Linking Collections, Building Connections

Lindsey Clark-Ryan’s interdisciplinary projects are born of what she calls “a deadpan approach to the sensibilities of scientific expeditions and archival research.” Her Binnewater Gang consists of a series of staged photographs chronicling the exploits of a fictional troupe of outlaws who brought the gun-slinging, carousing Wild West to the unlikely setting of Rosendale, NY, where Clark-Ryan was in residence at the Women’s Studio Workshop. Clark-Ryan’s historical account of the Binnewater Gang purports to be an educational pamphlet from the convincingly named Binnewater Historical Society – itself a fictional construct.

The 28 stylized photographs of the gang members and their brothel companions are performative collaborations with Sandra Brown and Crystal Hammerschmidt. The entire series can be seen here.