Lone Star College-Montgomery’s art department will host photographer Marti Corn’s exhibit “The Ground on Which I Stand,” a photo essay and oral history of the Freedmen’s Town of Tamina, Texas, on display Monday, January 12, through Friday, February 13, in the college’s Mary Matteson-Parrish Art Gallery. |
photographer Marti Corn’s exhibit “The Ground on Which I Stand,” a photo essay and oral history of the Freedmen’s Town of Tamina, Texas, on display Monday, January 12, through Friday, February 13, in the college’s Mary Matteson-Parrish Art Gallery, located in the Performing Arts Center (Building D).
The entire community is invited to the closing reception on Thursday, February 12, at 12 p.m., in the same location. The reception is free and refreshments will be served.
Corn’s exhibit, representing different aspects–young and old, black cowboys, ministers, and descendants– of the community of Tamina, an Emancipation Community in Montgomery County, contains stories of deep-rooted kinships, along with family and community values, regardless of the challenges.
“I am so excited for Tamina to finally receive the historical recognition it deserves,” Corn said. “This settlement is historically significant because of its African American roots, and because it has survived Jim Crow legislation, the depression, the civil rights movement, and gentrification.”
Corn expressed in her artist statement on her website that, compelled by the risk of losing one of many unique Texas heritages, she felt it necessary to document, in portraiture, the lives of twelve people, their families, their community, and their stories, in the hopes of creating an exhibit that honors the history and the grace of this Freedmen’s Town.
Believing that all humanity is interconnected, the foundation of Corns photography is to capture the tangible connection made universally in recognition of fear, hope, curiosity, confusion and wonder. Her vision is that these images will trigger an emotional recognition that will remind us there is a thread that binds us all.
Corn, a documentary portrait photographer, works locally and internationally, making corporate as well as life portraits and documentary projects that revolve around human rights issues and oral histories. Her works have taken her to Kibera, Kenya, and Honduras. She has created portraits for Amnesty International and Pangea Network, as well as photographed those who support the arts in Salzwedel, East Germany, for the opening of Kunsthaus, an art house.
Corn received her bachelor’s degree in journalism and English, specializing in photojournalism and graphic design, from West Virginia University in 1984, and went on to study with such renowned photographers as Steve McCurry, Eli Reed, Mary Ellen Mark, Ben DeSoto, and Doug Beasley. In 2013, she spent a month in the acclaimed Hilmsen residency program in Germany, awarded by artist Hans Molzberger. Her works have recently been inducted into the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts-Houston, as well as Tamina’s complete works being published by Texas A&M Press, releasing in the spring of 2016.
The Mary Matteson-Parrish Art Gallery is a teaching gallery at LSC-Montgomery, and the presentations and artwork provided are free to the community. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
For more information about the art gallery at LSC-Montgomery, contact Fong Chau at (936) 273-7021, or mailto:Fong.T.Chau@LoneStar.edu?Subject=PhotoFest%20Exhibit; or visit LoneStar.edu/montgomery-artgallery.
LSC-Montgomery is located at 3200 College Park Drive, one-half mile west of Interstate 45, between Conroe and The Woodlands. For more information about the college, call 936.273.7000, or visit www.LoneStar.edu/montgomery.
Lone Star College System has been opening doors to a better community for more than 40 years. Founded in 1973, LSCS remains steadfast in its commitment to student success and credential completion. Today, with 78,000 students in credit classes, and a total enrollment of more than 90,000, Lone Star College System is the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area and one of the fastest-growing community college systems in the nation. Dr. Steve Head is the chancellor of LSCS, which consists of six colleges including LSC-CyFair, LSC-Kingwood, LSC-Montgomery, LSC-North Harris, LSC-Tomball and LSC-University Park, seven centers, LSC-University Center at Montgomery, LSC-University Center at University Park, Lone Star Corporate College, and LSC-Online. To learn more visit LoneStar.edu.