Juxtapoz Magazine – Let Them Eat Cake: Cheryl Dunn in Conversation with Shepard Fairey

There is deep significance in Cheryl Dunn calling her solo show, LET THEM EAT CAKE, from both the era that she is now shooting and the area for which many of her best photos have come from.  The original story is that during a famine around the time of the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette may have uttered that famous phrase, “let them eat cake,” in response to the protesting, starving peasants for which she was their royal. That disregard and lack of empathy has been perfectly articulated in Cheryl Dunn’s work, where from her studio near Wall Street in Manhattan, or just even on the streets of NYC, has captured the essence of protest, punk and outsider movements in the face of extreme wealth. While the kings and queens of our time are consolidating more and more power, Dunn has embedded herself into the counter-movements, the scenes of authenticity that continue to have a cultural stronghold on the ways we think and practice creativity.