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Exhibit of Smart Phone Photos Offers Unexpected Views of Life in Durham

gravy & yolk

Breakfast at Hope Valley Diner, one of the smart phone photos in the Phone Home Durham exhibit at the Power Plant Gallery. Photo by Katherine Scott

To the Kenan Institute's Katherine Scott, there's something about a breakfast of sausage gravy and yolk at the Hope Valley Diner that just says Durham. Her photo of the meal jumps out among the 55 images of life in Durham now on display at the Power Plant Gallery on the American Tobacco Campus.

"I love the texture and richness of the gravy and yolk," Scott said. "I'm also a big fan of Stephen Shore's photos of meals on the road; Food is both generically American and so specific to a place and a journey."

The Duke-affiliated gallery organized the exhibit, "Phone Home Durham," as a crowdsourced collection of mobile phone photographs of Durham County by residents and a few visitors.

The images capture places and moments across the county, from the front of the historic Catsburg store to a swarm of bees outside the Durham Arts Council. Taken by students, professional and non-professional photographers alike, the images "display how people see their community," said Caitlin Margaret Kelly, the public program director of the Power Plant Gallery.

“The idea of the exhibit is to have an archive to display how people who live here and pass through here see their community and their place of business,” Kelly said. “It’s a way they can hold on to it.”

Mike Palko photo of W. Chapel Hill St. Bridge

Mike Palko's photo of the W. Chapel Hill St. bridge.

More than 300 images were submitted. A panel of four local arts professionals, including Alexa Dilworth from the Center for Documentary Studies, as well as Jeremy M. Lange, Aaron Canipe and Jim Lee, all local photographers served as guest curators, for the ‘rotating wall,’ a selection of 11 photographs that changes every three weeks. The photographs selected for exhibition as prints will be added to the Archives of Documentary Arts at the Rubenstein Library at Duke. All the photographs submitted, however, are viewable in a slideshow accompanying the exhibition.

"I thought it was really interesting that the gallery only accepted images you took with your phone because not only does it make it a bit more challenging to shoot really good pictures, but it levels the playing field," said Isaac Hart, a rising senior at the Durham School of the Arts who submitted an image for the exhibit. "Anyone can submit a picture and not worry that theirs won't be as good as someone who used an expensive camera, because they're all taken with phones."

The exhibit, made possible with additional support from the Archive of Documentary Arts and Museo Fine Art Media, opened May 29 and will close Aug. 22. Kelly said she enjoyed being able to create an exhibit that could connect the gallery to the community.

“I love the opportunity to conceive the type of programing for the exhibits," Kelly said. “I love reaching out to Durham as a community and also reaching out to the Durham community that is at Duke.

The Power Plant Gallery is a initiative of the Center for Documentary Studies and the Master of Fine Arts in Experimental and Documentary Arts Program.

The exhibit is still accepting photograph submissions until Aug. 22  for possible inclusion in the ‘rotating wall.’ A larger digital cull of photographs may also be included in the Archive of Documentary Arts. Please see the gallery website for directions on how to submit: powerplantgallery.org/phone-homedurham. You may also contact Caitlin Margaret Kelly at cmk40@duke.edu or call 919-660-3622 for more information. 

The gallery is located at 320 Blackwell St, Durham, NC, 27701, and is open on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.  Tuesdays and Wednesdays are by appointment only. Call 919-660-3622 to request an appointment at least 24 hours in advance.  

Shakira Warren is a rising junior at NC Central University who is working as an intern this summer at Duke's Office of News and Commiunications.