First Friday Focus: Camden up close, prejudice in photography and "skate of the art" installation
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Skateboarding in a gallery, American masculinity on display and more.
Vice named Gabriel Angemi, a city firefighter, its favorite street photographer, but he’s no sensationalist in his work. Angemi’s images of burning buildings, vacant lots and overworked public servants in the exhibit “A Backward Glance Over Traveled Roads” provide an insider’s honest look at the city.
He’s joined by two other local photographers, Keith Yahrling and Jordan Baumgarten. Yahrling’s gritty shots explore Revolutionary War sites, American masculinity and our national values.
“I’m interested in historic places as the origins of our ideals of freedom and liberty,” says Yahrling.
Baumgarten’s photos are as unrelenting as those by his fellow artists. One image shows a man’s sore hands, but not his face; another captures a gun on a bed, but not its owner. They leave you wanting more — in the best of ways.
Through March 31, opening Fri., March 7, 6 p.m., 155 Cecil B. Moore Ave., second floor, gravy-studio.com.
When Joel Katz traveled to Mississippi in ’64 as a young man, he says plenty of journalists were already covering the “Freedom Summer” campaign to register black voters.
“What I did was go into black communities and talk to people in ways that reporters covering the civil rights movement did not,” he says.
Katz’s portraits of African-Americans in the exhibit “And I Said No Lord” are warm and intimate: elderly women resting on their porches, children prancing about in their homes, men playing pool.
There are also political and historical photos, like shots from a “Wallace for President” rally and a separate “colored” door entrance.
“There will always be prejudice,” Katz says. “It will just take new and inventive forms.”
Through March 15, closing reception Fri., March 7, 5:30 p.m., 1916 Race St., 215-965-4027, moore.edu/the-galleries-at-
A skateboarding crew known as the “Long Ass Grind Boys” is building a ramp in the middle of the gallery Space 1026. The installation will be surrounded and even covered by paintings, screen prints and other pieces of art.
“We solemnly swear to bring the choicest techniques, and as such will host a fully functional event of ‘skate-of-the-art’ proportions,” a press release for the show reads. “We are sure that nothing will get messed up in any way.”
Good luck with that!
Through March 28, opening Fri., March 7, 7 p.m., 1026 Arch St., second floor, 215-574-7630, space1026.com.
