The photographs of Ruth Putter & Mima Cataldo

photo by Ruth Putter

Opening Reception – Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 7pm

This exhibit by two of Central New York’s leading feminist photographers, Ruth Putter and Mima Cataldo, is an inspiration to present social activists, reminding us that it is critical to understand that the freedoms we enjoy in the USA were not given but rather won by constant struggle, resistance and organizing.

photo by Mima Cataldo

The exhibit covers 35 years of resistance in CNY, including photographs from their time with the women at the Seneca Women’s Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice in 1982 and new work by both artists.

photo by Ruth Putter

photo by Mima Cataldo

Marjory Wilkins, Early Black & White photographs

copyright Marjory Wilkins

Opening Reception – Saturday, May 1, 2010 at 6pm

Curated by Nancy Keefe Rhodes this is an exhibit of 35 restored and finished prints of both the now extinct 15th Ward and others of historical relevance to both the African American community and the Syracuse community at large. Marjory Wilkins has been an important figure in our community for over six decades, inspiring many through her camera’s view of the world. Her work is described by the exhibit curator in this way, “As documentary photographs they record history, whether recent or remote, that is‘minority’ history – that is, history often, outside of its own community, either ignored or contested by stereotypes.” Her photography has become an invaluable resource to remember a place now destroyed, and a community with a charm and importance almost unknown to those outside of it.

Special Exhibit Events

7pm – Tuesday, May 11 & Th3 Thursday, May 20

“Photo Restoration, History and Art”

A presentation by exhibit curator Nancy Keefe Rhodes

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Opening Reception – Saturday, March 6, 2010 at 7pm

Each year in America over 3 million children are abused, nearly 2,000 die, some run away, others are abandoned, all have their own challenges with this sojourn through adolescence. Each day in America 6 children die from abuse, 100,000 children are homeless, 8 children die from guns, 219 children die before their first birthday, 1,534 babies are born to teenage girls.

In the paintings by Diane Menzies and installations by Mary Giehl, there are hints of darkness and confinement along with a mixture and balance of playfulness and seriousness. The work challenges the viewer to take a deeper look at what these images of childhood are telling us.

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Eric Etheridge’s Photographs of the Freedom Riders

Opening Reception – Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 7pm

In the spring and summer of 1961, several hundred Americans-blacks and whites, men and women-converged on Jackson, Mississippi, to challenge state segregation laws. The Freedom Riders, as they came to be known, were determined to open up the South to civil rights: it was illegal for bus and train stations to discriminate, but most did and were not interested in change. Over 300 people were arrested and convicted of the charge “breach of the peace.”

Artist and author Eric Etheridge’s exhibit, Breach of Peace, collects the mug shots of those arrested, which were only recently made public, and juxtaposes them with present-day photographs of the Riders and their recollections about the experience. The group, half black and half white (a quarter were women), was remarkably young; in their faces we see strength, courage, defiance, dignity, and, occasionally, fear.

When the Jackson jails quickly filled to capacity, Freedom Riders were sent to the maximum-security state penitentiary, where those who refused bail could languish for weeks and months. Many, looking back, speak of the brutal conditions at the prison, but quite a few now view their incarceration as a formative period of growth and learning, with Communists and pastors debating political strategy and with black and white activists, in segregated cells, communicating (and infuriating the guards) by singing freedom songs to each other across the divide.

This exhibit serves as a testament and a moving archive of a chapter in U.S. history that hasn’t yet closed.

1961 Mugshot of then 19 year old LeRoy Wright

MAKING HISTORY:

Join us to meet artist & author Eric Etheridge and Syracuse resident and Freedom Rider, Rev. LeRoy Wright as they make history come alive at this very special event at ArtRage.