MICHAEL STEPHEN LEVY
The Black Church Project: “REVELATIONS” –
Curated by Douglas Max Utter
Exhibition Dates: November 7, 2008 - December 14, 2008
Opening Reception: Friday, November 7 from 6pm –10:30pmConvivium33 Gallery 1433 East 33rd Street
216.881.7838 or www.josaphatartshall.com [1] or Exhibit Gallery Hours: Monday-Thursday-by appointmentFriday, Saturday and Sunday -10:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m. “Through his lens, Mr. Levy captures the joy, sadness, soul and spirit of the black church and moves us with photographs of quiet reflection, exuberant praise and abiding fellowship. He enables all of us to see the strength of our elders and the power and promise of our young people-all gathered together in worship.”
-from the forewordREVELATIONS
-The Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones -U.S. Congress (OH-11)
Caught between professional responsibility and personal turmoil after his twenty-year marriage ended in divorce, award-winning photographer and photo-journalist Michael Levy found healing at an African American church service while on assignment for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Levy says, “I see now that although these images represent Christianity in the African community, they also are evidence of my own inner dialogue over the last five years. I was profoundly moved and fundamentally changed by this experience, artistically and spiritually. I’m deeply grateful for the doors that have opened for me.” Over the past twenty years, Levy’s photographs have reached Ohio audiences almost daily in the pages of the Plain Dealer. Currently an instructor at Kent State University, Levy’s achievements have earned numerous awards, including Ohio News Photographer of the Year 1991, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2005, Associated Press Ohio photographer of the Year 2004, 2005, Excellence in Journalism Award, The Cleveland Press Club 1992,1996,1997, 2001, as well as more than 70 awards and certificates recognizing excellence in photography from a variety of news industry associations, picture contests, and the state of Ohio. In addition to his prolific work as photo journalist, Levy has previously exhibited photographs documenting a wide range of contemporary urban issues and contemporary American experience in exhibits at the Maltz Museum for Jewish Heritage, the Beck Center for the Arts, Heights Arts Collaborative, Akron University, Lorain Community College, Cleveland State University and The Butler Institute of American Art.
The Black Church Project Exhibition takes the visitor on a journey into a welcoming yet very private community, revealing and sharing the strengths of a common faith. The hard-bound compilation REVELATIONS - PHOTOGRAPHS OF CLEVELAND’S AFRICAN AMERICAN CHURCHES published by Kent State University Press in cooperation with Cleveland State University’s Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs collects seventy-two of Michael Levy’s deeply moving photographs. Working both in crisp black and white and vibrant color, Levy documents the joy, sorrow, and spiritual resolve of members of Cleveland’s east side African American community worshipping in diverse locations and ways -- in houses and in churches, in sober reflection, jubilation, and song. Levy’s book is both an act of intense artistic concentration, and a gift of faith from the men and women, adults and children depicted, who tell their need and their strength to the camera and future generations.
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