ROCHESTER, NY.- Gail Albert Halaban: Out My Window is on view at the George Eastman Museum. The exhibition includes artist Gail Albert Halaban’s photographs from the earliest to the most recent phases of her project, which until now has been seen only as discrete bodies of work from New York and Paris. This show features images made in cities all over the world, including Buenos Aires, Istanbul, New York, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Utrecht, and Venice, and showcases what urban neighbors see when they look across the street.

Although modern technology has made the world seem smaller, the ease of communicating with distant or unfamiliar individuals may make it too easy to ignore those physically closest to us. Albert Halaban’s photographic project, Out My Window, counters this tendency by using photography as a means of social engagement. The project began in 2007, two years after she moved from Los Angeles to New York. In response to the loneliness and isolation she felt in spite of the dense urban population surrounding her, she conceived a photographic series that would require her to connect and collaborate with her neighbors. The process starts with Albert Halaban explaining her work to potential participants and asking for their involvement. If they agree, she facilitates communication between neighbors and arranges to photograph one from the window of the other.

“The windows are fragile borders between the familiar and the unknown, between the rushing noises of the city and the timeless quiet of private lives. Set within the context of rising city populations and a global construction boom, the photographs present a portrait of how strangers live amongst strangers and the challenges of creating communities, relationships, and areas of privacy,” said Albert Halaban.

By encouraging a fresh, creative look at people across the street, Out My Window reiterates the vital role of human connection at a time when we conduct an ever‑increasing part of our social lives online. After more than ten years working on this project, Albert Halaban has discovered that despite its best efforts, social media has not changed us. She adds, “I found that nothing substitutes for connecting to the person across the way. There is still nothing more interesting, more profound, more dazzling for more people than what goes on behind a windowpane.”

This exhibition will remain on view through January 1, 2019