PUBLISHING
SHINE Portrait Studio Press, LLC is dedicated to artists’ publications, photobooks and other printed material focused on locally engaged-projects that impart broad narratives; performance-based work done in Shine’s own studios; projects that mine archives related to Newark’s place in the history of photography; and works inspired by James Van Der Zee’s legacy that reside at intersections of beauty, kindness, self-representation, and social justice. SHINE Press is a collaborative project of Anthony Alvarez and Nick Kline.
The Plume House of Prayer Series, is an edition of artists' books referencing a historic site in Newark, NJ. Once a ”cozy farmhouse on the outskirts of a little town on the riverside,” and rectory to The House of Prayer church, is the Plume House. Built in approximately 1725, and the second oldest home in the city of Newark, now has its foundation visibly shaken by the vehicles driving on I-280, constructed a few feet from the house.
On this site, in 1887, Reverend Hannibal Goodwin invented celluloid photographic film in the attic. This invention was motivated by the frequent breakage of his glass lantern slides, which Goodwin used to teach children bible stories. The book covers in this series are designed to invoke a House of Prayer sermon pamphlet from 1852, on the life of statesman and slaveholder Henry Clay, delivered to “The Young Men of Newark, N.J.”
The books published in this series vibrate with the various histories and nature of this site, including the intersection of American independence, slavery, gender, church, state, Newark’s role in the history of photography, obsolescence, and hope.
Plume House of Prayer Series II
REWIND: MEMORIES ON REPEAT
Artist: Beau McCall, Guest Edited by Souleo
Editor: Nick Kline
Designer: Chantal Fischzang
Printing and Binding: Anthony Alvarez
Publisher: SHINE Portrait Studio Press
City: Newark, NJ
Year: 2021
Pages: 92
Dimensions: 10 in x 10 in x 1/4 in
Cover: Paperback
Binding: Perfect
Process: Risograph, Pigment Ink
Color & Black and White
Edition Size: 100
ISBN: 978-1-7333061-3-3
$20.00 USD + Shipping
Beau McCall, REWIND: MEMORIES ON REPEAT, is a timely and heartfelt art book celebrating the Black LGBTQ+ community. McCall’s debut art book honors the legacy of ten of McCall’s deceased friends through collages composed of. archival photos and images from his button artwork. The collages capture the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, from Philadelphia to New York, during the LGBTQ+ rights movement, the height of disco music and the AIDS crisis.
“Since the 1970s we have lost so many individuals to AIDS, drugs, and anti-trans violence. So I wanted to tell some of these lost stories through images of my own friends who experienced these issues,” said McCall. “It is my way of honoring my friendship with them and bringing greater visibility and representation to the unsung everyday people of the Black LGBTQ+ community.”
McCall’s work as an artist is rooted in framing personal memories and experiences with historical and social contexts. As an extension, McCall’s new body of work is the story of the power of memories to keep bonds alive, the beauty of friendship to help us thrive, the power of love to help us heal and the indomitable spirit of the LGBTQ+ community.
- Souleo, Guest Editor
The purchasing of this edition; Beau McCall, Rewind: Memories on Repeat, will be handled directly by the artist. Please click on the button below and fill out the form, the artist will typically respond directly within 48 hrs.
A portion of the proceeds from the book sales will benefit SAGE Center Harlem, which serves LGBTQ+ older adults with a diverse array of social events and support groups, daily hot nutritional lunches, a cyber center, health and wellness programs, arts and cultural events, and more.
$20 USD + Shipping