Smithville USA - Exhibit

SMITHVILLE USA

Temporary Exhibit at Prizer at 212 Main Street By Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon a photojournalist

Photography has always been an excuse to boldly walk up to people and say hello. Here in Smithville, I had the opportunity to photograph about one hundred and fi fty people and was introduced to many more folks. Everyone has been warm and inviting and willing to be vulnerable in front of the camera - ready to share things they may haven’t been asked to share in a while, or ever. That’s the greatest gift anybody can share with you - their attention, time, and stories.

A portrait-sitting, for me, is less about the photograph and more about a moment and the collaborative connection with the person in the photograph. When someone feels like they’re being paid attention to - that somebody’s genuinely interested in what they have to say - it’s a lot easier to be comfortable in front of a camera. And it can disarm us of our projected public self, our public mask, and the narrative we use to navigate the day.

For these revealing moments to happen, creating a special space is essential. The physical location can play a part, but it’s more about making a space where somebody can feel heard and safe, so they are comfortable talking about things that take them out of their day-to-day rituals. Creating that feeling of safety is always on me - I don’t expect anyone else to do that. It’s my job to read the room and create an environment where I think that person will feel comfortable. And that can sometimes be with a silly joke, sometimes with an observation of something they’re wearing, or said, or done. Sometimes it’s with lights,

I am grateful for the moments I have had with people here in Smithville.

music, or just a few questions - but it’s up to me to create it somehow. Without that trusting space, the photograph is just a mugshot.

As an immigrant, I learned how to read a room from a young age. Being born in a different country and growing up here forces you into a survival mode where you want people to accept and like you, especially as a kid. So you understand that you’ve got to mold yourself to fi t different situations. And if that happens in your formative years, it becomes your modus operandi for life - you don’t just turn it off. And while people who grow up where they were born to have a different set of challenges than I did, this was imprinted in my DNA – that molding to fi t the space you’re in and learning and taking from it the most you can. But I also know to give as much of myself as possible. Give-and-take is key to building the collaborative energy that creates memorable moments between and among people.

I am grateful for the moments I have had with people here in Smithville and all who were willing to take the risk of being photographed. With this show, I want to allow viewers an opportunity to get outside of their comfort zone and look at themselves and their community in a new way. I want people to leave feeling enthusiastic about reconnecting with their city in a way that’s somewhat different than how they’ve interacted with it in the past - maybe you are waving to new people that you didn’t wave to before, maybe you are visiting other parts of town that you haven’t been to in a long time or ever, maybe you are expanding your defi nition of your hometown a little bit, maybe you are making new friends with people that you never thought you would be friends with. These kinds of actions would defi ne a successful project for me and make me happy that not only did I get to have special moments with all these folks, but they got to have special moments with each other.