25 on High

In 2014, I was fortunate to be a part of a wonderful exhibition in Columbus, Ohio called 25 on High. Clay Lowe, the founding chair of The Ohio State University’s Photography and Cinema Department, had worked with a handful of colleagues 40 years prior to document High Street, the city’s main drag. He gathered a group of 25 photographers to revisit the area, from its south side corn fields to its idyllic northernmost suburb. The extensive results were exhibited at OSU’s Urban Arts Space in the city’s center.

I was asked to help frame the exhibition with text, which I did by writing eight poems – each one marking the beginning of a new neighborhood along the path. I also found relevant quotes from street photographers and art educators that were stenciled on the exhibition walls. I traveled High Street frequently as I wrote poems, and documented things as I walked. As a result, three of my photographs were also included in the exhibition.

Read the poems, beginning with “Open Country South”

 

Urban Arts Space hosts a monthly poetry reading called “Paging Columbus.” I was asked to read my work there, which you can view a recording of below: