United Photo Industries Brings THE FENCE Back to Brooklyn Bridge Park

United Photo Industries (UPI), the pioneering Brooklyn-based producer of public photography installations and events, will bring back one of its signature initiatives, THE FENCE, to Brooklyn Bridge Park.

A jury of 70 leading photography and art professionals has selected work by 41 photographers from around the world, which UPI has installed along 1250 feet of the Greenway of the picturesque Brooklyn Bridge Park.

THE FENCE is open now and will be on view through the end of this year's edition of UPI's other signature initiative, Photoville (September 13-24, 2017), a crowd-pleasing pop-up photo destination that UPI creates in and around more than 55 shipping containers in the Park.

Sam Barzilay, Laura Roumanos and Dave Shelley-who founded United Photo Industries-will lead a tour of THE FENCE and a day of celebration on July 19 at 6:30pm, when they will also announce the winner of the Jury's Choice Prize, who will receive an exhibition in one of the Photoville shipping containers in September.

At Brooklyn Bridge Park, THE FENCE stretches from DUMBO at the north end of the park to Pier 3 in the south.

Now in its 6th year, THE FENCE draws 4 million visitors annually through open-air exhibitions in 7 cities across the United States: Brooklyn (NY), Boston (MA), Atlanta (GA), Houston (TX), Santa Fe (NM), Durham (NC), and Denver (CO).

THE FENCE provides exposure and career opportunities to participating photographers, while providing unprecedented access to powerful photographic narratives for a wide and diverse audience.

The participating artists-whose work spans the categories of Creatures, Home, People, Streets, Nature, Food and Play-are Anup Shah, Migration; Claire Rosen, Birds of Prey; Jasper Doest, Meet Bob; R.J. Kern, The Unchosen Ones; Lara Jo Regan, Dog Play; Beth Galton, Cut Food Series; Gregg Segal, Daily Bread; Jean-Michel Regoin, Fringe Benefits; Riccardo Colelli, U Conzu; Shinya Masuda, Hanafuda Shouzoku; Andréanna Seymore, Silver Gull Beach Club; Brooke DiDonato, A House is Not A Home; Fausto Podavini, MiRelLa; Jesse Rieser, Christmas in America: Happy Birthday, Jesus (2016 Edition); Matt Eich, I Love You, I'm Leaving; Emily Schiffer, Kin; Sinziana Velicescu, On The Periphery; Andrea Frazzetta, Danakil: Land of Salt and Fire; Barry Rosenthal, Found in Nature; Ed Kashi, Everyday Climate Change; Joel Redman, Stray From the Path; Robert Dash, Introspective; Tom Lamb, Marks on the Land: The View from Here; Vadim Ghirda, On The Border; Landon Nordeman, Prom in Flint; Adriana Zehbrauskas, Family Matters; Isadora Kosofsky, The Three: Senior Love Triangle; Joshua Rashaad McFadden, Come to Selfhood; Rachel Papo, Homeschooled; Sadegh Souri, Waiting Girls; Valerie Leonard, Sulfur Soldiers; Aline Smithson, In Case of Rain; Laura Barisonzi, Drumline; Lori Vrba, Drunken Poet's Dream; Martha Cooper, Street Play NYC; Sasha Arutyunova, 48 Hours En Pointe; Dave Jordano, A Detroit Nocturne; Ashley Gilbertson & Gareth Smit, Halsey Street; Dina Litovsky, Meatpacking; Mary Lou Uttermohlen, Structure Out of Chaos: Shantytown's of America's Homeless; and Tatsuo Suzuki, Tokyo Street.

The 2017 Juror's Choice grand prize goes to Joshua Rashaad McFadden for his series Come to Selfhood, which explores African American male identity, masculinity, notions of the father figure and the photographic archive. McFadden is an internationally recognized, award-winning artist and author originally from Rochester, NY. His work has been published in Slate and The New York Times, and he was recognized by TIME as one of "12 African American Photographers You Should Follow Right Now."

The Juror's Choice grand prize winner receives a $5,000 project support grant, a solo exhibition at Photoville 2017, and a feature in Photo District News magazine.

