Australian photographer Brad Walls presented PASSE, his first United States solo exhibition, at 347 Broome Street from September 12 through September 14, 2025. Installed inside an immersive red environment, the free exhibition gathered large-scale aerial photographs that recast ballet's familiar lines, gestures, and group discipline from a directly overhead perspective.
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YouTube: Brad Walls Presents PASSE
Instagram: Inside the PASSE Exhibition
Photo Gallery: Brad Walls: PASSE
What to Know
The Project Took Six Months
Walls photographed 65 dancers using a camera suspended from a 60-foot crane. The scale demanded choreography, spatial marking, weather planning, and close coordination between photographer and performers before each overhead composition could be made.
Ballet Companies Shaped the Series
The project included collaborations with dancers connected to New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, the Joffrey Ballet, and Ballet East. Classical training supplied the precise body lines that Walls reorganized for the aerial frame.
The Big One Used Fifty Dancers
The exhibition's defining image arranged 50 performers in three concentric rings. From ground level, the dancers occupied a broad production site; from above, they became a controlled circular system built from repeated human forms.
The Red Space Rejected the White Cube
Walls and his team covered the temporary Broome Street venue in deep red, creating a continuous atmosphere for the monochrome and color photographs. The installation made the viewing environment part of the exhibition's visual argument.
Visitors Could Take Part of the Project Home
The exhibition distributed 150 handwritten postcards each day, extending the short-run show through small personal objects. Walls's official PASSE portfolio preserves the series beyond the New York presentation.