Plastic Portraits
Plastic Portraits is a project that seeks to explore our relationship with plastics. People in this world interact with plastics on a daily basis. From single-use, disposable items, to medical and technological equipment that many of us find essential to our lives, plastic is so integrated that we often use and interact with it without being aware of it.
By photographing different people with the plastics they use daily, this project opens the door to thoughtfulness and discussion around the plastics in our lives. It raises awareness of the ubiquitous presence plastic has in our world and hopefully will spark individuals to make more thoughtful, informed decisions regarding their own plastic consumption.
Photo by Kim Kapin
Erika Kapin is a photographer whose work authentically captures intimate moments. Her work celebrates the human experience by sharing stories of people, their relationships with the world and their relationships with each other. By sharing ourselves and seeing others in ways that are vulnerable, intimate and mundane, she believes we can recognize something of our own experience in others.
Born in Seattle, Washington, Erika moved to NYC in 2005 where she received her BFA from the New School for violin performance in 2010. Erika has studied and worked as a teaching assistant at International Center of Photography. Currently living in New York City, Erika continues to work on her personal projects as well her professional projects in creative portraiture and documentary photography.
In 2008 Erika began an association with the Chair and the Maiden gallery where her photographs have been featured the group shows “Preview” and “ArtLive”(2008/2009) as well as in her solo exhibitions “One and the Same”(2009) and “Stolen Moments”(2010). Also in NYC, Erika's body of work "Plastic Portraits" has received a solo exhibition at Birch NYC(2013), The Schermerhorn(2013/2014) and group exhibitions at the Red Lotus Room(2013). The "Plastic Portraits" were featured in the international group show, "What You See is What You Get"(2013) in Bari, Italy. Kapin’s work, The Open Photo Project has been shown as a work in progress nationally in Seattle, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Alexandria, and internationally at the Non-monogamies and Contemporary Intimacies Conference in Vienna.
Solo Exhibitions
2018
The Open Photo Project, Sex Down South, Atlanta, GA
The Open Photo Project, Poly Dallas Millennium, Dallas, TX
The Open Photo Project, Woodhull Summit, Alexandria, VA
2013
Plastic Portraits, Birch at the Gershwin Hotel, New York
Selections from Plastic Portraits, The Schermerhorn, New York
2010
Stolen Moments, Chair and the Maiden Gallery, New York
2009
One and the Same, Chair and the Maiden Gallery, New York
Group Exhibitions
2021
Selections from The Open Photo Project, These Years, SVACE/Photoville, New York
Selections from Queer People with Underwear on Our Heads, PRIDE, Culture Lab LIC at Plaxall Gallery, New York
2018
The Open Photo Project, Catalyst Con, Los Angeles, CA
2017
The Open Photo Project, Seattle Erotic Arts Festival, Seattle, WA
The Open Photo Project, NMCI Conference, Vienna
2016
Selections from Plastic Portraits, Artslope, New York
Selections from The Open Photo Project, WIP, New York
2015
Selections from Stolen Moments,The Schermerhorn, New York
2013
Selections from Plastic Portraits, Red Lotus Room, New York
Mamacocha,The Sandylore Symposium, New York
What You See is What You Get, God Direct Line, Italy
2011
Real People, Old Court House Figurative League, Illinois
Summer Showcase International, Gallore Gallery, Connecticut
Art for Soul with East African Center, Gallery Bar, New York
2009
Artlive, Chair and the Maiden Gallery, New York
2008
Preview, Chair and the Maiden Gallery, New York
Workshops and Presentations
2021
The Open Photo Project: Virtual screening and conversation with Carol Queen, Babeland and Good Vibrations
2018
The Open Photo Project: Installation screening and workshop, The Bureau of General Services: Queer Division, New York
The Open Photo Project: Slideshow and lecture, SVA Photo Salon, New York
The Open Photo Project: 3 screen installation screening, Poly Dallas Millennium, Dallas, TX
The Open Photo Project: 3 screen installation screening and workshop, Woodhull Summit, Alexandria, VA
Media
2023
Cover photo, Fred Hersch and Esperanza Spalding, Downbeat Magazine, January 2023
2020
Feature, The Open Photo Project, Salty Magazine, February 2020
2019
Fashion Editorial, Mordant Magazine, November 2019
2018
Feature, The Everyday Lives of the Non-monogamous, BBC World in Pictures, February 2018
Featured Article, Photographs of Non-monogamous, L'Oeil de la Photographie, February 2018
Featured Article, If the Partner Also Loves Others: These Couples Know How it Feels, Stern Magazine, January 2018
Featured Article, The Daily Lives of Poly People, BTRtoday, January 2018
2017
Selected works from Stolen Moments, Susie Magazine, November 2017
Education
2011--2014 International Center of Photography
2010 Bachelor of Fine Arts, The New School, New York, NY