Cover Photograph: Christopher Porche-West
In 2014, Frank Relle, with assistance from Cate Sampson, curated an international exhibition of photographs representing the varied culture of Louisiana. The exhibition, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, featured 100 photographs by fine art and documentary photographers working in the state, as well as over 1,000 images curated from social media photographers capturing intimate views of daily life. Culture Share: New Orleans in Photographs was installed in May of 2014 at the prestigious Multi Media Art Museum – Moscow House of Photography in Moscow, Russia.
The goal of this exhibition was to bridge the gap in cultural understanding by “revealing our human similarities and engaging appreciation for our differences” with others through a visual language. The decision to curate both the formal art documents with the democratic views offered by social media images as a platform for cultural representation sparked interesting questions for us and viewers:
“New Orleans in Photographs reflects contemporary conversations in journalism and art, which question the value of refined craft and the informed professional lens. Given the authenticity of unpaid sources on social media, and the omnipresent, searchable nature of their intimate images, do we want or need the formal views of professionals to understand culture?”
Featured: Allison Roberts, Romain Beauxis, Ariel Dearie, Joseph Marino
Visitors to the museum’s opening included Russians of all ages, engaging with the different representations of culture depicted in the 1100+ photographs on the walls of the exhibition space.
We’re excited to feature work by some of the excellent artists who participated in Culture Share here on the blog in the future. If you’d like to learn more about this project and the artists involved, or to read some of the press coverage please check out the following links:
http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-05-16/russians-get-facebook-style-look-new-orleans-new-photo-exhibit
http://www.newsweek.com/photographer-frank-relle-brings-new-orleans-moscow-248619
neworleanslouisianaphotographydotcom 
Leave a comment