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 strives to authentically capture moments of connection. Her photography 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 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.
Erika has several ongoing bodies of work including The Open Photo Project which shares the stories of polyamorous people, Underwear On Our Heads which explores queer silliness and vulnerability, Past / Present which focuses on healing our inner child, and Mom & Me where Erika explores connecting with her mother who passed away over 20 years ago. Erika’s work The Open Photo Project has been featured at The Tang Museum, and her Mom & Me work was recently featured in Lenscratch and the Sante Fe Portfolio Review.
Erika’s clients include The Tulipan Foundation, The Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum, The Clinton Global Initiative, On Running Apex For Youth and Urban Arts.
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
2026
The Open Photo Project video installation, Family Forms, co-curated by Rebecca McNamara and Corinne Moss-Racusin, Tang Teaching Museum, New York
2024
Selection from Past / Present, Dyke + ArtHaus Visits The Bureau, co-curated by Juno Rosenhaus and Lola Flash, The BGSQD, New York
2021
Selections from The Open Photo Project, These Years, curated by Keren Moscovitch, SVACE/Photoville, New York
Selections from Queer People with Underwear on Our Heads, PRIDE, curated by Orestes Gonzales, 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
Workshops and Presentations
2024
Mom and Me: Framing Greif Artist Conversation with Néstor Daniel Pérez-Molière, Majo Martin(ez), Anna Grevenitis.
Curated by Anthoula Lelekidis and Lesly Deschler Canossi.
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
2024
Feature, Erika Kapin: Mom and Me, Lenscratch, January 2024
Feature, Erika Kapin: Mom & Me, Photo Trouvée #13, April 2024
2023
Feature, LACP Exposure Review, Frames, The Female Gaze, by Diana Nicholette Jeon, September 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