Abby Robinson. AutoWorks & WaterWorks

About

Abby Robinson (1947–2024) developed her AutoWorks series for over 30 years, beginning in 1971. The images captured in the series communicate the art of women deploying the camera to debunk fixed gender roles through self-portrait photography and presentation. Composed of black and white prints approximately  2 x 3 inches in size, the works from the AutoWorks series are small and intimate photos.

Robinson’s WaterWorks series grew out of AutoWorks over the past decade, when she serendipitously took her camera into the shower. The use of color and significantly larger prints result in a different mood for the WaterWorks photos, lacking artifice by demanding presence in all senses of the word. The images are direct, showing merely a figure and a circumscribed space transformed by a combination of water and light. The exhibition will feature works from both series, which were selected by the photographer before her death in July 2024. In addition to the works, the artist’s notebooks and a shower curtain that Robinson used as a living canvas will be on display. 

Pratt Manhattan Gallery’s program is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.