CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–October 21, 2014. When five U.S. State Department-sponsored photographers from Jordan visited Chicago in October, one of the places they stopped was Roosevelt University’s Gage Gallery.
Members of the Jordanian delegation toured the gallery’s new “Faith, Focus, Flight: A John H. White Retrospective” exhibition, which closes Dec. 20.
They learned about the gallery’s 15-year history and its practice of presenting cutting-edge documentary photography that is sometimes controversial, but which always has a mission of promoting social change through images.
“They spent a lot of time viewing the exhibit and we had a very good discussion about the changing state of photojournalism in our country,” said Michael Ensdorf, director of the Gage Gallery.
The award-winning photography of John H. White – a member of the Chicago Sun Times photo staff that was entirely eliminated in favor of having reporters take photos with cell phones – was selected for Gage’s fall show in part to counter the perception that photojournalists aren’t necessary to document our life and times.
“Through this show, we can see that photography is a discipline and a practice that is vital to our understanding of our lives, times and the pressing issues which we face as a nation and as a people,” said Ensdorf. “It was fascinating to me to talk to photographers who are new to this landscape and our culture – and to see them absorbing all of it through a new lens,” he added.
Free and open to the public, “Faith, Focus, Flight: A John H. White Retrospective” can be viewed at Roosevelt’s Gage Gallery, 18 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on the show, visit www.roosevelt.edu/gagegallery or call 312-341-3648.
Traveling through the United States as part of the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program, the photographers from Jordan have been taking pictures for a show called “America Through Jordanian Eyes,” which is expected to one day travel on exhibit in their homeland.
Source: roosevelt.edu
