Zack Smith: Exit Stage Left
October 26 – December 1, 2012
Preservation Hall
726 St. Peter Street
New Orleans, LA 70116
504-522-2841
Hours: 8pm to 11pm daily
Since 2008, Zack Smith has created a pop-up portrait studio backstage at the Preservation Hall Stage during the annual the Voodoo Music + Arts Experience in New Orleans’ City Park. In the ensuing years, Smith has continually evolved this unconventional studio, where he captures unique portraits of a passing parade of local and national musicians, as well as friends and passersby. Shooting medium and large format film cameras, Smith has amassed an impressive cultural document of the artists that are shaping the musical landscape of New Orleans, Louisiana and beyond.
To mark the 5th year of this project, he has teamed up with Preservation Hall to showcase the highlights of the series.
Smith presents over 30 images displayed on stained wood panels and hanging from the walls of the historic French Quarter music venue. A book will also be available for purchase during any Preservation Hall open hours: 8pm to 11pm, 7 nights a week. Preservation Hall is free for locals during the 10:15pm concert every Wednesday and Saturday, and anyone looking to pop in to see the exhibit without staying for a performance can skip the line and enter for free.
Bio:
Zack Smith is a fine art and commercial photographer that has been documenting the social landscapes that surround him for the past 15 years, and since 2000, has focused his energies on New Orleans and Southwestern Louisiana, the place of his birth. Smith specializes in environmental portraiture, performance, and street documentary photography.
Smith is currently a photography instructor at The New Orleans Academy of Fine Art and an active member in the New Orleans Photo Alliance. Smith is also staff photographer for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, French Quarter Festival, and the Tulane University Marching Band. For three years, Smith was shooting assistant for world-renowned photographer Herman Leonard.
From 2008-2011 Smith was exhibition curator at The CANARY Gallery in the New Orleans Arts District. Smith maintains a large client base in New Orleans and the U.S., and is featured in numerous publications, books, and has shown in galleries across the South. Smith was also awarded Best Music Photographer by Offbeat Magazine in 2009, and was awarded “40 under 40” by Gambit Weekly for his work in the local photographic community.
Smith is also an active member of the New Orleans music community, as drummer for local band Rotary Downs and Sunrise:Sunset, projection artist, music promoter, and long time photographer to many local musicians on a variety of projects.
