Blue Plate Special at Dead Horse Bay

Artists: Aline Bouvy, Anima Correa, Andrew Ross, Larissa Lockshin, Nick Fusaro, Pamela Council, Stephanie Hier, Sydney Shen

Exhibition title: Blue Plate Special

Venue: Dead Horse Bay, New York, US

Date: October 1, 2016

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists

“Surely you know what a blue-plate is, man? They shove the whole meal at you under your nose, already dished up on your plate – roast turkey, cranberry sauce, sausages and carrots and French fries. I can’t bear French fries but there’s no pick and choose with a blue-plate.”

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“Blue Plate Special” is a term used in American diners and cafes, primarily in the first half of the 20th century, referring to a low-priced meal that changes daily. Popular belief has its origins in the Depression, during which a manufacturer started making plates with separate sections for each part of a meal—like a frozen dinner tray—it seems that for whatever reason they were only available in the color blue. A dictionary entry around the same time indicates that the blue plates were, more specifically, inexpensive divided plates that were decorated with a “blue willow” or similar blue pattern. “No substitutions” was a common policy on the Blue Plate Special.

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Dead Horse Bay is a small water body off Barren Island between the Gerritsen Inlet and Rockaway Inlet in Brooklyn, NY. The bay was given its name sometime in the 1850s, when horse-rendering plants still surrounded the beach. From the New York Times: “Dead Horse Bay sits at the western edge of a marshland once dotted by more than two dozen horse-rendering plants, fish oil factories and garbage incinerators. From the 1850s until the 1930s, the carcasses of dead horses and other animals from New York City streets were used to manufacture glue, fertilizer and other products at the site. A millstone used to grind horse bones can still be found along the Millstone trail. A large array of glass bottles and pieces of broken glass on the beach, along with old shoes and construction materials, many from the landfill, which is now leaking.