Melissa Shook
Untitled (Krissy in her grandparents' home, Milford, Connecticut)), ca. 1968
Gelatin silver print
9 3/8 x 5 7/8 in
23.8 x 14.9 cm
23.8 x 14.9 cm
Series: Krissy
From December 8, 2023 to January 20, 2024, MIYAKO YOSHINAGA is pleased to present Krissy’s Present, featuring 30 black-and-white photographs made between 1965 and 1983 by the late American artist Melissa Shook (1939-2020). The opening reception will be held on Friday, December 8, 6-8 PM with Kristina Shook, the artist’s daughter and the subject of this body of work.
In the mid-1960s Shook, a single mother, began photographing her mixed-race infant daughter Kristina – “Krissy.” Krissy recalls she could think of no other way to have grown up with her mother, holding the camera and photographing her all the time. “My earliest memories are of being photographed with my friends on the Lower East Side of Manhattan—running naked on the street or playing games in my friends’ apartments. My mother Melissa chasing after us—not interrupting us –clicking away with her camera, an extension of her.”
