Just Do It

The Pennsylvania Project

by Dominic Mercier

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Published: Apr 9, 2008

Opening reception Sat., April 12, 6-9 p.m., exhibit runs through June 15, Yo Darkroom, 113 N. 23rd St., 215-789-9032, yodarkroom.com

(CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION) More Pictures Below

We all know, with this presidential race looming and Pennsylvania's primary finally looking to play a key part, that the Keystone State is a big ol' rural sandwich with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh playing the role of seeded rye. In between the post-industrial cities lies a state full of wonder and oddity, like Centralia with its underground coal fire and whopping population of nine.

While working as photographers at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Linda Johnson and Hinda Schuman hatched "The Pennsylvania Project" over darkroom chemicals, to explore — and capture — the strange, frightening and beautiful in all of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. The project, they say, is an attempt to investigate how photographers see the same things differently. Since August 2000, fueled by their astonishment at the wide range of cultures found across the state, Johnson and Schuman have used vacation time and holidays to travel through Pennsylvania. So far, the two have tallied 30 counties.

Opening this Saturday at Yo Darkroom, a selection of 16 diptychs from the project — one image from each photographer — feature pairings such as rolling Washington County countryside teamed up with a county resident hunkered down against a plywood wall, cigarette in hand. Other images show carnies from county fairs and terrifying neo-Nazi rallies. The one thing all of the photos have in common is that they show a state with both a foot in the past and a rapidly evolving future.

Let's just hope that our next president can get our gas prices down so Johnson and Schuman can keep traveling.

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