Kevin Bubriski: Documentary Photographer

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Quotes
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Quotes

"Rocks and Ruins", Gallery Kayafas, Boston

• "...the exposures are terrific, the formal arrangement masterful, the subjects ideal. What makes the show meaningful is that the images from the disparate series complement each other deeply...'Machupichu No. 6,' a stone entrance in Peru, is compelling for its Escher-like rock patterns and its breathtaking detail, which is clear down to the random scatters of lichen on the walls...In 'Garage with Flag,' conflicting horizontal and vertical stripes of the wall and flag complicate the otherwise patriotic image beautifully. The flag begins to resemble a bandage on the garage's peeling wall." - Aaron Ayscough, "artsMEDIA", September/October 2005, pg 10

Pilgrimage: Looking at Ground Zero (PowerHouse)

• "[Bubriski's] photographs are among the most shattering to come out of the event, and the quietest. By keeping his focus on the stunned faces of the individuals within a crowd, he has captured a series of private moments within a mass demonstration of surging, national grief. Everyone in the city during those confusing days will recognize the look and remember the feeling all too well." - Richard B. Woodward, from the Afterword of Pilgrimage
• "[Bubriski's] subjects stare off into the distance, and even if we didn't know what they were looking at, their anguished expressions are perfect mirrors of the destruction of ground zero. Some people close their eyes; others cover their mouths (and not just to ward off the acrid smoke); most are lost in stunned, solitary reflection, but a mother clutches her crying daughter, a father near tears balances his little girl on one shoulder, and a young man curls his arm protectively around his girlfriend's head. Like Judith Joy Ross's equally somber and subtle pictures of visitors to the Washington D.C, Vietnam Memorial, these are extraordinarily moving portraits in grief, and among the most powerful images to come out of the September 11 tragedy." - Vince Aletti, The Village Voice
• "...offers 75 black-and-white photos by Kevin Bubriski showing the reaction of visitors to the WTC site during the weeks following the attacks. People are seen embracing, shielding their eyes or wiping them, covering their mouths, staring in awe, or aiming a camera of their own." - Associated Press
• "Working unobtrusively with a twin-lens reflex camera held at waist height, Bubriskis did not distract or interupt [the visitors to Ground Zero] in their individual confrontations with the wreckage, the rescue attempts, and the implications of the scene. Aside from a chunk of concrete in one young man's hand, perhaps a bit of rubble, these images show us nothing of the physical aftermath of the event, only the external manifestations of its effect on those who came to witness and bear witness." - A.D. Coleman for Photography in New York International
• "...an intensely moving collection of street portraits, sans captions, of pedestrians who stopped in their tracks to stare at the unthinkable. Without fireballs or scenes of twisted metal, Bubriski captures the essence of the disaster: Faces register puzzlement, despair, sudden realization, anger- as many shades of emotion as there are subjects." - Time Out New York
• "Not once does [Bubriski] show the debris or the rescue workers; his interest is the myriad of emotions reflected in the faces of the people drawn to the site. The idea is clever and well-executed; the result is contemplative....People cover their faces in shock, cry, hug...Yet despair all this deeply personal emotion, the photographs never feel intrusive. These people are all relatives at one big funeral. and Bubriski is one of the mourners." - Newark Star-Ledger
• "In Hollywood, they call them reaction shots- the camera angles that allow us to see characters respond to what transpires before their eyes. Photographer Kevin Bubriski applied this principle....There are no images of the buildings, the dust, or the rubble. Instead, we experience the emotions etched in these onlookers' faces....it does provide an unusual and intriguing perspective on this story." - National Review Online
• "The idea is clever and well-executed; the result is contemplative.... The effect is like that of seeing people witness a tragic auto accident ir an invading army, People cover their faces in shock, cry, hug.... Yet despite all this deeply personal emotion, the photographs never feel intrusive. These people are all relatives at one big funeral. And Bubrsiki is one of the mourners." - Newark Star-Ledger
• "The faces of anonymous mourners his camera captured at the barricades surrounding the ruins are a shattering portrait of collective sorrow." - Tampa Tribune
• "Like Jimmy Breslin, who captured a nation's grief when he chose to interview the man who dug JFK's grave rather than seek out the dignitaries who paid their respects to the assassinated president, Bubriski knew there was another way of telling the story. 'Even though weeks had passed and we had lived through what had happened through the media, for everyone who got to this place, it was an initial sort of revelation of what had really happened,' Bubriski said." - Rutland Herald
• "Bubriski shot the photos...with a Hasselblad medium format camera- a camera which relies on a waist-level finder to take its pictures. What all of that means is that Bubriski was able to shoot his photos surreptitiously, as his subjects weren't generally aware that a camera was being pointed at them. Bubriski was well aware that, as a result of this technique, he would be treading a think line between capturing an unbiased emotional response and, perhaps, intruding on someone's individual moment of grief....He felt his responsibility was simply not to overstep any bounds of taste or decorum in the photos." - Metro West Daily News
• "...reflects the impact of the attacks in the expressions of early visitors to ground zero..." - New York Magazine
• "The pain and grief is so evident that it uniquely evokes the intensity of feeling in those first days post-9/11." - New York Daily News
• "His photographs focus on expressions on people's faces...their shock and grief afterwards." - Entertainment Today
• "Bubriski, best known for a book of portraiture entitied 'Portrait of Nepal 1993,' used the same insight into human suffering to capture heartfelt emotion after Sept. 11." - New York Newsday
• "...the camera is turned on the faces of people looking at the ruins, and their expressions are as eloquent as anything." - New York Post
• "Like many who couldn't explain their actions, photographer Bubriski made five pilgrimages from his home in Vermont to the World Trade Center site to witness and record the impact of the tragedy. The faces of anonymous mourners his camera captured at the barricades surrounding the ruins are a shattering portrait of collective sorrow." - Los Angeles Times

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