June 1 — Try to Remember … from different perspectives at the Library
If you head to the Indiana Repertory Theatre to see “The Fantasticks,” you’ll hear the unforgettable song “Try to Remember.” Go to the Central Library for two very different examinations of what it means to create, retrieve and re-create memories.
When: Bill Foley’s Photography Exhibit, “Street Work,” Sunday, Jun. 1, 2008 - Thursday, Jul. 31, 2008
- “Memory” Sunday, Jun. 1, 2008 - Sunday, Sep. 7, 2008
Where: Central Library One Library Square 40 E. St. Clair St. Indianapolis, IN 46204
Two very different exhibits opening June 1 at the Central Library show how we live with the past. “Memory,” a richly interactive traveling exhibition created by the Exploratorium in San Francisco, explores the cognitive, biological, and cultural bases of memory. It has been a big hit with kids and grown-ups everywhere it has gone. “Street Work,” an exhibition of photos from Indiana and around the world by Pulitzer Prize winner Bill Foley, reveals how our memories are created and constantly recreated. Foley has been just about everywhere in the Middle East no one else wanted to be. When The New York Times wants to capture the frenzy of 1979 Tehran or show the aftermath of the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut, they use Foley’s photos. Foley’s iconic images have themselves become part of our collective memory of trauma and tragedy.
In some ways, Bill’s photos don’t just jog our memories about the terrible events he records … they are our memories. I don’t just remember this picture … I remember first seeing this picture, I remember who I was with when I saw it, I remember the contradictory emotions it evoked. Perhaps the “Memory” exhibition will help make sense of how this works.
Know before you go … Visit Bill Foley’s website to see exmaples of his remarkable work. And definitely check out the website for the “Memory” exhibition, a lot of cool stuff that should make you want to head to the Library as soon as it arrives. I especially like the article about Philip Dick, the greatest explorer of the dark shores of memory.
If this event sounds interesting … for another display of the power of photography, go to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Robert Frank’s influential book, The Americans. In June Bill Foley is making another trip to the Middle East, this time with a group of Hoosiers who will be working with Iraqi refugees and building a “House of Abraham” (constructed by Jews, Muslims, and Christians). The International Interfaith Initiative will be posting his photographs during the course of the trip.
