Cheryl Dunn is an American documentary filmmaker and photographer. She has made two feature films, ''Everybody Street'' (2013) and ''Moments Like This Never Last'' (2020). She has had three books of photographs published: ''Bicycle Gangs of New York'' (2005), ''Some Kinda Vocation'' (2007) and ''Festivals are Good'' (2015).

Early life and education

Dunn was born in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. She graduated from

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

in New Jersey with a BFA in art history.

Career and work

After moving to New York City in the mid 1980s, Dunn spent a large part of her career documenting city streets and the people who leave their mark there: graffiti writers, artists, skaters, boxers, bikers, protesters, and assorted characters. In the late 1990s she began to focus on filmmaking, creating films about artists of her generation who have influenced urban life through their own work. Her films have played at film festivals including,

Tribeca Tribeca ( ), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Str ...

, Edinburgh,

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, Hotdocs, Los Angeles, Havana, and on PBS. Dunn's work has been exhibited at

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

in London,

Deitch Projects Jeffrey Deitch (pronounced ''DIE-tch'';Mike Boehm (January 12, 2010)''Los Angeles Times''. born July 9, 1952) is an American art dealer and curator. He is best known for his gallery Deitch Projects (1996–2010) and curating groundbreaking exhi ...

in New York City, and the ''Art in the Streets'' exhibition at the Geffen Contemporary MOCA. She was one of the subjects in the documentary, book, and traveling museum exhibition ''Beautiful Losers''. Her documentary film ''Everybody Street'' (2013) about photographers who have used New York City streets as a major subject in their work. The film includes Bruce Davidson,

Jill Freedman Jill Freedman (October 19, 1939 – October 9, 2019) was an American documentary photographer and street photographer. She was based in New York City. Early life and education Freedman was born in the Squirrel Hill (Pittsburgh), Squirrel Hill n ...

Joel Meyerowitz Joel Meyerowitz (born March 6, 1938) is an American street, portrait and landscape photographer. He began photographing in color in 1962 and was an early advocate of the use of color during a time when there was significant resistance to the ide ...

Bruce Gilden Bruce Gilden (born 1946) is an American street photographer. He is best known for his candid close-up photographs of people on the streets of New York City, using a flashgun. He has had various books of his work published, has received the Europea ...

Mary Ellen Mark Mary Ellen Mark (March 20, 1940 – May 25, 2015) was an American photographer known for her photojournalism, documentary photography, portraiture, and advertising photography. She photographed people who were "away from mainstream society and t ...

Jamel Shabazz Jamel Shabazz (born 1960) is an African American fashion, fine-art, documentary, and street style photographer. His work has been published in books, shown in exhibitions, and used in editorial magazine works. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. ...

Ricky Powell Ricky Powell (November 20, 1961February 1, 2021) was an American photographer who documented popular culture including hip hop, punk rock, graffiti, and pop art. His photographs have been featured in ''The New York Times'', the ''New York Post' ...

Martha Cooper Martha Cooper is an American photojournalist. She worked as a staff photographer for the ''New York Post'' during the 1970s. She is best known for documenting the New York City graffiti scene of the 1970s and 1980s. In 1984, Cooper and Henry Cha ...

Elliot Erwitt Elliott Erwitt (born Elio Romano Erwitz, July 26, 1928 – November 29, 2023) was a French-born American advertising and documentary photographer known for his black and white candid photos of ironic and absurd situations within everyday settin ...

, Rebecca Lepkoff,

Boogie Boogie is a repetition (music), repetitive, swung note, swung note or shuffle rhythm,Burrows, Terry (1995). ''Play Country Guitar'', p.42. Dorling Kindersley Limited, London. . groove (music), "groove" or pattern used in blues which was origina ...

Clayton Patterson Clayton Patterson (born October 9, 1948) is a Canadian-born artist, photographer, videographer and folk historian. Since moving to New York City in 1979, his work has focused almost exclusively on documenting the art, life and times of the Lowe ...