To curate such a large, public exhibition, UPI assembles a jury of highly respected photography professionals from around the world, who offer their time, energy and years of experience to this monumental outdoor exhibition. The selection committee for this year's Brooklyn edition of THE FENCE included Matthew Chase-Daniel, co-founder, Axle Contemporary; Edie Dillman, art & photography director, New Mexico Magazine; Jessamyn Lovell, visual artist/senior lecturer, University of New Mexico; Brian Henning, freelance photographer & educator, New Mexico Junior College; Gabriella Marks, president, ASMP New Mexico; Jennifer Schlesinger, owner/director, Obscura Gallery; Amy Silverman, photo editor, Outside Magazine; David Bram, editor/founder/curator, Fraction Magazine; Peggy Sue Amison, artistic director, East Wing; Roxanne Behr, senior photo editor, New York Magazine; Megan Birnbaum, photographer & educator; Siobhán Bohnacker, senior photo editor, New Yorker Magazine; Elan Buchen, project coordinator, Atlanta BeltLine; Joan Cuenin, editor in chief, L'Oeil de la Photographie; Clinton Cargill, director of photography, Bloomberg Business Week; Brandon Cordrey, executive director, Visual Art Exchange Raleigh; Rhea L. Combs, PhD, museum curator, Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; Natasha Christia, writer, curator and educator; Sean Corcoran, curator of prints and photographs, Museum of the City of New York; Alexa Dilworth, Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University; ­Ashlyn Davis, executive director, Houston Center for Photography; Michael Foley, owner, Michael Foley Gallery; Hannah Frasier, executive director, Center for Photography at Woodstock; Barbara Griffin, creative director & photo editor; Clare Grafik, head of exhibitions, The Photographers' Gallery; Angelika Hala, New York photo editor, Stern Magazine; Haley Hamblin, features photo editor, Mashable; Scott Hall, photo director, Travel + Leisure; Yoav Horesh, artist & educator; Michael Itkoff, co-founder, Fabl and Daylight Books; Samantha Johnston, executive director, Colorado Photographic Arts Center; Frances Jakubek, exhibition manager, Bruce Silverstein gallery; Tanya Kiang, director, Gallery of Photography, Dublin; Arlette Kayafas; Frank Konhaus, director, Cassilhaus; Stella Kramer, boss creative, Independent; Toby Kaufmann, director of photography, Refinery29; Benoit Lagarde, co-founder, Splashlight; Olivier Laurent, photography editor, Time Lightbox; Svetlana Legetic, executive produce, FotoweekDC & BYT Media; Brent Lewis, senior photo editor, ESPN's The Undefeated; Roger Manley, director, Gregg Museum of Art and Design; Amy Miller, executive director, Atlanta Celebrates Photography; Greer Muldowney, director, Flashpoint Festival; Kerri MacDonald, social media photo editor, New York Times; George McKenzie, chief strategy officer, Street Dreams Visual Agency; Azu Nwagbogu, festival director, Lagos Photo Festival; Melanie Philippe, director, marketing & content, World Photography Organization; Stacy Platt, editor, Society for Photographic Education; Suzanne Revy, artist/educator; Marga Rotteveel, founder and director, Docking Station; Moshe Rosenzveig, founder & creative director, Head On Photo Festival; Tim Rasmussen, director of photography, ESPN; Paul Reyes, editor, Virginia Quarterly Review; Mark Sink, curator & director, The Month of Photography Denver; Maggie Soladay, photography editor, Open Society Foundations; J. Sybylla Smith, curator/educator, Independent; Sarah Schroth, director, Nasher Museum of Art; Mary Stanley, independent curator & art consultant, Mary Stanley Studio; Sujong Song, co-founder, Seoul Lunar Photo; Clement Saccomani, managing director, NOOR; Sarah Salvatoriello, creative director, Conde Nast; Jen Tse, director of photography, Newsweek; Scott Thode, director of art & education, Visura; Paula Tognarelli, executive director, Griffin Museum; Lawrence J. Wheeler, director, North Carolina Museum of Art; Michael Wichita, director of photography, AARP Media; and Francine Weiss, senior curator, Newport Art Museum.

For more information, visit fence.photoville.com.

United Photo Industries is a New York-based art-presenting organization that works to promote a wider understanding of and increased access to the art of photography.

Sam Barzilay, Dave Shelley and Laura Roumanos launched United Photo Industries in 2011. In their new ground-floor gallery space at 16 Main Street (formerly the site of Galapagos Art Space) in DUMBO, they work with the ambition and energy of an idealist start-up, identifying, harnessing, and conjuring unexpected exhibition opportunities. Together they champion new directions in photography and cultivate ties within an ever-expanding, globetrotting community of photographers.

Over the past six years, United Photo Industries has rapidly solidified its position in the public art landscape by consistently showcasing thought-provoking, challenging, and exceptional photography from across the globe.

Proudly devoted to cultivating strategic partnerships, creative collaborations, and community spirit, United Photo Industries has presented dozens of public art installations in partnership with a number of agencies and organizations, including the NYC Department of Transportation, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the NY Department of Parks, NY Waterways and the East River Ferry, the DUMBO BID, and numerous arts festivals both domestic and international.

The marquee event UPI produces each year is Photoville, New York City's premier free photo destination. A modular venue built from re-purposed shipping containers, Photoville creates a physical platform for photographers of all stripes to come together and interact, and for audiences to experience their work.Each year Photoville exhibits hundreds of artists, with dozens of exhibitions, talks & workshops, and nighttime events in an outdoor beer garden.

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