Amy Becker is an experienced and talented photographer. She graduated from the International Center of Photography of New York, and she has achieved multiple awards. She has also published both print and web publications. Her series ‘Dead Ringers’, which she is exhibiting here today, reflects on the ways in which Millennials quickly embrace the use of cell phones, making working payphones entirely obsolete. Becker recalls her experiences with the payphone, and photographs payphones that are still standing, that are often abandoned, beaten, and disfigured. Becker photographs these old payphones with her iPhone camera, which she claims is the very invention that has rendered payphones into unwanted relics.
DEAD RINGERS
Portraits of abandoned payphones
The new millennium’s rapid embrace of cell phones has dramatically diminished the need for working payphones. For many, payphones are linked to collective memories. Think of Clark Kent rushing to the nearest phone booth, emerging as Superman ready to save Lois Lane. During the Eisenhower era, college students crammed themselves into phone booths. Personally, I was raised to be certain to have the correct coins for an emergency phone call.
Those days are over. Yet many payphones remain standing, scattered throughout the landscape—abandoned, beaten, and disfigured. Today, with my iPhone camera, I seek out these phones with the very invention that has rendered them into unwanted relics.
For me, the world has turned into a perpetual scavenger hunt to discover payphones in familiar or new settings. I often find payphones hidden in plain sight. Others, stripped down to a shell of their former selves, reveal a vague suggestion of sculpture in metal and plastic. At times, the phones’ anthropomorphic shapes echo portraits where comic and tragic personalities coexist. Admittedly, when I do find a rare working phone, I’m disappointed.
Payphones represent one path to human connection. Dead Ringers depicts the remains of those machines and the environments in which they exist. Today, cell phones deliver multiple ways to reach out and touch someone, including standalone images and videos, texts, social media platforms, even unique ring tones. What persists is the need to communicate, anyplace, for any reason, or for no reason at all.
— Amy Becker
Amy recently came in first place at the New Brunswick Art Salon 2018 — Photography: “A Facility for Photogenia” awarded by Andrew Darlow.
“Newark Liberty” by Amy Becker
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017
■ 4th Open Call Exhibition, Providence Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI. Juror: Julie Grahame
■ Word Play, Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery, College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ. Curator: Virginia Fabbri Butera, Ph.D
■ New Jersey & You—Perfect Together!, Village West Gallery, Jersey City, NJ. Juror: Robinson Holloway
■ Third Annual Group Show, Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson, NY. Juror: Paula Tognarelli
■ Soho Photo National Competition, Soho Photo Gallery, New York, NY. Juror: Aline Smithson
■ Curators Choice Show, Pro Arts, Casa Columbo Gallery, Jersey City, NJ. Selected by Evonne Davis, exhibition curated by Midori Yoshimoto
■ TPS 26: The International Competition, Texas Photographic Society. Exhibitions at Stark Galleries, Texas A&M University, College Station,
TX; Center for Contemporary Arts, Abilene, TX; Options Gallery, Odessa College, Odessa, TX. Juror: Alison Nordström
■ Portrait: Mirror, Mirror, online exhibition, Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR. Juror: Amy Arbus
■ 2017 Open Juried Exhibition, Vermont Center of Photography, Brattleboro, VT. Juror: Karen Haas
2016
■ Viewpoints, Studio Montclair, Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ. Juror: Mary Birmingham
■ Open Orange, Firehouse Gallery, Valley Arts District, Orange, NJ. Jurors: Tricia Bloom, Deidre Harris-Kelly, Marie Samuels
■ Photowork 2016 29th Annual National Juried Photography Exhbition, Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY. Juror: Karen Irvin
■ Art Connections 12, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ. Juror: Willie Cole
■ 2016 Open Juried Exhibition, Vermont Center of Photography, Brattleboro, VT. Juror: Paula Tognarelli
2015
■ Stories, PH21 Gallery, Budapest, Hungary. Juror: Zsolt Batori
■ Signage, YourDailyPhotograph.com, by Duncan Miller Gallery, July 13, 2015
■ 6th Annual Contemporary Photography Exhibition, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA. Jurors: Whitney Richardson, Paige West
■ Love, YourDailyPhotograph.com, by Duncan Miller Gallery, April 30, 2015
■ Photography 33 Award Exhibit, three-person exhibition, Perkins Center for the Arts, Collingswood, NJ
■ Gaelen Juried Art Award Winners Show, two-person exhibit. The Gaelen Gallery East, West Orange, NJ
2014
■ Street Photography, YourDailyPhotograph.com, by Duncan Miller Gallery, December 19, 2014. Guest Curator: Bruce Gilden
■ Aftermath: Forever Changed, The Noyes Museum of Art, Oceanville, NJ. Curator: Doug Ferrari
■ Home, Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery, College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ. Curator: Virginia Fabbri Butera, Ph.D.