Jeff Mermelstein Jeff Mermelstein (born 1957) is an American photojournalist and street photographer, known for his work in New York City. Life and work Mermelstein lives in Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, New York. Using the camera on an iPhone, he made a series ...

with

Max Kozloff Maxwell Kozloff (June 21, 1933 – April 6, 2025) was an American art historian, art critic of modern art, and photographer. He was art editor at ''The Nation'', and executive editor of ''Artforum''. His essay ''American Painting During the Cold ...

and

Lucy Sante Lucy Sante (pronounced ''Sahnt''; formerly Luc Sante; born May 25, 1954) is a Belgian-born American writer, critic, and artist. She is a frequent contributor to '' The New York Review of Books''. Her books include ''Low Life: Lures and Snares of ...

. ''Everybody Street'' world-premiered at

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and Jun ...

in Toronto in spring 2013. It was since shown at Seaport Museum of New York, NY, 2010;

Format International Photography Festival Format International Photography Festival (stylised as FORMAT) is a biennial photography festival held in Derby, UK that. It was established in 2004 and takes place in March in various venues in Derby including Quad, University of Derby, Derby Mus ...

, Derby, UK, 2011;

London, July 2011; HotDocs,

Canadian International Documentary Film Festival Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

, 2013; T-Mobile New Horizons Film Festival, Wroclaw, Poland, 2013;

Raindance Film Festival Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates in major cities including London, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin, and Brussels. The festival was established in 1992 by Elliot Grove ...

, London, 2013; FOAM Unseen Festival, Amsterdam, 2013; Atlanta Celebrates Photography, Atlanta, 2013; Independent Photography Festival, Melbourne, 2013; Raindance International Film Festival, Berlin, 2013;

Nitehawk Cinema Nitehawk Cinema is a dine-in independent movie theater in Brooklyn, New York City. It operates two locations, in the neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Park Slope. The theater, which offers a menu of food and drinks that can be ordered and co ...

, New York, 2013; Cinefamily, Los Angeles, 2013; Miami Street Photography Festival, Miami, 2013; Miami Beach Cinematheque, Miami, 2013; ARTEFIERA at Cineteca Bologna, Bologna, Italy, 2014; Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP), Los Angeles, 2014; ICA, London, 2014; Gene Siskel Theater, Chicago, 2014; FilmBar, Phoenix, 2014; Rialto Theater, Amsterdam, 2014; Hollywood Theatre Portland, 2014; The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, UK, 2014; Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, Toronto, 2014; Salem Film Festival, Salem, 2014; Kentucky Museum of Art & Culture, Louisville, 2014; EPOS International Art Film Festival, Tel Aviv, 2014; Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, 2014. Her second documentary film, ''Moments Like This Never Last'' (2020) about

Dash Snow Dashiell A. Snow (July 27, 1981 – July 13, 2009) was an American artist based in New York City.Roberta Smith"Dash Snow, New York Artist, Dies at 27" ''The New York Times'', July 14, 2009. Snow's photographs included scenes of sex, drugs, viole ...

, a graffiti writer and downtown artist. The film includes

Jeffrey Deitch Jeffrey Deitch (pronounced ''DIE-tch'';Mike Boehm (January 12, 2010)''Los Angeles Times''. born July 9, 1952) is an American art dealer and curator. He is best known for his gallery Deitch Projects (1996–2010) and curating groundbreaking exhib ...

Leo Fitzpatrick Leonardo Aurellio Randy Fitzpatrick (born August 10, 1978) is an American actor and co-director of the Marlborough Chelsea gallery. He is best known as Telly in '' Kids'' (1995) and Johnny Weeks in ''The Wire'' (2002–2004). Career He was ...

, Blair Hanson,

Ryan McGinley Ryan McGinley (born October 17, 1977) is an American photographer and lives in New York City. He began taking photographs in 1998. In 2003, at the age of 25, he was one of the youngest artists to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American ...

