Zine
Steven Cuffie: Karen 1979
$ 20.00
Published by New York Life Gallery, 2024.
Edition of 300
28 pages
© The Estate of Steven Cuffie
Shot over the course of a year in Baltimore, the previously unpublished 26 black and white portraits that make up the zine capture Karen in a variety of states: in bed, on the street, dressing up, undressing. What unites these images is Steven Cuffie’s intimate and playful depiction of Karen and the glimpses of her personality. Laid out in spreads that imply narrativity and seriality, the sequence of images suggests a character sketch of a subject whose biographical information is otherwise unknown. This zine is edited by the photographer’s youngest, Marcus Cuffie, who notes that the nature of Steven and Karen's relationship, romantic or artistic, is ambiguous, and invites the viewer to imagine the gaps in the archive of their father’s work.
Steven Cuffie (1949, North Carolina – 2014, Baltimore, MD) began taking photos as a teenager, and after studying photography for three years at the University of Maryland, he dropped out to pursue a career in the field. Cuffie connected with a small group of Baltimore-based photographers, exhibiting around the city and working on commission. His personal practice was rooted in portraiture, documenting children he encountered on the street and more intimate images of women at home or in the studio. The nature of Cuffie’s relationship with these women, romantic or artistic, is often ambiguous, and invites the viewer to imagine the biographical gaps in his archive. For the majority of his life, he was a photographer for the City of Baltimore, taking pictures of public events, crime scenes, infrastructure damages – everything mundane and extraordinary required for public record. By the time Cuffie became a father in 1982, his practice had shifted away from portraits of women, though he continued taking pictures, processing film, and making prints throughout his life. In 2022, New York Life Gallery held a solo show of Cuffie's work, his first exhibition since the 1980s and outside of Baltimore.