"This whole project is about the people of Detroit and the resiliency of people,” says MSU Professor Howard Bossen, curator of a multimedia presentation that'll be online later this year and comes to this city next spring.
The "Detroit Resurgent" display's first stop is the Michigan State University Museum, which commissioned the portraits by French photographer Gilles Perrin. They're accompanied by transcripts of interviews by his wife, Nicole Ewenczyk, about the subjects’ passions for Detroit and possible comeback solutions.
Participants include UAW President Bob King, poet Jessica Care Moore, northwest Detroit community organizer Pam Weinstein and Bates Academy teacher Yul Allen.
The goal is "to provide a powerful counter-narrative to the crumbling of the Motor City," according to a post by the university's media communications office.
“Nobody can deny there are lots of decayed buildings in Detroit but that’s not the story of what’s eventually going to turn Detroit around,” said Bossen, professor of photography and visual communication in the School of Journalism, who curated the exhibit. “It’s the people. This whole project is about the people of Detroit and the resiliency of people.”
Three dozen of the 62 black-and-white photos are shown at the East Lansing museum, which hosts an opening reception Wednesday afternoon with MSU President Lou Anna Simon. Interview excerpts can be read via two touch screens.
Nicole Ewenczyk and Gilles Perrin, creators of "Detroit Resurgent." (MSU photo/G.L. Kohuth)
"These are the people whose stories of vision, hope, frustration, joy, courage and renewal represent the greatness of Detroit past, present and future," an exhibit description says.
These people are the ones who breathe life into an often-maligned and frequently misunderstood city.
Factory workers, autoworkers to business executives, artists, entrepreneurs, developers, community activists, union organizers, community bankers, social-justice advocates, urban farmers, cultural and political leaders, doctors and community health workers, lawyers, journalists, poets, musicians, educators, religious leaders and steelworkers: these are the people of Detroit whose expansive humanity is poignantly captured through Gilles Perrin’s sensitive portraits and Nicole Ewenczyk’s insightful interviews. These are the people moving Detroit forward, remaking Detroit for the 21st century. These are the people of today’s Motor City.
After the campus museum show ends Jan. 12, the exhibit moves in April to the Detroit Athletic Club and then MSU's Detroit Center, 3408 Woodward. A book version will come out in spring from MSU Press.
-- Alan Stamm
