Courtesy of Decorative Arts Center of Ohio
John Vachon, Gas station and gospel mission, Cleveland, Ohio, August 1937
Starting May 21, a parallel photo universe will be open to the public at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio (DACO) in Lancaster. DACO will be showcasing Chronicles: The Great Depression and the Pandemic. The photographic exhibit features works from 10 Depression-era photographers and five present-day Ohio photographers who document the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Depression-era photographers were government funded and worked in the Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) Farm Security Administration (FSA) program, which was meant to document the effects of the crisis on rural America. The five current day photographers document the current crisis’s impacts on all different types of people. The exhibition intertwines the two worlds through the photographs.
Courtesy of Decorative Arts Center of Ohio
Dorothea Lange, Wife of a migratory laborer with three children. Near Childress, Texas. Nettie Featherstone, June 1938.
Dr. Christine Fowler Shearer, president and CEO of Fowler Artistic, and Arnold Tunstall, Director of University Galleries at the University of Akron, are co-organizing the Chronicles. Fowler Shearer says the exhibition’s early images tell the story of the Great Depression by capturing the resilient spirit of Americans.
“The photographers that were part of the FSA arm of the WPA were tasked specifically with telling a story. In this case, how the WPA was helping Americans,” Fowler Shearer says. “They also went beyond that to take thousands of images of the people of the time, what they were doing, how they were surviving, where they were living.”
Tunstall says the contemporary Ohio photographers’ images show the influence of their predecessors in a range of individual styles.
“Some took a traditional approach to documenting the pandemic, while others had a more poetic and personal response,” Tunstall says. “All of them, I feel, have that rare capacity to use their photography to give insight to what is happening in this country, our region or in their own lives during this time of tremendous change.”
Courtesy of Decorative Arts Center of Ohio
Emily, Nurse, Emergency Department by Autumn Bland
The exhibition includes work from Ester Bubley, Jack Delano, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Carl Mydans, Gordon Parks, John Vachon, Ben Shahn, Autumn Bland, Donald Black Jr., Angelo Meredino, Jane Alden Stevens and Shane Wynn.
There are several events associated with the exhibition that the public is welcome to attend. The events include The Curators’ Talk, In Search of America: WPA Arts & The New Deal Culture, Round Table Discussion with The Pump House Guys, Artist Talk with Photographer Shane Wynn, The Art of the Catalogue, Smartphone Photography and How to Light Up Your Instagram.
The exhibition and all associated events will take place at DACO or its Wendel Center for Art Education. More information can be found at www.decartsohio.org.
Read more about Pickerington in the latest issue of Pickerington Magazine.
Kate Anderson is an editorial assistant. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
