Upstate Girls

Scrappin' Upstate Artist Reception, with Brenda Ann Kenneally and Upstate Girls, 6:00 p.m.
Presentation by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, 7:00 p.m.

Narrative journalist  Adrian Nicole LeBlanc will explore the issues addressed in Scrappin' Upstate, and the vital role of independent journalism, with a focus on marginalized members of society: adolescents living in poverty, prostitutes, women in prison, etc.

LeBlanc will respond to questions by photo journalist Brenda Ann Kenneally about the current Sanctuary exhibit, "Scrappin' Upstate." One of the central families in her book Random Family are residents of North Troy, and a focus of Upstate Girls. When Random Family was selected to be excerpted in the N.Y. Times Magazine, the N.Y. Times assigned Kenneally the task of photographing the people that LeBlanc had documented through her ten-year reportage.  This marks the beginning of Brenda Ann Kenneally's Upstate Girls project.

Scrappin' Upstate, from the “Upstate Girls Documentary Project" 

Brenda Ann Kenneally and The Upstate Girls

Funding for this exhibit made possible through support by Open Society Documentary Photography Fund Audience Engagement Grant (formally called the Distribution Grant). 

In partnership with Rensselaer County Historical Society and Media Alliance; generous in-kind support of printing and copy work from Daniel Portnoy Photography.

Scrappin' Upstate 

March 8- June 4: Open Tuesdays- Thursdays, 11-4; plus 1 hour before, during and after events

from the “Upstate Girls Documentary Project"

with Brenda Ann Kenneally and The Upstate Girls

Funding for this exhibit made possible through support by Open Society Documentary Photography Fund Audience Engagement Grant (formally called the Distribution Grant). 

"Rediscovering the Everyday: Basic Documentary Photography"

with Brenda Ann Kenneally

For: tweens through adults. Anyone who has a camera and an interest in basic level documentary photography.

Learn how to take your camera off automatic! You'll learn how to stop, look and listen, and find the meaning and splendor in the cracks between the everyday sidewalks that you travel.

Learn about composing the frame and shooting in available light. We will leave no fledgling blade of grass unturned as we balance technical camera skills with sociological strategies, to best document your subjects!

All photos on this page by Brenda Ann Kenneally

"Upstate Girls" from throughout the Capital Region share stories about the challenges in their lives, gathering with representatives of the institutions with which they are entwined—including the legal, educational, healthcare and penal systems—in response to award-winning photojournalist Brenda Ann Kenneally’s compelling work.

The Sanctuary will host a one day workshop to facilitate a dialogue between girls from the UPSTATE GIRLS exhibition, other young women growing up in the Capital Region, and the many agencies that can influence their efforts to break the cycle of post-industrial marginalization.

The day will begin with a tour of Brenda Ann Kenneally’s award winning photographs and responses to the work. We will continue with a scrapbook workshop facilitated by young women from the neighborhood, presentations by local change makers and breakout stations. The day will conclude with a final discussion with all participants.

‘Upstate Girl’ finds voice in photography

By Bob Goepfert The Record

Brenda Ann Kenneally has an addictive personality. That addiction has produced "Upstate Girls: What Became of the Collar City," which opens Saturday at the Sanctuary for Independent Media, 3361 Sixth Ave. in Lansingburgh. It is a photographic study of six young women living in North Troy. The images are stark, real and disturbing as they chronicle the lives of the powerless and disenfranchised. Though fraught with social, political and economic implications, the images are visually hypnotizing as they capture the lives of innocence lost.

Kenneally refers to herself as New York Times Magazine’s "photographer of choice when it comes to capturing images of kids living in poverty." Her first assignment for the magazine was in 2003 when she was asked to supply pictures for a series written by her friend Adrian Nicole Leblanc titled "Random Family." It was a work about neglected, unsupervised kids living on the streets of New York City. Her work was so successful, in 2006, the Times sent her to New Orleans to portray the plight of displaced children trying to survive after Katrina. An entire issue of the New York Times Magazine was devoted to that work.

“How Will They Know Us? Building a Culture of Peace”

Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28

Iraqi and American youth shared visions of a peaceful, just coexistence in this mural workshop. Guided by Claudia Lefko, director of the Iraqi Children’s Art Exchange, these murals will be exhibited in Egypt next year for the “UNESCO Decade of Peace and Non-violence Among Children of the World.”

Photo by Tyler Boudreau

“A Conversation About UPSTATE GIRLS”

Thursday, April 2

Teenage girls from throughout the Capital Region shared stories about the challenges in their lives, gathering with representatives of the institutions with which they are entwined—including the legal, educational, healthcare and penal systems—in response to award-winning photojournalist Brenda Ann Kenneally’s compelling work.

Funded in part by Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.