Mark Barnette - Cyanotypes, 2023
Exhibit — Mark Barnette: Wrong about everything. Images of Portsmouth’s North End on the brink of destruction, August 1-31
Wrong about everything: Images of Portsmouth’s North End on the brink of destruction
Exhibit: August 1st – August 31st
Artist presentation and reception: Saturday August 12 at 2 PM
This work addresses the impact of urban renewal on a cohesive and diverse working-class neighborhood in Portsmouth, NH and the damage to the cultural fabric of the colonial-era U.S. city in which it was once located.
Using assessors’ photographs made between 1966 and 1971 and archived in the Portsmouth Public Library’s North End collection, these images depict some of the approximately 200 houses and businesses demolished in the city’s Vaughan Street Urban Renewal Project.
The artist reproduced the images using the 19th century camera-less process of cyanotype. He then digitally manipulated the images and enlarged them. This multi-step process mirrors the temporal, social, and cultural changes in the city created by urban renewal and in the city’s understanding of itself since the neighborhood was bulldozed half a century ago. The work depicts many of the artist's recollections of the North End as a child growing up in downtown Portsmouth, and his deepening understanding of the neighborhood as the work progressed.
Urban Renewal was a post-World War II effort by local and national governments to revitalize American cities with the intent of improving economic conditions and updating older infrastructure. For many cities, including Portsmouth, this meant razing buildings and demolishing areas considered to be in decay. Participating cities received federal funds for constructing more modern residential and commercial buildings. Urban Renewal changed the face of many American cities. This exhibit acknowledges the destruction of Portsmouth's North End neighborhood, and honors the losses and trauma felt by hundreds of displaced residents.
About the Artist
Photographer Mark Barnette was born in 1956 and raised in Portsmouth, NH. He photographs natural and human-made landscapes and strives to make pictures that are self-contained, and beautiful without sentimentality. He is largely self-taught and his arts education self-directed. He has made pictures since childhood and with commitment since 2008. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout New England, in St. Louis, Kansas, and on many curated online sites. He lives in Portland, ME. Learn more about the artist at mark-barnette.com or on Instagram at
instagram.com/markbarnette1
These cyanotypes by Mark Barnette were created from images found in the Portsmouth Public Library’s Online North End House History Archive and were used with permission.
This exhibit corresponds with the 400th Little Italy Carnival in honor of the Italian Heritage found in Portsmouth. For more information: https://www.portsmouthnh400.org/upcoming-programs/little-italy-carnival
