Alice Austen House Presents Foreclosed: Documents from the American Housing Crisis

The Alice Austen House Museum is pleased to present Foreclosed: Documents from the American Housing Crisis. The exhibition includes works by: Bruce Gilden, Lauren Greenfield, Todd Hido, Imara Moore, John Moore, John Francis Peters, T.J. Proechel, Brian Shumway, Brian Ulrich and Guillaume Zuili.

The exhibition examines how artists are using photography to record the aftermath of the housing bubble; from its’ beginning in 2006 to the dramatic effects it still has on the American Landscape today. The artists and photographers in the exhibition depict the ruins of rich and poor neighborhoods, as well as the families affected by the economic downturn. As a result, the exhibition aims to explore the disintegration of the American dream and how it effects a culture where home ownership is no longer a reality.

The Alice Austen House provides it’s unique domestic setting to view the haunting imagery of places now abandoned: In 1948, the Austen House was foreclosed, and Ms. Austen was forced to move to a poorhouse. In the exhibition, artists such as Todd Hido capture what has been left behind in these modern ghost towns whereas documentary photographers like John Moore capture the stories of those most affected. In essence, what has remained is a stark and vast wasteland filled with eerie reminders of what was lost. Juxtaposing Austen's history and home with photographs depicting the current crisis, the exhibition offers a unique setting to connect the crisis of the Great Depression with the current recession. The museum also displays Alfred Eisenstaedt's vintage images from LIFE of Alice Austen's emotional visit to the home she lost.

AMEX and the National Trust for Historic Preservation have selected 40 organizations in New York City that will compete for $3,000,000. I am pleased to let you know that the Alice Austen House Museum is one of the selected sites.

You can Vote Once Every Day till May 21 to help restore and preserve some areas within the house that need attention.

However, it is not enough for us to vote -- We need all of our family, friends, co-workers and colleagues to vote --- and to do it everyday.

The only way we can achieve that is through personal appeals. You need to contact your friends and ask them to vote.