Collection: Eric T. Kunsman

Bio

Eric T. Kunsman is a photographer and book artist based out of Rochester, New York. Eric is a Lecturer for the Visual Communications Studies Department in the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and also teaches for the School of Photographic Arts & Sciences both of which are housed at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He was formerly an Assistant Professor at Mercer County Community College where he was also the coordinator of the photography program.
He has taught workshops and lectured on digital printing & digital workflow processes Internationally and continues to teach seminars on a regular basis. Eric holds his MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and holds an MS in Electronic Publishing/Graphic Arts Media, BS in Biomedical Photography, BFA in Fine Art photography all from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.
His photographs and books have been exhibited internationally and are in several prominent collections throughout the United States. He currently owns Booksmart Studio, which is a fine art digital printing studio specializing in numerous techniques and services for photographers and book artists.

Artists Statement

"The payphones in the Greater Rochester area were part of a felicific calculus in the regards to the decision made to leave the payphones and the locations in which they are located. Frontier Communications is not making money from these payphones and decided to maintain them for the greater good of one of the poorest cities, by the number of people under the poverty level, in the United States.
To many individuals, these payphones serve as a social marker or social indicator and to others, they serve as a marker of crime. The perception of one area is worse than another is often drawn to a conclusion by such social markers. Often these perceptions can lead to dangerous or ignorant decisions.
For instance, the politicians in Detroit, Michigan had all the payphones removed because they felt they were only being used for criminal reasons. These individuals in power decided to remove the payphones without conducting a study or surveying the individuals using the payphones. After all, everyone should have a mobile phone at this point so if someone is using the payphone it must be for criminal aspects. This notion of a politician with no real understanding, but making a decision that affects a different economic class by merely the perceived connotation.
This perception that I was witnessing first-hand is what drove me to start to educate myself on what was leading these individuals to their perceived notions of a place they never visited previously. I began to look at census maps and overlay them with maps of the payphone locations. What became apparent to me was the direct correlation between the poverty level and location of the payphones. Rochester, NY is one of the poorest cities in the United States and with that many average family incomes are lower than $20,000 a year in the areas with the highest concentration of payphones. In fact, the Democrat & Chronicle ran a story about the dyeing payphones in Rochester, NY and how they are a lifeline for many individuals in these communities. The 1,014 payphones in the Rochester area are being used on average once every four days.
Through my exhibition, I look to inform viewers of the payphone locations around the Greater Rochester, NY area. I visually correlate the payphones with census maps that indicate; economic status, ethnicity, age and sex, and the crime map. My goal is to help individuals to understand that their perceptions of particular social markers are only indicative of the lifeline’s individuals’ may need to survive. Unlike the needs of those individuals creating the opinion and using it as a basis for a lower-class environment."