(February 3, 2009 – New York, NY) The Stanton Chapter is proud to present the first solo show by emerging photographer Sean Vegezzi. Vegezzi is an 18 year-old New York City native whose powerful subterranean lens work documents Gotham’s rarely seen underbelly. Pursuing solo missions into unexplored, remote, and abandoned city architecture or tagging along in subway tunnels with myriad of graffiti writers, Vegezzi fearlessly captures privacy, isolation, and quiet in the face of relentless city life. Before I Die documents the timeless dream world in which Vegezzi finds youthful escape.

The artist’s work is a product of the trauma he suffered from the September 11th Attacks. Then aged 12, Vegezzi lived in subsidized Tribeca housing, just four blocks from Ground Zero. The destruction that unfolded before his eyes and the media hysteria that followed pushed him to find something positive in the face of unprecedented negativity. First exploring his immediate neighborhood, then braving ground zero with a video camera—escorted by several sympathetic construction workers—Vegezzi decided he could free himself by documenting the world as he sees it through his lens.

It is appropriate that Sean’s first show will also be the Stanton Chapter’s last. Sean started coming to the Canal Chapter when we first opened in 2005, a precocious kid with a chip on his shoulder. Four years later, after helping us pull off hundreds of exhibitions and projects, talks and performances, Sean is still around working harder than ever, and he’s grown into more than just a talented photographer, he’s someone we look up to.