Review

7-9 p.m.
(Opening Reception)

The Bourgeois Pig
6 E. 9th St.
Lawrence, KS
785.843.1001

Hours: 7 a.m.-2 a.m. daily.
Runs through: August 28.

Gallery site: http://www.myspace.com/bourgeoispig

The month opens with a chance not only to see an exhibit of compelling photographs, but also to do some good at the same time.

Tonight's opening of Love and Grief, Julianne Kueffer's solo show at The Bourgeois Pig in Lawrence, is also a canned goods drive. Donations will be given to a local food bank; think of it as a chance to nourish others while being fed on creativity.

Subtitled An Exploration of the Homeless in Lawrence, KS, Kueffer's show is just that: an exploration, not merely a quick overview.

She spent four months with the city's homeless putting the series together, and that investment of time shows in the care with which Kueffer presents her subjects.

They are not statistics, not object lessons, not objects of pity. They are — as Homies, today's featured image, shows — real people, capable of love and grief and every other emotion on the scale.

Kueffer's unflinching and yet humanistic show reflects her education in photojournalism at the University of Kansas. It also points up something we don't often like to think about: that homelessness is not solely a problem of the urban core. It's there in college towns, in rural areas, even in the comfortable (to those who have dwelling places) suburbs.

Where there is awareness, there is both opportunity and obligation. We cannot look need in the face and then look away, unmoved (or moved to pity but not to action). But in doing what we can to help, while preserving the dignity of those being helped, we reaffirm both individual and collective humanity.

Kueffer's show offers a glimpse not only into her own artistic vision, but also into what should be a shared vision of mutual respect, care and support.

-re-

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