“Our City/Ourselves: Portrait of a Community” Records (1005kc)

Supplementing the exhibit “Christian Boltanski: So Far”, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Design solicited photocopies of Kansas City family photographs for a collective community work of art exhibit entitled Our City/Ourselves: Portrait of Community.  Paris-born Christian Boltanksi is known for his photo-based works commemorating everyday people.  He presented archives of the ordinary things of people's lives, using photographs from obituaries, tabloids, social clubs and grade school portraits to examine the histories behind individuals, society, and races.

The Kemper invited area residents to contribute to the project conceived by Boltanski by providing the museum a photocopied photograph or document of the first person in their family to come to Kansas City.  The exhibit ran concurrent with the Boltanski exhibition February 21st and to May 3, 1998.

This collection of scrapbooks, photographs, and other memorabilia were once found in an exhibit, Our City/Ourselves: Portrait of Community, at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Design Museum between February 21 and May 3, 1998.  Most all of the photocopied images are unidentified.  1998.

2.5 cubic feet.

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updated: Monday, February 07, 2011
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