“Our Move: Black & White Photographs of Ukraine (1988)" at the Metropolitcan Community Church of the Quad Cities -- through 30. (photos by Jay Strickland)
Through Saturday, April 30
Metropolitan Community Church of the Quad Cities, 2930 West Locust Street, Davenport IA
Photographs from more than 30 years ago can be viewed, through April 30, with modern relevance and poignancy at Davenport's Metropolitan Community Church of the Quad Cities, with photographer Jay Strickland showcasing images from overseas in his exhibition Our Move: Black & White Photographs of Ukraine (1988).
In 1988, the Quad Cities' fine-arts photographer Strickland went to Ukraine on a Peace Walk for Nuclear Disarmament. At that time, Ukraine was still part of the USSR, as this was before the Iron Curtain came down. The International Peace Walk was an effort by citizens in the United States and in the USSR to work together for peace. According to Strickland, "Never being what one would call a writer, my journal of the event took the form of black-and-white photographs. It was nice to be there for a cause that I believe in, rather than being there as a ‘tourist’.”
As the group walked through Ukraine, there were rallies in the towns along the way. Rather than photograph the speakers and dignitaries, Strickland concentrated on the Ukrainian people in the towns. As a classic "street" photographer, Strickland does not take posed pictures of people. Instead, he captures authentic moments and gives the audience a viewpoint into real life in the places which he photographs. According to renowned Quad City artist and St. Ambrose University Art Professor Emeritus Leslie Bell: “Photography for social change has long been Jay Strickland’s artistic program of choice. His photography grows out of the humanist aesthetic of America’s WPA, France’s Magnum, and street photography in general. The complexity of life in motion poses difficult challenges for the concerned photographer and Jay is a master of this genre. His images of a Ukraine of the fading past remind us of how precious individual lives are as so many of them are threatened. Jay’s images makes clear how worthy the people of Ukraine are of freedom.”
It was in Ukraine that Strickland learned of Sadako Sasaki and the folding of paper cranes, which in Japan is a symbol of long life and happiness. After Sasaki’s death, the folding of 1,000 paper cranes became a symbol for nuclear disarmament - and for peace in general. Strickland has led many crane folding events over the years in the Quad Cities and guesses that he has folded more than 3,000 cranes for peace.
The Our Move: Black and White Photographs of Ukraine (1988) exhibit will be on display at the Metropolitan Community Church of the Quad Cities through 30, and is viewable on Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon and Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, call (563)324-8281 and visit the exhibition's Facebook page.
