CHERYL DUNN

PORTFOLIO

WHEN NEW YORK-BASED PHOTOGRAPHER AND FILMMAKER CHERYL DUNN BEGAN HER CAREER IN THE MID ’80s, SHE TRAINED HER LENS ON THE CITY’S STREET CULTURES: SKATERS, BOXERS, GRAFFITI WRITERS, PROTESTORS. RATHER THAN A STRICT COMMISSION, HER WORK REPRESENTED A PERSONAL MISSION TO EXPRESS THE ERA'S REALITIES AND COMPLEXITIES. IN 1994, INSPIRED BY WHAT SHE SAW AT THE  25TH ANNIVERSARY OF WOODSTOCK, SHE EXPANDED HER SUBJECT MATTER TO INCLUDE MUSIC FESTIVALS. RATHER THAN FOCUS EXCLUSIVELY ON MUSICIANS, SHE TOOK HER GAZE OFFSTAGE, CAPTURING AN OFTEN-DIVINE EXPERIENCE THAT HAS THE ABILITY TO TRANSFORM A FARM FIELD INTO A SOCIETAL TOUCHSTONE OR A SONG INTO A PERSONAL EPIPHANY.

Her poignant, decades-long effort has been compiled in the newly released Festivals Are Good. Here we curated a selection of photographs from the book and asked Cheryl to provide an accompanying soundtrack.