Under I95. 2008

Zoe Strauss Under I-95
Philadelphia Museum of Art
January through March 2012

Zoe Strauss Under I-95 is a mid-career retrospective of the acclaimed
photographer¹s work and the first critical assessment of her 10-year project
to exhibit photographs annually in a space beneath a section of
Interstate-95 in South Philadelphia. Strauss¹s subjects are broad but her
primary focus is on working-class America. Many of her pictures depict
down-and-out people and landscapes, offering a poignant, troubling portrait
of contemporary American life, frequently featuring people and places from
the surrounding neighborhoods, similar districts in other American cities,
as well as suburban and rural places in between.
Untrained as a photographer or artist, Strauss founded the Philadelphia
Public Art Project in 1995 with the objective of exhibiting art in
nontraditional venues. She turned to the camera in 2000 as the most direct
instrument to represent her chosen subjects. In 2006, Strauss participated
in the Whitney Biennial and in 2008 she published her first book, America.
In 2012 she's going to bring it with a full throttle solo exhibition at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Mark your calendars and set your sights high.


Curator: Peter Barberie, The Brodsky Curator of Photographs, Alfred
Stieglitz Center