Sat 4/27-Sun 10/27
Austin-based Joe Vitone is originally from Akron. Each summer for the past two decades, he’s come home to photograph family members. He’s shot parents, children, sibling, spouses, cousins and others in his extended family, documenting their changing situations and relationships over the years.
Joe Vitone: Family Records, opening at the Akron Art Museum features 55 of these photos, in both color and black & white, taken with large format view cameras. The photos were first exhibited in a group show at Art League Houston, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston purchases one of the photos for its collection.
“The photographs tell the story of a family whose lives have been shaped by a 100-year history of sociological and economic forces affecting our region,” said Akron Art Museum associate curator Theresa Bembnister in the exhibit press release. “Initially, Vitone did not expect the portraits to evolve into an ongoing series spanning more two decades.”
“I didn’t know how long it would last,” Vitone added. “I was doing it for myself and had no intention of showing it.”
The exhibit also includes sound recording of Vitone’s conversations with his subjects. It will be on view through Sun 10/27.