The Center Long Beach
2017 E. 4th Street, Long Beach (562) 434-4455
www.centerlb.org
Gallery Hours: 9-9pm Monday – Friday
Weekend Hours 10-6pm Saturday Only
PICTURES IN PROTEST
Photographs by Mark Kirchner
After the passage of Proposition 8 the gay and lesbian community staged protest events nation wide. The Southern Californian events ranged from large marches of ten thousand protesters in downtown Los Angeles to single individuals standing on street corners with a sign.
Photographer Mark Kirchner documented the most significant Southern California Prop 8 protests. The exhibit consists of 19 black and white photographs from seven different protests over a 5-month period. The images range for the “intimate street moments” to politically energized activists. Through out this body of work lies a narrative that is captured in the signs that the protesters created to reflect their personal viewpoint. This exhibition at the Center Long Beach is on display until June 20, 2009.
Artist Statement
PICTURES IN PROTEST
Making photographs places the photographer outside the frame lines of the camera.
This physical exclusion from the image mirrors the detachment required to be a recorder and witness to events. With the passage of Proposition 8 in November of 2008 I knew that I wanted to both protest and photograph. My sense of this historic moment and its potential for increased social knowledge and eventual change motivated me to create this body of work. The first protest I attended was a direct confrontation with citizens that voted yes on 8. I thought I would be mistaken for a journalist and to clarify my loyalties I attached a small rainbow flag to the bottom of my camera. Now I thought I could both protest and photograph at the same time without the cumbersomeness of cardboard signs. This act created a symbolic change in me; I shifted from the neutral observer to the “active witness/recorder”. I hope this collection of photographs will provide a window to reflect on the last 5 months of community and the fellowship that I found deeply moving. Now I and countless others await reflexively, with hope and determination, for the California Supreme Court’s decision.
Mark Kirchner
April 20, 2009
About the Artist
Mark Kirchner is a photographer that weaves images of artifacts, text, site and people to explore the rich meanings and insights of cultural processes, history and identity. Concurrently, his exhibition of Manzanar Pilgrimage, at Soka University until May 15, features seventy-five black and white photographs that spans one-quarter of a century since it’s beginning in November 1983. It is part of an ongoing body of work that attempts to document and to discover both historic and contemporary challenges, issues and directions faced by the Japanese American community.
Mark’s photographic craft was formed in 1979 by his studies with Ansel Adams and later as a group leader for Adams in his legendary Yosemite Workshop. In the early 1980s, Mark studied visual anthropology with John Collier Jr. at the San Francisco Art Institute. With that experience, Mark embraced Collier’s methodology as his primary instriment for observation, insight and visual communication. Today he continues photographing cultural and sociological interests and teaches photography at Soka University of America.
KEY TO THE PHOTOGRAPHS
This key corresponds to the placement of the photographs in the gallery space, (left to right)
DOUBLE TREE INN, YES ON 8 PRESS CONFERENCE
Church of Latter Day Saints Press Conference, Santa Ana, CA
November 14, 2008 (3 photographs)
JOIN THE IMPACT: NATIONAL PROTEST
Los Angeles City Hall, CA
November 15, 2008 (6 photographs)
JESUS CHRIST CHURCH OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS (SILENT PROTEST)
1140 Ximeno, Long Beach, CA
November 16, 2008 (3 photographs)
LIGHT UP THE NIGHT
Belmont Shores, CA
December 20, 2008 (1 photograph)
RICK WARREN / SADDLE BACK CHURCH
Lake Forest, CA
January 18, 2009 (2 photographs)
ROBIN TYLER AND DIANE OLSON RENEW THEIR VOWS
Beverly Hills Court House, Beverly Hills, CA
February 13, 2009 (2 photographs)
EVE OF JUSTICE
Fairview Community Church, Costa Mesa, CA,
March 4, 2009 (2 photographs)
2017 E. 4th Street, Long Beach (562) 434-4455
www.centerlb.org
Gallery Hours: 9-9pm Monday – Friday
Weekend Hours 10-6pm Saturday Only
PICTURES IN PROTEST
Photographs by Mark Kirchner
After the passage of Proposition 8 the gay and lesbian community staged protest events nation wide. The Southern Californian events ranged from large marches of ten thousand protesters in downtown Los Angeles to single individuals standing on street corners with a sign.
Photographer Mark Kirchner documented the most significant Southern California Prop 8 protests. The exhibit consists of 19 black and white photographs from seven different protests over a 5-month period. The images range for the “intimate street moments” to politically energized activists. Through out this body of work lies a narrative that is captured in the signs that the protesters created to reflect their personal viewpoint. This exhibition at the Center Long Beach is on display until June 20, 2009.
Artist Statement
PICTURES IN PROTEST
Making photographs places the photographer outside the frame lines of the camera.
This physical exclusion from the image mirrors the detachment required to be a recorder and witness to events. With the passage of Proposition 8 in November of 2008 I knew that I wanted to both protest and photograph. My sense of this historic moment and its potential for increased social knowledge and eventual change motivated me to create this body of work. The first protest I attended was a direct confrontation with citizens that voted yes on 8. I thought I would be mistaken for a journalist and to clarify my loyalties I attached a small rainbow flag to the bottom of my camera. Now I thought I could both protest and photograph at the same time without the cumbersomeness of cardboard signs. This act created a symbolic change in me; I shifted from the neutral observer to the “active witness/recorder”. I hope this collection of photographs will provide a window to reflect on the last 5 months of community and the fellowship that I found deeply moving. Now I and countless others await reflexively, with hope and determination, for the California Supreme Court’s decision.
Mark Kirchner
April 20, 2009
About the Artist
Mark Kirchner is a photographer that weaves images of artifacts, text, site and people to explore the rich meanings and insights of cultural processes, history and identity. Concurrently, his exhibition of Manzanar Pilgrimage, at Soka University until May 15, features seventy-five black and white photographs that spans one-quarter of a century since it’s beginning in November 1983. It is part of an ongoing body of work that attempts to document and to discover both historic and contemporary challenges, issues and directions faced by the Japanese American community.
Mark’s photographic craft was formed in 1979 by his studies with Ansel Adams and later as a group leader for Adams in his legendary Yosemite Workshop. In the early 1980s, Mark studied visual anthropology with John Collier Jr. at the San Francisco Art Institute. With that experience, Mark embraced Collier’s methodology as his primary instriment for observation, insight and visual communication. Today he continues photographing cultural and sociological interests and teaches photography at Soka University of America.
KEY TO THE PHOTOGRAPHS
This key corresponds to the placement of the photographs in the gallery space, (left to right)
DOUBLE TREE INN, YES ON 8 PRESS CONFERENCE
Church of Latter Day Saints Press Conference, Santa Ana, CA
November 14, 2008 (3 photographs)
JOIN THE IMPACT: NATIONAL PROTEST
Los Angeles City Hall, CA
November 15, 2008 (6 photographs)
JESUS CHRIST CHURCH OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS (SILENT PROTEST)
1140 Ximeno, Long Beach, CA
November 16, 2008 (3 photographs)
LIGHT UP THE NIGHT
Belmont Shores, CA
December 20, 2008 (1 photograph)
RICK WARREN / SADDLE BACK CHURCH
Lake Forest, CA
January 18, 2009 (2 photographs)
ROBIN TYLER AND DIANE OLSON RENEW THEIR VOWS
Beverly Hills Court House, Beverly Hills, CA
February 13, 2009 (2 photographs)
EVE OF JUSTICE
Fairview Community Church, Costa Mesa, CA,
March 4, 2009 (2 photographs)
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