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Saturday, October 12, 2002

By Mary Thomas, Post-Gazette Art Critic

When Andrew Borowiec drove into the Ohio River valley in the summer of 1986, he saw a place "unlike any I had known."

An American who grew up in Europe and North Africa, Borowiec returned to the United States to study at Haverford College and Yale University, where he earned a graduate degree in photography. For him, "exotic" applied to this slice of middle America.

Fifteen years of photographing the frequently wan post-industrial landscapes along the Ohio -- which begins at the Point in Pittsburgh and flows west for 981 miles until it joins the Mississippi at Cairo, Ill. -- changed him from an outsider to a "river rat" (the residents' adopted term for themselves that suggests their resilience). He even has his own 55-gallon drum barbecue grill, something Borowiec identified early on as a symbol of that resiliency.

He's selected from this series 80 richly composed black and white images for a handsome book, "Along the Ohio." Twenty-five of these make up an exhibition of the same title at Silver Eye Center for Photography. While this is an abbreviated sampling, it's made up for by the scale of the photographs, which allow the viewer to search out each perfectly focused detail in images set in gray middle-tones that give every scene a cloudy-day solemnness that reinforces their lack of glamour.

While the buildings, factories and detritus of human occupation is apparent in each photograph, people are less evident, their stories told by surroundings that contain "signs of depression and decay but also endurance and hope," Borowiec notes. Avoiding dramatic scenery or architecture, he grounds the viewer in the ubiquitous ordinary and forces a consideration that reveals it to be solid, even heroic.

The book was published by the Virginia- and New Mexico-based Center for American Places in association with The Johns Hopkins University Press. The Center describes itself as "a non-profit organization that enhances the public's understanding of the natural and built environment, through books, research and education." It publishes 20 to 25 books per year. "Along the Ohio" ($35.26 paper, including tax) is part of the center's "Creating the North American Landscape" series.

Borowiec will be at Silver Eye for a book signing from 4 to 5:30 p.m. next Saturday. At 6 p.m. he'll lecture at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild to the regional conference of the Society for Photographic Education. The talk is free and open to the public, as will be the keynote lecture, "Photography and Reality" by Duane Michals, at 8 p.m. Friday at Manchester. Michals, a fine art photographer who lives in New York, is a McKeesport native. The Carnegie Museum of Art announced last year that it's acquiring his archive. Call 412-322-1773 for information.

The exhibition continues through Oct. 26 at 1015 E. Carson St. on the South Side. Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and until 9 p.m. Thursday. For information, call 412-431-1810.

'After the Smoke Clears'

Another photography book with a related theme, "After the Smoke Clears: Struggling to Get By in Rustbelt America" by Post-Gazette photographer Steve Mellon, has just been published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. A public release party and book signing will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. next Saturday at the Bulgarian Cultural Center, 449-451 W. Eighth Ave., West Homestead (412-461-6188). The 192-page book is described as "a human and personal trip to places many have forgotten, such as the Mon Valley steel towns of Homestead and Braddock," plus similar company towns in other states.

'Innocence Under Siege'

The plight of children living in war-torn countries will be addressed by an art exhibit and two speakers next week. "Innocence Under Siege," 50 artworks by Palestinian children, "illustrates children's experiences of living under Israeli occupation." Produced by Al-Phan, a Chicago-based nonprofit that promotes Palestinian arts, the exhibit has been traveling to universities such as Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania.

It will be at the University of Pittsburgh's Kimbo Art Gallery in the William Pitt Student Union Monday and Tuesday. At 6:30 p.m. Monday Neil Boothby will speak on "Children in Crisis," followed by a reception. Boothby is director of Save the Children's Children in Crisis office, former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Senior Coordinator for Refugee Children, and recipient of the Red Cross Humanitarian of the Year Award for his work with child soldiers.

On Wednesday and Thursday the exhibit will be at The Kingsley Center Selma Burke Gallery, East Liberty. Palestinian-American Saly Fayez, the Center for Victims of Violent Crime's Juvenile Court advocacy supervisor, will speak at 6:30 p.m., followed by a reception. All events are free and public.