By
Angela Orlando
Arizona Summer Wildcat
CCP exhibit melds activism and imagination in the spirit of community
It's an age-old question - where can one draw the line between documentary and art? Can they be one and the same?
An upcoming exhibit at the CCP embraces these questions and others with a medley of images and oral histories captured by world-renowned photographers and interviewers.
Some of these artists have worked as a team, and others alone, to document grassroots movements happening right now in 12 diverse American communities, from Alaska to Florida. The exhibit is titled "Indivisible: Stories of American Community."
Viewed as separate entities, these grassroots movements are as different from one another as the citizens who participate in them. They definitely share, though, distinct commonalities - the spirit of cooperation and the repercussions from the decline of that spirit from contemporary Americans.
"Indivisible" offers examples of solutions for positive change.
For the last three years in urban San Francisco, youth have come together to help one another through a crisis telephone hotline. Once in danger of homelessness or worse, young adults can now receive training in social work and communication, along with full-time jobs to help keep them off the streets. Callers in crisis receive confidential peer counseling. George King conducted interviews, and Lauren Greenfield collected images, to make this story of community come to life.
Closer to home, in the four corners region of the Southwest, Navajo tribe leaders are receiving help re-introducing the Churro sheep to their lifestyles. To the tribe, the sheep represent economic independence through traditional arts - they help ensure the future cultural integrity of the Navajo nation. Lucy Capeheart photographed and Jack Loeffler documented the sheep project.
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Photo courtesy of CCP
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Philadelphia resident Davore Henderson plays guitar in his living room. Through community effort, his once unsafe neighborhood is being renovated This Reagan Louie photograph is part of the Center for Creative Photography's upcoming "Indivisible" exhibit.
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Photographer Sylvia Plachy and journalist Karen Michal joined forces to illustrate a grassroots project in Stony Brook, New York. This project emphasizes the role of midwifery in the community by training Long Island women to become birthing assistants to women of all cultural backgrounds, regardless of their ability to pay. The midwives also provide post-natal support, including cooking and childcare for the older siblings.
These are only three examples of the types of movements "Indivisible " compliers have documented for the traveling exhibit of more than 200 images, which range from stunning to shocking in scope.
As diverse as the grassroots projects, the photographic images in the exhibit stand alone as complete stories. A 22-year-old Latina kisses her boyfriend, who is confined to a wheelchair as a result of gang violence; a youngish New England man stands proudly before his homemade boat; a birds-eye perspective of Montana reveals the unbroken expanse of an undisturbed old-growth forest.
Beyond the photos, interactive exhibits include headphones so viewers can hear the community members' voices tell their stories. There are historic archives, and a computer station which enable "Indivisible" spectators to record their own personal stories of positive action. There is an "Indivisible" book, and an educators' guide for teachers who wish to integrate the exhibit's message into their curriculum.
An informative "Indivisible" Web site is also available at www.indivisible.org, which has been called "one of the most compelling works on the Web today" by "Roadside Online."
In partnership with the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, Curator of Exhibitions & Collections at the Center for Creative Photography Trudy Wilner Stack, co-directs the project.
The well-traveled exhibit began as a brainchild of The Pew Charitable Trusts, which also funded the 2.4 million-dollar exhibit.
"They (Pew) approached me with the idea. They originally wanted to capture 'civic engagement' through still photography," Wilner Stack said.
Wilner Stack was instrumental in selecting the photographers, interviewers and images for the multi-media exhibition.
"Each component's contact varies with the audience members who will see it," Wilner Stack said. "The images are shaped and sized to fit the component's goals. The postcards, for instance, allow people to encounter the art who didn't intend to see it. They go through the mail, they are at the airport."
The CCP is sponsoring two additional events to celebrate the "Indivisible" tour through Arizona.
A free Community Breakfast Open House on Saturday from 8 to 11 a.m. at the CCP will host representatives from more than 20 local grassroots organizations and a live broadcast from community radio station KXCI. The public can peruse the opening of both exhibits at that time.
On September 21 and 22, as the exhibit winds to a close, the "Indivisible" photographers will be at CCP for a weekend of discussions and an artists' reception.
