You are here: American University College of Arts & Sciences American University Museum 2015 Documenting America: Facing Change And The FSA

Documenting America: Facing Change and the FSA November 7 through December 13, 2015

crime scene Englewood Neighborhood Chicago 2006

Carlos Javier Ortiz Crime scene, Englewood neighborhood, Chicago 2006
Inkjet print, 16" x 20"
Courtesy of Facing Change: Documenting America
A boy stands near where a 14-year-old honor student was shot and killed. Children in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood are more likely to suffer injuries due to violence compared to any other Chicago neighborhood.

Katrina aftermath

Alan Chin, Katrina Aftermath, New Orleans, September 2005
Inkjet print, 16" x 20"
Courtesy of Facing Change: Documenting America
A mother and child await evacuation during the aftermath of Katrina.

newly homeless

Darcy Padilla Marlana, newly homeless, Market Street, San Francisco, February 2013
Inkjet print, 16" x 20"
Courtesy of Facing Change: Documenting America
Padilla asked her name, the woman answered, "I am worthless." Padilla talked with her until she explained that she had lost her home and revealed that her name is Marlana.

Exhibition Overview

As a partner of FotoWeek DC, the museum will present a group photography show in the Kreeger Lobby, directly outside of the museum front doors. Facing Change is a unique photography collective engaged in a long-term project to document America. The groups' ten members, working independently, are inspired by FSA photographers of the 1930s and '40s. A deeply held belief in the power of photography to inform and effect change brings the photographers from the two eras together.