New photo exhibition open through Nov. 7

“This is What Time Does: A Year of Walking Richmond Road,” an exhibition mounted by Staten Island photographer and sculptor Debby Davis, will be shown in the Wagner Gallery from Oct. 9 through Nov. 7.

An opening reception will be held at the gallery on Sunday, Oct. 12 from 2 to 5 p.m.

The Wagner Gallery is located off the atrium in the Wagner Union building on the campus of Wagner College, Howard Avenue at Campus Road, on Grymes Hill, Staten Island. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“This is What Time Does” consists of about 25 large, mounted triptychs and photo composites accompanied by interpretive captions. Davis took the photos over the course of a single year along the five miles of Richmond Road. They depict the changes that occurred during that year along one of the most historically significant roads on Staten Island.

“I have seen enormous change,” Davis said. “House, buildings and businesses that seemed essential to the identity of Richmond Road disappeared overnight, only to be replaced by strip malls and luxury homes.

“Where the historic Rose and Crown Tavern stood during the American Revolution, the Rose and Crown Condominiums were built.

“Down the road is Ocean 3, a nightclub established in the Victorian structure that once housed Max Geldner’s New Dorp Hotel.

“The Seaver homestead, built in the 1830s, was still standing just two years ago. Today, however, the site is being excavated for a cluster of large homes called Black Horse Court.”

Davis said that, when she began shooting for this exhibition, her intention was to visually record the layered, evolving cultural history of Staten Island as evidenced along Richmond Road.

“In the year I have worked on this series, I have become more tolerant of change,” Davis said. “Change is just a by-product of time.”

Debby Davis is a photographer and sculptor whose work was shown extensively in New York City in the 1980s and early 1990s. Her work is part of the collections of S.I. Newhouse and Charles Saatchi.

With her husband, Randy Ludacer, Davis is a partner in Beach Packaging Design on Staten Island.