“dearly Loved friends:” Photographs by Sheyla Baykal, 1965-1997

Sheyla Baykal, Angel Jack, 1973, Gelatin silver print, 10 × 8 inches. Copyright Estate of Sheyla Baykal.

April 3 - May 10, 2025, 636 Broadway, Room 320, NYC

dearly Loved friends is the first exhibition at Soft Network with the Estate of Sheyla Baykal (1944-1997) and the first exhibition of the artist’s work since her passing. While well-known within her lifetime among a tight-knit coterie of East Village artists, her work was rarely exhibited. This exhibition, composed from a mixture of prints, slide shows, and archival material, serves as an introduction to her life and photographic practice over the course of four decades. Taking its title from an expansive folder of obituaries for deceased friends that Baykal kept throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the exhibition emphasizes her community-based approach to photographic portraiture across four distinct periods. As the first of two exhibitions connected to the Estate of Sheyla Baykal as Soft Network’s 2025-2027 Archive in Residence, the exhibition also provides space for considering the distinct challenges of photography archives.

Subjects pictured include: The Angels of Light, Jose Arango, Penny Arcade, Ted Berrigan, John Eric Broaddus, Scott Burton, Rudy Burkhardt, Joe Brainard, Peter Cramer, Quentin Crisp, Jackie Curtis, Candy Darling, Alexis del Lago, Bill DeKooning, Joaquin de la Habana, Tomata du Plenty, Allen Frame, John Giorno, Basil King, Thomas Lanigan Schmidt, Steve Lawrence, Frank Lima, Frank O’Hara, Ondine, Fayette Hauser, John Edward Heys, Hibiscus, The Harris Family, Ray Johnson, Alex and Ada Katz, Agosto Machado, Taylor Mead, Cookie Mueller, Mario Montez, John Perrault, Bill Rafford, Bill Rice, Jack Smith, Paul Thek, Jack Tree, John Vaccaro, Jack Waters, Jeff Weiss, and David Wojnarowicz.  

Curated by Marcelo Gabriel Yáñez and Penny Arcade