 |
|
"A COMMUNITY REMEMBERS: MEMORIAL DAY IN ATLANTA, ILLINOIS"
The photographs will be exhibited at Teleologic Learning Company, 114 Arch Street, in downtown Atlanta, on Memorial Day from 9:00 a.m. through 2:00 p.m. The exhibition will continue until June 10, 2005. Prints will be available for sale. For more information please contact Ken Kashian at 309-829-9619 or email kkashian1@mac.com.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Four years ago, I came to Atlanta on an assignment to take some photographs of the J. H. Hawes Grain Elevator Museum. I work for the Illinois Farm Bureau as a photographer and as such I am responsible for providing our weekly newspaper, FarmWeek, with photographs. I met with two museum volunteers, Marjorie and Jim Coleman. We had a very nice visit and I took a lot of photographs. I really liked that the Atlanta had come together to preserve the elevator and made it available for the public.
Toward the end of our time together, Mrs. Coleman mentioned the display of flags that Atlanta presents during its Memorial Day and Fourth of July observances. Mrs. Coleman, it appears, is always thinking of ways to promote Atlanta. I bit on the idea of coming back to Atlanta to see what the communitys Memorial Day activities were all about.
During my time photographing that first year, I made a photograph that has become one of my favorites. It was taken on the west side of the library during the performance of a blue grass band, The Possum Holler Pickers. In addition to the band playing there are groups of people, each involved in personal and separate activities: taking a photograph of a friend, a man sharing food with his grandson, two women sharing a story. Each activity is a separate experience, yet they are connected to each other by a particular split second in time, captured by the camera.
I used a panoramic camera to photograph this image. Its lens is mounted on a rotating drum and takes an image that represents what one might see by standing still and just moving ones head slightly to the left and then to the right. When I am working with this camera, I look for situations where people have congregated together, sometimes focused on a particular activity or just happen to be present at a particular moment.
After that first year, I decided that I would come back to the next years Memorial Day Observance to photograph as many events as I could. I also decided that I would use only the panoramic camera. I wanted to see if I could make my photographs capture not only a particular event, but also the energy created by the people in and around the Memorial Day events.
It has been four years now that I have attended Atlantas Memorial Day observances and made photographs.
Although I have no particular objection to community festivals and celebrations that are designed, in part, to bring in visitors to sample foods, ride on carnival rides, or browse a flea market, I am impressed with Atlantas approach. Atlantas Memorial Day seems more like a community homecoming, where veterans, college students, sons, daughters, and grandchildren make it a point to return for at least one weekend to renew a bond with their families and community.
Ken Kashian, 2005
|
|
 |
