Mostly Michigan: the Photography of D. James Galbraith
MOSTLY MICHIGAN presents 55 vintage black and white photographs by D. James Galbraith that capture the everyday lives of people in Michigan and Ireland. Galbraith (1930-2002) had an extensive career that began as a United States Air Force photographer and continued as a photojournalist for numerous newspapers in Lower Michigan. The photographs and oral histories of Jim and Susan Galbraith earned their published book, “Hartland: Change in the Heart of America”, a Pulitzer Prize nomination for documentary literature in 1985.
The majority of the photographs in the exhibition concentrate on Galbraith’s work from the Hartland Project, where the artist documented the daily lives of people in the small town of Hartland, Michigan during the 1970s and ’80s. Galbraith also traveled extensively, including trips through Ireland in 1970, 1978 and 1997, where he documented the lives of people across the country. The Ireland photographs were recently acquired by National Photographic Archives in Dublin, Ireland. Whether in Michigan or Ireland, Galbraith had a unique ability to capture the personalities and spirits by documenting the daily lives and landscapes where his subjects lived.
MOSTLY MICHIGAN is co-curated by Melissa Matuscak, Director of the DeVos Art Museum and Susan Scott Galbraith, wife of D. James Galbraith, archivist and co-author of the Hartland Project.
Hourly Schedule
Related Events
- Friday, April 9, 2pm
- Guest Lecture
- NMU assistant professor of photography Christine Flavin will give a talk on the history of social documentary photography. The lecture will provide a brief overview beginning with Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor of 1840 to Abu Ghraib of 2004, with a focus on how the portrayal of the under privileged has changed in the post colonial political arena with digital and cell phone camera technology.
Speakers:
Christine Flavin