■ This May Have Happened, Filter Photo Festival, David Weinberg Photography, Chicago, IL. Juror: Gordon Stettinius
■ Nexus, Arts Guild New Jersey, Rahway, NJ. Juror: Dorrie Papademetriou
■ 32nd Annual Juried Membership Competition, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX. Juror: Malcolm Daniel
■ Soho Photo National Competition, Soho Photo Gallery, New York, NY. Juror: Ariel Meyerowitz
■ Viewpoints, Group Exhibit, Studio Montclair, Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ. Juror: Sue Scott
■ Eleventh National Exhibition, Ceres Gallery, New York, NY. Juror: Lauren Hinkson
■ Visiting Curator Exhibition, Finalist, The Center For Emerging Artists, Bebe Benoliel Gallery, Philadelphia, PA. Curator: Cecilia Alemani
■ Open Orange, Firehouse Gallery, Valley Arts District, Orange, NJ. Jurors: Antonio Sergio Bessa, Deidre Harris-Kelly, Naima J. Keith
■ Onward Compé 14, Project Basho, Philadelphia, PA. Juror: Andrew Moore
■ Photography 33, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ. Juror’s Award, Juror: Peter Barberie
■ New Color Photography, Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR. Juror: Kelli Pennington
2013
■ Persona, Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery, College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ. Curator: Virginia Fabbri Butera, Ph.D
■ Photography 32, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ. Juror: Genevieve Countroubis
■ 6th Annual Photography Masters Cup, International Color Awards, two nominations in Americana Category
■ Art Connections 9, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ. Juror: Victor Davson
2012
■ Professional Women Photographers 37th Anniversary International Women’s Juried Exhibition, Honorable Mention, online gallery, Juror: Deb Willis
■ The Photo Review 2012 International Competition, On-Line Gallery, Editor: Stephen Perloff, Langhorne, PA
■ Holy Lives in World Religions, Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery, College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ. Curator: Virginia Fabbri Butera, Ph.D.
■ Photography Exhibition, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ. Juror: Donald Lokuta
■ Trenton Makes,Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ. Juror: Gerard Haggerty
■ PhotoPlace Open 2012, online gallery Annex & Exhibition Catalogue, Vermont PhotoPlace Workshops, Middlebury, VT. Juror: Kyohei Abe
■ Thirteenth Annual Gaelen Juried Art Show, The Gaelen Galleries, JCC, Whippany, NJ. Award, Best in Photography award. Jurors: Marjorie
Frankel Nathanson, Andy Foster, Mimi Weinberg
■ disconnected, Arts Council of the Morris Area, Morristown, NJ. Curator: Jonathan Greene
■ Viewpoints, Studio Montclair, Juror: Alexandra Schwartz. Ben Shahn Galleries, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ
■ The Female Eye, Brennan Gallery, Jersey City, NJ. Curators: Meredith Lippman, Eileen Gaughan
2011
■ 2011 Members Exhibition, Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ. Juror’s Prize, Juror: Trong G. Nguyen
2010
■ Who We Are: Contemporary Portraits, Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery, College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ. Curator: Virginia Fabbri Butera, Ph.D.
