and her cheeks flick forward to mimic the click of another year. Straining itself through the magical sift of atoms I see her age peeling away with the tears That drip in this basket called distance and absence drying up to flake away like her life captured in a stare. Instagram.com/ruddyroye

December 27, 2013 Cyclops -- Walking with my eight year old today and talking pictures. He was trying to convince me that he knew what ingredients should be in a good picture. It was a fantastic couple of miles worth of conversation. Instagram.com/ruddyroye

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Radcliffe 'Ruddy' Roye is a Brooklyn based documentary photographer specializing in editorial and environmental portraits and photo-journalism photography. "Radcliffe is inspired by the raw and gritty lives of grassroots people, especially those of his homeland of Jamaica. He strives to tell the stories of their victories and ills by bringing their voices to matte fiber paper." With over 64,000 Instagram followers, Roye has redefined the art of communicating through images and words.

RUDDY ROYE.com

The photographs on this website are a Must-See!

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 Radcliffe Roye, Tuesday March 11 7pm

SVA, 136 West 21st Street, room 418F, NYC

i3: Images, Ideas, Inspiration Lecture Series

presented by MPS Digital Photography 

Photograph © Ruddy Roye

As seen in "The Street Types of New York"exhibition

co-curated by Paul Moakley and Anthony LaSala
Alice Austen House Museum, 2013

Photograph © Ruddy Roye

As seen in "The Street Types of New York"exhibition

co-curated by Paul Moakley and Anthony LaSala
Alice Austen House Museum, 2013 

I first saw Roye's portraits in an exhibition last summer curated by Time Magazine Deputy Photo Editor Paul Moakley and Photo Editor Anthony LaSala. I was blown away by his work and very honored he recently accepted my invitation to talk to my School of Visual Arts BFA Photography program students.
 

Ruddy Roye gave my students an inspirational, moving and informative talk and presentation of his work. He generously shared his own life experiences and career path. Thank you so much, Ruddy Roye.

NIR ARIELI: Inframen at Daniel Cooney

Austin, 2012. © Nir Arieli

 Clinton, 2012. © Nir Arieli

"Inframen" at Daniel Cooney Fine Art is a striking series of black and white infrared images of male dancers by New York based photographer Nir Arieli. "The infrared technique allows the artist to examine below the skin, to reveal the blemishes, scars, stretch marks, sun damage and other traces of wear that lie below the surface of his subject's outward appearance. As dancers, the men express themselves with their bodies, at once pushing their physical limits and maintaining beauty in their appearance and movements."

Nir Arieli launched his career as a military photographer, before receiving a scholarship to the School of Visual Arts in New York - he graduated with honors and has received numerous awards since. If you are in New York, don't miss this exhibition.

Elizabeth Avedon: What brought you to work with dancers which appear in most of your work?

Nir Arieli: My cousin Tal, an incredible dancer, introduced me to his dancer friends and their performances. I don't dance at all, not even at a party. I admire dancers because they can do what seems to me impossible. The training process of a dancer teaches the body to do things that it can't do naturally. I observe it like a child, like it's a super power. Aside from the physical qualities, these are people who are so dedicated to what they do, subvert norms of gender and thrilled to collaborate on projects of different art mediums - It's quite a pleasure collaborating with them.

EA: What is the "infra-red" process you use to shoot these?

NA: The infrared process is being done digitally. The photos are taken in high resolution and in color, and in the conversion process to black and white I imitate what the old infrared film used to do. In this technique the warm tones (which are the tones of everything that is under our skin) are turning dominant, therefore sun-damage, scars, stretch marks and freckles are all being emphasized, and the cool tones are turning light. 

Kyle, 2012. © Nir Arieli

Taner, 2012. © Nir Arieli

Nehemiah, 2012. © Nir Arieli

EA: Did you receive your scholarship to SVA through Stephen Frailey's "Photo Global" program?

NA: Stephen Frailey is a significant influence in my artistic journey. I wasn't a part of the "Photo Global" program but he was my department chair during my 4 year SVA BFA Photography program. He is a generous and special educator and artist. The 4-year scholarship I received was the "Silas H. Rhodes Scholarship," named after a co-founder of the School of Visual Arts.

EA: What type of photographs did you begin your career with? 

NA: In my mandatory military service in Israel I was lucky enough to serve as a photographer for the IDF magazine "Bamachane". It was a great experience which thought me not only technique but also a lot about what I'm interested in as a photographer. I realized that journalistic work which requires me to capture moments that I have no control over was not something that excites me. I'm more of a director or a sculptor, I need the interaction with the subject and I value the intimacy that is being created during a photo-session. 

EA: How does your early work contrast with your current fine art photographs? 

NA: The military was like an intense three year school program. We photographed something different each day, both documentary work and portraiture. I got to be on airplanes, on ships and in the desert... I was sent to do assignments. My current personal work is much more intimate and personal. It's about themes that I'm interested in, people that I choose and the dialog of the photo-session. It seems like it's the complete opposite but actually, there are some similarities. I had an agenda as a military photographer to find that gentleness and sensitivity in the soldiers I photographed, which is something I do in my current work. I feel like that period set down the first bricks in this "castle" I'm building.

NIR ARIELI: INFRAMEN 

Exhibition to March 8 

Daniel Cooney Fine Art, New York