Zoe Strauss: 10 Years

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.

See And Read More »»