Greetings fellow Freex and fans! My name is Andrew Ingall. I’ll be contributing intermittently to the blog during the development of the exhibition “Videofreex: The Art of Guerilla Television” which will be on view at the Samuel Dorsky Museum at SUNY New Paltz from February 7-July 21, 2015. I’m honored to serve as guest curator for the show. My first post coincides with the unveiling of the Dorsky’s exhibition page that features a photograph by John Dominis.

John Dominis, Videofreex (l. to r.) David Cort, Bart Friedman, and Parry Teasdale (holding Sarah Teasdale) introduce Lanesville, NY resident Scottie Benjamin to Sony Portapak technology at Maple Tree Farm, 1973, Courtesy Videofreex

Dominis, who passed away last year, was a prolific photojournalist whose work often intersected with the Freex. Like David Cort and Parry Teasdale, Dominis was present at the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival and his essay for LIFE Magazine focused on behind-the-scenes activity as opposed to the main event. Perhaps the most historically significant Freex video of Black Panther Fred Hampton shares the same subject matter as Dominis’ most iconic image: Gold medalist Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos raising black-gloved fists during the American national anthem at the 1968 Olympics as a means to highlight inequality in the U.S.

Dominis took a series of photos for a Freex profile at Maple Tree Farm in Lanesville, NY, some of which were published in the fall 1973 issue of Horizon: A Magazine of the Arts.  I chose this one as the signature exhibition image because I think it best illustrates Videofreex values: education, play, community engagement, and the possibility and wonder of technology.