Photography at its best

I have a strong appreciation for art...all types. Whether it's a painting, song or even a photograph, I can see how it can change communities. And the best type of art is "off the wall," meaning not your average painting on a wall. Sometimes I wish I could be an artist and fulfill a hobby but it takes a lot of time and practice.

Zoe Strauss, a Philadelphia photographer with a growing international reputation, is the subject of a major exhibition that opens on January 14 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Zoe Strauss: Ten Years is a mid-career retrospective of this acclaimed artist’s work, representing the first critical assessment of her decade-long project to exhibit annually in a public space beneath Interstate-95 (I-95) in South Philadelphia. See what I mean by off the wall? A lot of her images are very powerful and always involved a person.

The exhibition will run through April 2012 and will feature "low-cost" events and entry fees.