Parallel exhibitions of Chris Killip and Peter Hujar photographs reveal shared themes of vulnerability and mortality

In January and February 2016, two photography exhibitions in New York City explored similar human experiences. At Yossi Milo Gallery, Chris Killip's "In Flagrante Two" captured the lives of working-class individuals in Northeast England from 1973 to 1985, reflecting their reactions to economic hardship. Meanwhile, Peter Hujar's "Lost Downtown" at Paul Kasmin Gallery illustrated the lives of New York's artistic community prior to the AIDS crisis. Both exhibitions featured subjects wearing tattered combat boots from 1976. Killip's work included "Youth on a Wall, Jarrow, Tyneside" and "Bever's First Day Out, Skinningrove, North Yorkshire (1982)," while Hujar showcased "Christopher Street Pier #2 (Crossed Legs)" and "Candy Darling on her Deathbed (1973)." Critic Vince Aletti remarked that Hujar "defined Downtown," highlighting the sense of vulnerability present in both displays.