Best viewed in Original size.

I continue to spend two days a week taking photos of elders at Hannan House, the Senior Learning Center in Detroit. I've been working on this project since mid-June and an exhibition of my photos will be opening at the Ellen Kayrod Gallery here in Detroit on March 27, 2009. Although my self portrait project has gotten more attention thus far, the elders project is probably more significant in the long run.

That came home to me on Friday when I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art of Detroit (MOCAD) to see a newly-mounted exhibit called "BECOMING: Photographs from the Wedge Collection." The exhibition of 64 photos by 38 photographers was curated by Dr. Kenneth Montague, founding director of the Wedge Curatorial Projects based in Toronto. The catalogue describes BECOMING as "...a fresh exploration of the strength, beauty and complexity captured within representations of black life as it is both lived and imagined." This jewel of a show includes portraits by James VanDerZee, Aaron Siskind and Seydou Keita. There are also works by young gifted artists like Clement Cooper and Megan Morgan.

After having spent the afternoon taking portraits of Margaret Livingston and Velma Smith at Hannan House, seeing this exhibition was like a voice saying, "What you are doing is important." When I've gone through all my photos from this project, I plan to email Dr. Montague and ask him to look at the gallery I'll be posting here. Maybe my photos will fit into his vision. It would indeed be wonderful for these remarkable individuals I've been photographing to be seen and celebrated by people the world over. In my view, they are our National Treasures.