Column: Macon200 Bicentennial Art Show opens tonight with free reception at Macon Mall
Macon200’s year-long celebration of the county’s bicentennial has hit its halfway mark with a new exhibit opening today at the Macon Mall with a no-charge reception from 5-8 p.m.
Called “Untold Stories,” this second installment of rotating works in the Bicentennial Art Show highlights four area photographers. Also at the reception, free keepsake family photos will be offered by Jessica Whitley of Jessica Whitley Photography as a reflection of what families are like in this bicentennial year and as a throwback to times when malls regularly included vintage portrait studios.
“The mall exhibits have been such a success not only in showing the fine work of local artists but also in revealing our history and bringing people back to Macon Mall,” said Joshua W. Murfree, Jr., bicentennial administrator.
As a piece of the city’s history itself, Murfree said the mall also points to the future and great things to come with the 12,000-seat amphitheater being built there.
As far as the new exhibit’s theme, “Untold Stories,” he said photographers and the works selected show the untold stories of those in their pictures but also reveal something of the untold stories of the photographers themselves.
Kirk West is a case in point.
Known internationally for his photographs of world-famous musicians from blues to rock to country, many of which are displayed at Gallery West, his photos in the exhibit unveil the lives of patrons of a bar in Chicago, his early hometown.
“They were shot in 1981 and it was a very intriguing project for me,” West said. “A friend of mine was a bartender at Paradise Liquors, essentially a wino-bar, and I got to shoot from behind the bar, mainly in black and white.”
The photos capture bar scenes but also reveal an often unseen aspect of West’s artistry in expressing creative pathos and the emotions of ordinary people.
West said he was honored to be part of the show alongside Macon photographers Matt Odom, Dsto Moore and Christopher Smith.
“I was really jazzed to be asked,” he said. “My wife Kristen and I have been here since ’93 and had our gallery for eight years. We’re proud to be in Macon and be downtown where there’s been such a revival going on. We’re home here and don’t plan to leave. As for the show, Chris does such good work and Matt and Dsto are such extremely accomplished portrait photographers I’m happy to be among them. In fact, Matt and Dsto have shot portraits of me and one of them of me and my dog, Lulu, is about my favorite portrait of me ever.”
Odom’s work is frequently seen in Macon Magazine but he’s most often sought out to do work much further afield for the likes of National Geographic, Forbes, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Georgia Trends and others.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be in the Macon200 bicentennial show and I’m excited about it,” he said. “This is where I grew up. Some of my work in the show is of people who’ve had various challenges and hardships but it’s also celebrating life – it goes across the spectrum. I’ve shown work at The Tubman Museum and at The 567 Center’s gallery before and some of what’s in the show has been published but a lot hasn’t. It’s good to get to show pieces never seen before. I hope people enjoy it. And it’s definitely great being shown among some of Macon’s brightest and best.”
Moore’s work has also been displayed before in Macon but the bicentennial event allows more access to his street portraits, celebration of neighborhoods and Macon’s unique characters.
In addition to the rotating work of the gallery artists, the work of celebrated fabric artist Winnie McQueen remains on display in her own gallery throughout the year at the mall as well as her mammoth “Canopy” piece which hangs from the mall’s second-floor skylights to the first floor in front of the bicentennial gallery.
Also, it’s worth mentioning the Juneteenth Freedom Festival & Parade with its many happenings to take in. The parade is a sanctioned Macon200 event along with other festival organizers such as Macon Black Culture, Inc., Kwanzaa Cultural Access Center, Inc., Barbers on Duty, Inc., and Torchlight Academy, Inc.
The parade is on June 19 and begins at 11 a.m. at The Tubman. It runs from there along Cherry, First and Poplar streets to Rosa Hill Square. Other events include concerts, a spelling bee, historic tours and more.
For more on the festival, check out www.juneteenthmacon.com and more on the bicentennial art exhibit and other Macon200 events see www.macon200.com.
Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.
