War Notes by Cheney Orr
Date and time
War Notes documents memories of Ukrainian citizens during wartime, in a total of 53 portraits and interviews by Cheney Orr
About this event
To coincide with NFT.NYC, Superchief Gallery has partnered with Vault by CNN to present “War Notes,” an NFT collection release and gallery pop-up show by photographer Cheney Orr. The collection—a project of memories in the making, co-created with Ukrainian citizens during wartime—will be released on Thursday, June 23 and available to purchase at vault.cnn.com. Superchief will be donating 100% of profits from the collection to fund humanitarian aid for Ukrainians.
Superchief will also be hosting a physical gallery pop-up exhibition to premiere the full scope of work Cheney produced while in Ukraine on the same day (Thursday, June 23) from 5-7pm at its Manhattan location at 56 E 11th St.
“War Notes” chronicles Cheney Orr’s travels over six weeks across Ukraine collecting a total of 53 portraits and interviews. Per participant, a single Fuji FP-100c polaroid was made. Orr then asked each participant to write their memories, experiences, thoughts, and emotions on a separate unexposed blank polaroid. Alongside these pieces, he collected audio, digital photographs, instax polaroids and 35mm black and white images.
Each of the 53 portraits are paired with audio recordings of participant’s voices and/or on-location ambient sounds.
The polaroid portraits and written stories were collected in a single photo album the artist carried with him throughout his experience. As a special release, Cheney Orr replicated this photo album as a limited-edition ‘zine so the photos can be shared in a way that mimics the artist's process when the project was constructed.
ABOUT CHENEY ORR
Born in Arizona and raised in New York City, Cheney Orr's first long-term photo essay documented his father’s journey with early-onset Alzheimer's and was published by The New York Times in 2018. Later that year he was awarded the Mary Ellen Mark Memorial Scholarship to attend the one-year certificate program at the International Center of Photography as a 2019 graduate. In 2020, Cheney was awarded a fellowship from the Rita & Alex Hillman Foundation. Cheney was nominated as a Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Feature Photography as a part of Reuters’ 2021 coverage of climate change.
Cheney has reported from throughout the U.S. and is a regular contributor to Reuters and Bloomberg News. His other editorial clients include The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Agence France-Presse. His commissioned work largely focuses on breaking news stories and his personal work is often focused on explorations of memory, family and community. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally. In 2014 he had a solo exhibition at The Ukrainian Institute of America displaying large-scale silver-gelatin prints from his project A Future Uncertain: Young in Ukraine.
ABOUT VAULT BY CNN
Vault is CNN's Web3 initiative to spark community conversations about the world events we experience together. We present NFTs featuring pivotal moments from our 41-year archives, and fresh reflections on those moments from partner artists around the world. Learn more at vault.cnn.com.
ABOUT SUPERCHIEF
As a part of the international underground art community, Edward Zipco & Bill Dunleavy founded Superchief Gallery in 2012. On March 25th, 2021, Superchief Gallery NFT opened its doors in New York City, establishing itself as the World's First Physical / IRL NFT Gallery. Since opening, Superchief Gallery NFT has proudly worked with Christie’s Auction House on their first ever CryptoPunk Auction, produced the first ever IRL NFT events for Opensea, MakersPlace, Foundation, UNICEF, The United Nations, The Ukrainian Government, NFT.NYC, NFT|LA and many more.
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