Hamilton, Ohio – The refrain sounds familiar.
The result looks magnificent.
The Fitton Center for Creative Arts officially opens its much-anticipated 2024 FotoFocus Biennial exhibition - We > Me: 17 Artists Explore Hamilton Neighborhoods – Saturday, October 19.
“We > Me” is the slogan of 17STRONG, Hamilton’s citizen-led neighborhood coalition.
The Fitton Center and 17STRONG partnered to select 17 area artists - one for each city neighborhood – and assigned every artist a Hamilton neighborhood by random draw. 17STRONG then provided neighborhood contacts to assist the artists in telling their visual stories.
The 17STRONG website said its purpose “is to provide a framework for communication and sense of identity to rally individuals, groups and other organizations to take pride in their particular corner of our city. In turn, we will create stronger, more identifiable areas throughout Hamilton that will make us better as a whole.”
Fitton Center Director of exhibitions Cathy Mayhugh said that ideal appears in the artwork.
“In an era of troubling division, this exhibition encourages connection,” she said. “Responding to the 2024 FotoFocus Biennial theme – backstories - each selected artist spent time in their assigned neighborhoods this spring and summer, photographing and recording glimpses of how and where we live, work and play.
“They did it in distinct and universal ways, domestically, socially and communally. Their work reflects both the individual personalities of each artist and each neighborhood, but also illustrates many common bonds shared across the city.”
To share the stories they captured, artists used film and digital processes, video, photo transfer, in-camera double exposure, wide-angle lens, drone footage and more. Even a 3-D installation.
“The creativity and talent on display in this artwork is genuinely stunning,” said Fitton Center Executive Director Ian MacKenzie-Thurley. “It’s wonderful to see how we see ourselves in these pieces.
“This exhibition is going to bring people together. It’s going to create conversations. It’s an amazing body of work documenting something very personal and very specific to Hamilton, but also something familiar across the board. Together, we can be something much more than what we are on our own.”
The gallery opening celebration runs 5 to 7:30 p.m. October 19, and includes a 6 p.m. artists’ talk with three of the photographers whose work appears in the exhibition – Leslie Getz, Scott Kissell and Kent Krugh.
Concurrent to the We > Me FotoFocus opening celebration, young artists across the Hamilton City School District – elementary ages through advanced-placement high school students – share artistic visions of their hometown in the Community Gallery.
After the gallery opening celebration, the Fitton Showstoppers series takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. with Back 2 Mac, a tribute to classic rock titans Fleetwood Mac. The gallery celebration is free and open to the public; tickets to Back 2 Mac are $39 for Fitton Center members ($48 for non-members) and are available online right here.
We > Me remains on view through January 3, 2025. Galleries are always free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays, 10a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays. Galleries also open select weekend hours when other shows and events occur in the building. Guests may arrange off-hours tours by request through Mayhugh at 513-863-8873 ext. 122.
Mayhugh offers a FREE curator tour of the exhibition from 1 to 2 p.m. Wednesday, November 6, following the Fitton Center’s Celebrating Self luncheon – Charley Harper Studios.
The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.
Building Community Excellence through the Arts and Culture
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