Bushwick Community Darkroom To Reopen After Lawsuit Stalled Plans
BROOKLYN, NY — The Bushwick Community Darkroom, a beloved member-based affordable photography lab in Brooklyn, will finally reopen its doors at the end of this month.
The Bushwick Community Darkroom started in a warehouse in 2011 as an affordable space for film photographers to create and promote their work.
The new space at 334 Himrod Street in Bushwick will include a darkroom with several stations for developing, scanning and printing film. The lab will also include a studio space for gallery shows, which will double as a photoshoot room with seamless backdrops.
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To its dozens of members, the news of the reopening is a relief.
But, to owner Lucia Rollow, the new location represents the end of a painful saga that included several false starts and even one lawsuit.
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“I thought when I moved out of the last lab in 2022 that I had a spot on Melrose Street that I was going to just move straight into,” Rollow said. “But then, at the last minute, the landlord pulled the plug, and so it was like back to square one.”
Rollow signed the paperwork for the new space on Himrod Street this March. But, by May, the contractor she’d hired to build out the space bailed on her after taking several thousands of dollars, she said.
Rollow said her contractor took around $13,000 up front but didn’t complete the work agreed on in the contract.
Now, Rollow said she is suing for $10,000 since the contractor had done some preliminary work and bought some materials before ditching the film lab.
“She just stopped showing up, and then she just stopped returning my texts,” Rollow said.
While the lawsuit makes its way through civil court, Rollow is putting the finishing touches on the space.
The new studio now has a mailbox in the front window where people can drop film to be developed and printed for an affordable price.
Once the studio is open, Rollow said she will lead ongoing workshops on developing film and using film cameras.
“The primary thing for me is giving photographers access to affordable resources,” Rollow said. “I also interpret resources very broadly, as like, not just enlargers and developing stuff, but as well as opportunities for exhibition and community gatherings as well.”
She hopes that the new darkroom will become an accessible third space for people to connect and make art without breaking the bank.
“We always did bring your own photo shows in the old space, and I think I’m going to do one of those hopefully at the end of September in conjunction with our official grand opening,” Rollow said.
“Now we’re in here, and things are actually coming together, which is just mind-blowing.”
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