December 5, 2004 – January 27, 2005
Opening Reception: Tuesday, December 7, 6-8pm
Artist Talk: December 7, 6:30-7:15pm

Seventh & 2nd Photo Gallery
Middle Collegiate Church
50 East 7th Street, New York, NY 10003
212/477-0666

Newark, was recently voted one of the country’s most livable cities, honored for its environmental efforts, and received an “All-American City” award. Banks are moving back, hospitals are expanding, there is a new performing arts center, a baseball stadium… Of course, the city officials are proud; they want to show off the “renaissance city.” The “renaissance” in Newark more accurately reflects the present good fortune of business & the downtown area. Once the workday is over, so goes the illusion of the “All-American”, “most livable” city… A renaissance, though, should be all encompassing, not merely a revitalization of the business district. Neighborhoods are neglected and education is poor. These are not the immediate concerns of business…My concern, thought, is with the community. I attempt to examine what is often glossed by the image-makers. Periodically, I don’t drive by or walk safely over the street; I walk through the streets with my camera and encounter the people. Romare Bearden once said he realized that there were more exotic and compelling things to be found on 125th Street in Harlem than in the far off locations sought by Picasso or Gauguin. You come to realize that beauty is in your backyard; it is there for you to perceive.