, David Rimanelli, Neville Wakefield. ''Moments Like This Never Last'' world-premiered at DOC NYC, 2020 it was released in theaters August 20, 2021 and released for online streaming September 3, 2021.

Filmography

*''Pro Abortion'' by Susan Cianciolo (shot and directed segment). Shown at

Rotterdam International Film Festival International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...

2-1997; Edinburgh Film Festival 9-1996. * ''Sped''. Shown at Moving Pictures. Dagkrant – 26th International Film Festival Rotterdam 1997; Raygun screening Los Angeles, CA Feb 18, 1997; Edinburgh International Film Fest Scotland 8-1999, 8–2001. * ''Adventure Divas'',

Havana Film Festival The Havana Film Festival is a Cuban festival that focuses on the promotion of Latin American filmmakers. It is also known in Spanish as ''Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana,'' and in English as International Festiv ...

12-1999 * ''Backworlds for Words''. Shown at

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), established in 1947, is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all titles are World, international, European or UK Premieres), in al ...

, Scotland 8-1999; Dance on Screen Film Fest, London 11-1999; Cut and Paste Film Festival. Iowa City, IA, 2000. * ''Peace Consideration Community''. Shown at Mirror ball Endinberg International Film Fest & Pre-feature presentations throughout the UK 1999; Warchild Benefit for the Yugoslavian refugee Program, 1999. *''Come Mute'' (10 min.) for the film ''Beautiful Losers''. Shown at Res Screenings. Los Angeles, CA. 2005; Athens International Dance Film Festival 2004;

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episodi ...

2004. * ''Bicycle Gangs of NY'' (2005). Shown at

Garden State Film Festival The Garden State Film Festival is a film festival in the United States held in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Asbury Park and Cranford, New Jersey, Cranford, New Jersey, which debuts more than 200 independent films annually over four days each spring. ...

, cell phones and train stations throughout the Republic of China, and Taiwan. March 2006; Tribeca Film Festival New York, NY. 2005; Darklight Film Festival, Dublin, Ireland. 2005;

, London, England. 2005;

Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films The Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films (a.k.a. Palm Springs International ShortFest) held annually in Palm Springs, California is the largest film festival for short films in the United States. The Palm Springs International Festi ...

, Palm Springs, CA. 2005;

Bicycle Film Festival The Bicycle Film Festival (BFF) is an independent film festival that screens films related to urban cycling culture, in cities around the world. It was founded in 2001 and is based in New York. History In 2001 Brendt Barbur was hit by a bus whi ...

, San Francisco, CA, 2005. * ''Creative Life Store'',

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is a multi-disciplinary Contemporary art, contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that cel ...

, San Francisco, CA; included in package for the book, ''Some Kind of Vocation'' (2007) * ''Everybody Street'' (2013) *''Moments Like This Never Last'' (2020) – about

Exhibitions

* ''Spit and Peanut Shells, American Pictures'', Country Club, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2009 * ''Uncanny'', Galleria Patricia Armocida, Milan, Italy, 2011 * ''Tagged,'' Phillips'','' Manhattan, NY, 2022 * ''Ways of Being,'' Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, 2022 * ''Beyond Trend,'' Oakland museum, Oakland, CA, 2022 * ''Visual Language the art of protest Subliminal projects,'' Los Angeles, CA, 2023

Publications

* ''Bicycle Gangs of New York''. New York, NY:

Distributed Art Publishers D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. is an American company that distributes and publishes books on art, photography, design, and visual culture.

, 2005. * ''Some Kinda Vocation''. Brooklyn, NY:

Picturebox PictureBox was an art, music, photography, and comics publishing company based in Brooklyn, New York directed by Dan Nadel. PictureBox published its own books and packages books and concepts for museums and galleries. The company began in 2002 ...

, Iconoclast, 2007. * ''Uncanny'', split book with Alessandro Zuek Simonetti, SM, Milan, Italy, 2011. * ''Festivals are Good''. New York, NY: Damiani, 2015.

Early life and education

Career and work

Filmography

Exhibitions

Publications

References

External links