We were recently contacted by an artist from New York who has compiled a 148 page book depicting photographs of ghost bikes from over 50 cities, like the ghost bike on Mass Ave & Vassar St, set up in memory of our dear friend Phyo. Seeing the compilation of ghost bikes like this has the same effect as teaching kids about littering through visualization: “Throw one can to the ground; you see no difference – but how about we look over here where we have 1000 cans piled up high. You see how much we are destroying the earth?” It’s powerful visualisation. Here is Ms Barnes’ story:
Photographer Genea Barnes releases Don’t Forget Me, an art book memorializing Ghost Bikes
Brooklyn, October 21, 2015 – Photographer Genea Barnes is releasing an art book featuring her Ghost Bike art. Ghost Bikes are bicycles that have been painted white and placed near a location where a cyclist was killed. Barnes has traveled to over 50 cities photographing these bikes. The book has two parts. The first part chronicles her travels with journals and snapshots of the bikes. The second part displays Barnes’s memorial art: Ghost Bike images, and photo montages that combines the Ghost Bike images with studio-shot models to represent fallen cyclists. The book is 10.25in x 10.25in x 0.75in, and is 143 pages.
Each year, the US sees more than 600 bicyclist fatalities, and more than 50,000 bicyclists report injuries. Ghost Bikes symbolize the need for drivers and cyclists to be more aware of their surroundings. Barnes lives in Brooklyn, New York and is from San Francisco, CA.
“I started photographing Ghost Bikes because you can pass a memorial hundreds of times and eventually forget what it represents,” said Barnes. Over time, many Ghost Bikes have been removed. ”I hope this project and my book will help raise awareness, and enable the memorials and their sentiment live on.”
In 2010, San Francisco Bay Guardian readers voted Barnes best emerging artist. She has exhibited her photography in world class art hubs like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Milan. Her current projects explore death, decay, and facets of what is left behind.
Genea Barnes Brooklyn, New York (917) 789-3875
http://geneabarnes.com/blog/book/
http://geneabarnes.com/blog/presskit/
geneabarnes@geneabarnes.com
http://geneabarnes.com