15-05-2025
Cincinnati's daredevil photographer who spawned nationwide manhunt opens gallery in NYC
The photographer who faced a year-long court battle in Cincinnati after taking pictures from some of the highest skyscrapers in the city is showing his work in New York this month.
Colerain Township native and Army veteran Isaac Wright, known online as "Drift," has an exhibition at the Robert Mann Gallery opening May 15.
Shortly after leaving the military, Wright began making a name for himself by scaling some of the highest structures in the country to create his vertigo-inducing imagery.
But after he made photos from the top of Great American Tower at Queen City Square without permission, he became the subject of a nationwide manhunt.
It was a sheriff's department in Arizona that arrested him. Deputies swarmed on his car with rifles drawn, helicopter hovering above. But it's not even clear if they knew why he was wanted.
Back in Cincinnati, prosecutors said "stealth and deception" were Wright's trademarks as they attempted to hold him in jail on a $400,000 bond.
Nearly a year after his arrest, Wright was sentenced to treatment in lieu of conviction. But during that time, Wright went from an artist with a decent Instagram following to one of the top-selling photographers in the world.
He took some of the profits from those sales and donated $500,000 to The Bail Project to be used in Hamilton County to post bonds for non-violent offenders who cannot afford it.
During another trip home, he was invited by the CEO of Fifth Third Bank to live stream his artistic process from the top of their building on Fountain Square.
His new show, "Coming Home," opens May 15 at the Robert Mann Gallery in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. The show includes the first-ever public display of his photograph taken from the spire of the Empire State Building, along with images from around the country and the world.
"For me, climbing isn't about adrenaline, it's clarity," Wright said. "Above the noise, you feel invisible and infinite. I've been hunted, locked up, written off, but my art gave me a way forward. This show is my first time putting that journey on a wall."
The Robert Mann Gallery has expanded its space to accommodate the show. According to a press release, this exhibition is "more than a gallery debut, it's the culmination of a life reclaimed, a city reimagined, and a lens fixed firmly on the impossible."
The show's opening reception is May 15 from 6-8 p.m. "Coming Home" will be on display in Chelsea until June 30.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Daredevil photographer who spawned nationwide manhunt opens NY gallery
