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Funded! This project successfully raised its funding goal on March 27, 2011.

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The Local uses photographs and interviews to reach across cultural boundaries and build relationships.

The Idea

1. What do you let go of in order to connect with the community around you? 2. What do you hold onto in order to feel like yourself?

No matter where you live, you are always making choices about how to connect with the culture that surrounds you, and how to maintain your personal identity inside that culture. For some people, those choices are easy and barely noticeable. For others, those choices can be enormously difficult. What I’ve found is that, easy or hard, everyone has something interesting and important to say about this process of cultural evolution. And listening to other people’s thoughts about this topic is a great way to understand what’s going on in your community a lot better.

The Goal

This project helps strengthen a community through art. In a diverse, fast-changing city, it is easy to become isolated in our own discrete social and professional circles. Personal and cultural isolation is especially challenging for the many immigrant and minority communities that live in Melbourne. The Local connects people who don’t normally connect. It asks us to think about the people who live around us, the challenges they face, and the unique contributions each of us makes to the life of our community.

What's amazing and fun about this project is that people love to be in it! I have really surprising, incredible interactions with the people I'm photographing--there is a lot of joy that goes into making each picture and having each conversation.

The Process

I go out and meet people in my community, talk to them about the two questions, and document these interactions through collaborative photographs and interviews.

The portraits I create using my large format camera are at the heart of The Local. There are cheaper ways to make pictures, but the view camera is the soul of the project in a lot of ways. It is a tool that excites people, and allows them to have a bit more control over how they appear. It invites collaboration between the subject and the photographer. The process of making pictures leads to the most beautiful part of this project: reflection, interaction, and connection.

The exhibition, both online and at the gallery, is the next step. It celebrates the individuals that worked with me to make this project possible, and provides a safe, common space for people from diverse communities to interact.

The Exhibition

I've photographed about 50 people at this point, and now I need some help actually putting up the show!

Kickstarter will help me cover the gallery rental fees, installation, ink, paper, negatives, and negative processing costs. It will also fund invitations to the show, and prints for each person who has participated in the project as a subject.

Thank you for your interest!

AND, click here to share your answers to the questions and be a part of the exhibition!

FAQ

Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.

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51
Backers
$7,618
pledged of $5,500 goal
0
seconds to go

Funding period
Feb 14, 2011 - Mar 27, 2011

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  • Pledge $1 or more

    2 backers

    A personal thank you from Eliza, with a link to a website where you can participate in the project by sharing your own experience with holding on, and letting go.

  • Pledge $10 or more

    12 backers

    The above and we put your name on the wall of the exhibition, so people know who made this project possible.

  • Pledge $30 or more

    3 backers

    The above and you get a surprise postcard from somebody who attends the exhibition!

  • Pledge $50 or more

    8 backers

    A DVD of the audio/video portion of the exhibition. This includes "audio portraits" made from the interviews, and combined with images to create audio/visual slideshows.

  • Pledge $100 or more

    8 backers

    All of the above and you receive a special edition 8x10 print of your choice from the show. (I'll be sending it from Australia, and the post is pricey here, so this includes international shipping costs and packaging, so you don't get a crumpled print.) These are archival inkjet prints on 100% cotton rag paper. Very pretty!

  • Pledge $250 or more

    1 backer

    All of the above and you are invited to have a personal tour of the exhibition with Eliza (by video, for far away friends).

  • Pledge $500 or more

    0 backers

    I think you want a big print. Ok, you can have a big print. A special edition print at 16x20 or 20x24, you tell me! (Plus all the rewards except the 8x10)

  • Pledge $750 or more

    0 backers Limited (5 of 5 left)

    You receive a view camera lesson with Eliza (next time I'm in your city, if I'm not already).

  • Pledge $1,000 or more

    0 backers Limited (5 of 5 left)

    A full set of small prints from the show will be given in your honor to one of the nonprofit organizations I collaborated with. Select: InfoXchange, Collingwood Housing Estates Arts Committee, Carringbush Adult Learning, or the City of Yarra.

  • Pledge $1,250 or more

    0 backers Limited (5 of 5 left)

    A full set of prints from the exhibition will be given in your honor to the institution of your choice.

  • Pledge $1,500 or more

    1 backer Limited (4 of 5 left)

    Throw a party in the exhibition space! You can choose any date between March 12-26, or April 9-30 in Melbourne, or May 5-15 in Sydney.

  • Pledge $2,000 or more

    0 backers Limited (5 of 5 left)

    Commission a photograph! I will do an interview and a portrait of the person or family of your choice, either in the States or in Australia. (To be delivered to you within the next year. Copies given to you and to the family, at the size of your choice.)