Xaviera Simmons Bronx as Studio

For three weeks in June, multimedia artist Xaviera Simmons (b. 1974, New York City, NY) transforms the streets of the Bronx into an outdoor portrait studio as part of Public Art Fund’s program for emerging artists, In the Public Realm. The project, Bronx as Studio, is equal parts sidewalk games, classic photographic portraiture, and performance art. Simmons invites passersby to participate and to be photographed engaging in various activities ranging from chess, hopscotch, and three-card monte to soapbox speaking and double Dutch. Using both large- and medium-format cameras, she has documented almost 200 people on various street corners, in parks, and in front of backdrops she created. Simmons employs assorted props and masks as well as found objects and personal items to engage participants in the construction of each image. Simmons has hand printed each color portrait and will mail a copy to each of the participants. In this way, Bronx as Studio not only engages residents and visitors to the Bronx in the art-making process, but also documents their participation in a photographic portrait for them to keep.