Curated by Sebastien Agneessens

At CUCHIFRITOS art gallery/project space

In ancient times, navigating by the stars was the primary means of reaching a far-away destination. The stars served as a traveler's guide to a port for safe haven. Today, the market is a kind of modern port, a place of exchange and a crossroads of different peoples. Not Without A Star takes inspiration from this idea of the star as compass and is a site-specific photo and video installation by Taryn FitzGerald exploring cross-cultural workings on immigrant experience, as witnessed amongst vendors and shoppers at the Essex Street Market on the Lower East Side.

The Lower East Side is the most ethnically diversified neighborhood in Manhattan. Comprised of important Hispanic, Asian, Jewish and Muslim communities, it remains today an important gateway for new generations of immigrants. Many of these new "Americans" arrive here escaping persecution of all kinds - political, ethnical and most recently economic; they come searching for a better way of life.

How integrated are these minorities into American culture? How well does the American dream hold up once they've arrived to the promised destination? Do they struggle to maintain an ethnic identity while co-existing within the new culture or do they easily adapt? Gathering stories from long-time vendors and shoppers, as well as those newly immigrated, Not Without A Star explores how an "American Identity" is (re)constructed under a wide range of socioeconomic conditions, as influenced by such factors as nativity, gender, ethnicity, and social class. Themes of work, language, and family are discussed, as well as the effects of important transitional changes within the Lower East Side on its populations.

FitzGerald has toured the Essex Street Market and interviewed numerous people from among the vendors and shoppers. Videos and photos of each are on display as well as a video booth for walk-ins, who wish to tell their stories on the spot.

The project, curated by Sebastien Agneessens, takes inspiration from FitzGerald's series Look-alikes, short video portraits exploring the psyches of everyday people who consider themselves look-alikes to the stars or who are often mistaken for them. In this work (2000-2003), the effects of our obsession with celebrity and the commodified icon are observed in close relation to changing expressions of individual identity. .