■ Ninth National Exhibition, Ceres Gallery, New York, NY. Juror: Lowery Stokes Sims
■ Eleventh Annual Gaelen Juried Art Show, Gaelen Galleries West, JCC, Whippany, NJ. Honorable Mention Photography Award, Jurors:
Patterson Sims, Anne Betty Weinshenker, Walter Zimmerman
■ Departures, Studio Montclair, Ben Shahn Galleries, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ. Juror: Phong Bui
■ Photography 29, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ. Juror: Julia Dolan
■ 31st Annual Art Exhibit, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ. Juror: Maura Lynch
■ Photography Portraits, Mpls Photo Center, Minneapolis, MN. Juror: David Little
2009
■ From Here to There, Arts Council of the Morris Area, Morristown, NJ. Curator: Jeanne Brasile
■ Great Swamp, Flora, Fauna, Etcetera, Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery, College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ. Curator: Virginia Fabbri Butera, Ph.D.
■ Contemporary Expressions, Pen and Brush, New York, NY. Curator: Daile Kaplan
■ New Jersey Arts Annual: Local Life, Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ. Curators: Ann Aptaker, Karen Kwarciak
■ Woman to Woman, Brennan Gallery, Jersey City, NJ. Curators: Meredith Lippman, Eileen Gaughan
2008
■ The Greatest Show on Earth, Somerset Art Association, Bedminster, NJ and National Starch Chemical, Bridgewater, NJ
■ Currents, Studio Montclair, Court Gallery of the Ben Shahn Galleries, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ. Juror: Beth Venn
■ Annual Juried Photography & Graphics Exhibition for Non-Members, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
■ Photography Faculty Exhibit, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ
■ Becker, Brennan & Goodman, three person exhibition, Mayo Center of the Performing Arts, Morristown, NJ
2007
■ Juried Members’ Show, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ. Merit Award, Juror: Rupert Raven
2006
■ Annual Group Exhibit, Griffin Gallery, Madison, NJ. Juror: Gary Erbe
PRINT & WEB PUBLICATIONS
■ Love, YourDailyPhotograph.com, by Duncan Miller Gallery, April 30, 2015
■ Signage, YourDailyPhotograph.com, by Duncan Miller Gallery, July 13, 2015
■ Street Photography, YourDailyPhotograph.com, by Duncan Miller Gallery, December 19, 2014, Guest Curator: Bruce Gilden
■ Houston Center for Photography Members Exhibition, by Aline Smithson, lenscratch.com, July 19, 2014
■ Building A Mystery!, by Elin Spring, elinspringphotography.com/blog, October 7, 2014
■ Modern technology gives everyone a shot in Perkins photo exhibit, by Fred B. Adelson, Courier-Post, February 16, 2014
■ Perkins hosts a show worth toasting, by Sally Freidman, Courier-Post, February 21, 2010
■ New Jersey Arts Annual: Local Arts, Exhibition Catalog, Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ, 2010
AWARDS
■ Photography 33, Group Exhibit, Juror’s Award, Juror: Peter Barberie. Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ. 2014
■ Professional Women Photographers 37th Anniversary International Women’s Juried Exhibition, Honorable Mention, online gallery, Juror: Deb Willis, 2012
■ Thirteenth Annual Gaelen Juried Art Show, Best in Photography Award, Jurors: Marjorie Frankel Nathanson, Andy Foster, Mimi Weinberg.
The Gaelen Galleries, JCC, Whippany, NJ. 2012
■ 2011 Members Exhibition, Juror’s Prize, Juror: Trong G. Nguyen. Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ
■ Eleventh Annual Gaelen Juried Art Show, Honorable Mention Photography Award, Jurors: Patterson Sims, Anne Betty Weinshenker, Walter
Zimmerman. The Gaelen Galleries West, JCC, Whippany, NJ, 2010
■ 2007 Members’ Show, Merit Award, Juror: Rupert Raven. Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ
EDUCATION
■ International Center Of Photography, New York, NY ■ B.S., Boston University, School of Communications, Boston, MA
Phone Number: 201.919.3446 E-mail: amy@amybecker.com Website: amybecker.com
