The Google Street View pop-up gallery was a rewarding and moving experience for all involved. It was a collaborative effort and a concept which we helped develop from the ground up. From scouting locations to planning all event and infrastructure details, launch parties and staffing the gallery daily, we were integrally involved.

The artist was Jacqui Kenny and like many around the world, she suffers from agoraphobia. Venturing outside of her home became a challenge even for a trip to the store or to work. Street View was a way for her to explore remote parts of the world…she looked for side streets and corners of cities to travel through. She started taking screengrabs of images that spoke to her and began sharing them on Instagram. It has allowed her to travel the world and share it with the thousands of people who follow her feed.

The gallery, located in New York City, was her first solo showing. It featured a selection of her photography from areas such as Peru, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico and the US among others. Throughout the opening, several events were planned such as the Opening Night party for nearly 400 and a special World Mental Health Day event in partnership with Stories for Good. At that event, limited edition prints were sold to raise money for mental health charities. Main features at the gallery included a custom built lightbox to display her photography. This could be viewed from all sides as gallery visitors strolled around it exploring the world. Several prints were featured in VR for visitors to hear Jacqui talk about the location shot explaining why she chose it and to explore the area in a 360-degree scene.