 |
| Zoe Strauss, Daddy Tattoo, Philadelphia, 2004. International Center of Photography, Purchase, with funds from the ICP Acquisitions Committee, 2013 |
OCTOBER 4–JANUARY 19, 2014
For a decade between 2001 and 2010, Philadelphia photographer Zoe
Strauss (b. 1970) showed her photographic works once a year in a public
space beneath an I-95 highway overpass in South Philadelphia. In these
annual one-day exhibitions, Strauss mounted her color photographs to the
concrete bridge supports and viewers could buy photocopies for five
dollars. Through portraits and documents of houses and signage, Strauss
looked unflinchingly at the economic struggles and hardscrabble lives of
residents in her own community and other parts of the United States.
She describes her work as "an epic narrative about the beauty and
struggle of everyday life." Strauss, a self-taught photographer and
political activist, sees her work as a type of social intervention, and
she has often used billboards and public meetings as venues. This
exhibition is a mid-career retrospective and the first critical
assessment of her decade-long project.
Zoe Strauss: 10 Years was organized by the Philadelphia Museum of
Art with support from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the
Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative. The ICP presentation is supported
by the ICP Exhibitions Committee and by public funds from the New York
City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City
Council. Support for public programs in association with Zoe Strauss: 10
Years is generously provided by Documentary Arts, Inc. and Art Happens.
