For the past three years, photographer Andrea Star Reese has been documenting long term unsheltered men and women living in makeshift housing in New York City. Her first project, The Urban Cave, will be exhibited at Visa pour l’Image, the international festival of photojournalism held in Perpignan, France, beginning Aug. 28.
Formerly a free-lance videographer, Reese began her transition to still photography while filming a series of documentary short films in Indonesia from 2003 to 2007. A graduate of The International Center of Photography in 2008, she also holds both BFA and MFA degrees from California Institute of the Arts School of Film.
Read her interview with the New York Times: Finding Community in the Shadows.
View THE URBAN CAVE slideshow here.
In 2007, Reese started her work on THE URBAN CAVE, a project on long term unsheltered men and women living in makeshift housing in New York City. While a work in progress, the series received Best Social Documentary and two Honorable Mentions from the 2009 New York Photo Awards, as well as Honorable Mention from Camera Club, New York. In addition Reese was a finalist for the Magnum Expressions Award. Before that the series was chosen for “Les Visas de l'ANI” in 2008, and received a Judges Choice Award from American Society of Media Photographers.
Photographs from THE URBAN CAVE have been published in reGeneration2, New York Times Lens Blog, Sunday Times Magazine, NPR, Visura magazine, Alternatives Internationales, The Shift Book, and Vision Magazine. Other credits include Fader Magazine.