July 21, 2008

Contact:
Liz Babiarz, 404-413-1356
University Relations

Tracie Shelton, 404-413-1542
Office of African American Student Services and Programs

“Disappearing Black Neighborhoods” photography exhibit at Georgia State

ATLANTA – Georgia State University’s Office of African American Student Services and Programs will feature in July a new photography exhibit by members of Sistagraphy, an Atlanta-based collective of African-American women photographers.

Titled, “Disappearing Black Neighborhoods,” the exhibit highlights the changing landscapes of communities in Atlanta, New Orleans, La., Jackson, Miss. and other areas – raising the question of whether gentrification is a good or bad influence and leaving it up to the viewer to come to a conclusion.

The exhibit will be on display through July 30 in the Student Center Gallery Lounge, 44 Courtland St., Suite 346.

“It is important to display these images because it allows these communities to engage in open dialogue about the new emergence and urban renewal that is taking place before their eyes,” said Catherine Alston, executive director of Sistagraphy. “It also allows for more depth and understanding of this change as it relates to these communities and its inhabitants.”

A reception will kick off the exhibit from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. July 10 in the Student Center Gallery Lounge.
The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.

Gallery viewing hours are 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

“It is paramount to the overall safe keeping of these neighborhood inhabitants to look deeply into the changes impacting them to ensure that successful life precursors like education, health care, and economic empowerment are not left to disappear with these neighborhoods,” said Doris Derby, director of Georgia State’s Office of African-American Student Services and Programs, who is also a photo journalist and Sistagraphy member. Derby's works are also currently on display at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and later this summer at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.

The Office of African American Student Services and Programs is part of Georgia State’s Division of Student Affairs. For more information, visit http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwowp/

Also additional information on Sistagraphy can be found online at http://www.sistagraphy.org/