PETER HUJAR

The poignant yet restrained shots by Peter Hujar immerse the audience in the New York of the 1970s and 1980s, portraying famous people of the metropolitan cultural scene with an intimacy and introspection that are distinctive traits of the photographer. The subjects, mostly captured while lying, seem to reflect on their own mortality which is further highlighted by juxtaposing them with images of the mummified bodies from the Catacombs of the Capuchins in Palermo taken by Hujar in 1963, during a trip to Sicily with the American artist and sculptor Paul Thek.