Have Essay Will Travel by Dorothy Ho, PDNewswire August 1, 2001 The Half King bar in New York City is the latest venue for photojournalists – and we're not talking drinking here. a21group is behind the latest string of photojournalism exhibitions at the bar and restaurant at 505 West 23 Street in Manhattan. The San Francisco-based group's mission is to "preserve, support and guarantee the continuation of the craft and fine art of photography." "There's a need in New York to show contemporary photojournalistic work," says Cara Sutherland, the director of exhibitions at a21group in New York. davidKATZENSTEIN Sutherland was the founding curator of New York's Newseum before it closed this year. She wanted to find a new spot to feature great photojournalism and continue the work of the Newseum. "It's something the public is interested in and they love hearing the stories behind the pictures." When it opened last fall, the Half King had regular readings, since writer Sebastian Junger, one of the owners, had opened it to promote the work of journalists. Sutherland approached him early this year and asked him to showcase photography on its brick walls. Since March, there have been three exhibitions featuring photographers Reza, Mike Tauber and Joel Rubin. David Katzenstein will be showing his Egypt images from August 6. The exhibitions will go on as long as projects are available, says Sutherland. So far, photographers call her with ideas and photo editors often give her good essays that they have seen but are not running in their own magazines. As the Half King is a public venue, "strong content or really hard core, violent" images cannot be shown, but Sutherland is open to almost any issue. She says: "We're looking for the most part, new work. We're open to just about anything but are giving priority to photojournalists, because they have fewer and fewer venues to show their work." Contact Sutherland at csutherland@a21group.com or check out www.a21group.com This article originally appeared in the PDNewswire. © 2001 ASM Communications.