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Huge Portraits of Dallas Faces Adorn Downtown Facades

ArtandSeek.net 13

The largest street photography exhibit in Dallas history will celebrate what best distinguishes one city from the next as well as any other city from Dallas—its architecture, its public art and most of all, its people.

Local photographer Richard Andrew Sharum created Observe Dallas last summer as a public art installation project to inform and remind the city of its own design and existence through large-scale photographic portraits that span the exteriors of staple downtown buildings.

All eight of the prints were shot in Dallas between 2006 and 2014 and portray familiar yet unique Dallas scenes, like the working class downtown and a family in Klyde Warren Park. The prints will be displayed week-by-week until Sunday, May 31 at different downtown locales. The third print, titled Ronnie, went public Monday at 550 S. Ervay St.

The first print, called One Main Place, was installed on Friday, April 10 and will be on display at 211 N. Ervay Street until April 2016. The black and white photograph portrays a homeless citizen sitting on a bench downtown and looking upward on a bright, sunny day.

One Main Place

One Main Place

This print is one of two featuring homeless Dallasites—a decision Sharum hopes will contribute to a more diverse depiction of the city’s makeup and inspire solutions to the growing homelessness in the area, according to a press release.

“I truly believe observation is the key to empathy and education, two ideals that are important to the progression of mankind,” Sharum says in a press release. “I want these images to inspire people to pay attention to their surroundings, whether it’s addressing the homeless issue, something I find people are afraid to talk about, or simply creating their own works of public art. Everyone is equal in these photographs.”

Sharum also hopes to capture the city of Dallas in its present state and to employ downtown as his own gallery for the public to experience, according to a press release.

“Downtown Dallas is beautiful and its architecture is historic. By photographing these people and buildings as they are now, I can do my part in documenting the history of the city as it is now,” he says in a press release.

Here’s the schedule for the spring exhibition:

April 10 – April 2016: One Main Place, 2014 at 211 N. Ervay St.
April 13 – May 25: Metro Bar, 2006 at 800 Main St.
April 20 – May 11: Ronnie, 2014, at 500 S. Ervay St.
April 27 – May 18: Father and Daughter, 2006 at 325 N. Saint Paul St.
May 4 – May 31: Father and Son, 2014 at 601 Elm St.
May 11 – May 31: Homeless Woman, 2014 at 500 S. Ervay St.
May 18 – May 31: Woman at Crosswalk, 2014 at 325 N. Saint Paul St.
May 25 – May 31: Immigrant Reform Protest, 2006 at 800 Main St.