PRIDE (and Prejudice)

A Photo Essay by Lamar Marchese

The Studio@620 welcomes photographer Lamar Marchese as he presents "PRIDE (and Prejudice) A Photo Essay". The exhibit of large format color photographs documents the 2009 & 2010 Gay Pride Parade in St. Petersburg, one of the largest such events in the southeast.

Photographs will be on display June 16-July16, 2011 during gallery hours (Wednesday-Saturday 12-4 PM) with an artist’s reception on Saturday June 25 from 6-9 PM. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

 

ARTIST’S STATEMENT – PRIDE (and prejudice)

PRIDE (and prejudice) is a photo essay documenting the June, 2009 & 2010 Gay Pride Parades in St. Petersburg, Florida. The exhibit focuses primarily on parade participants and spectators and secondarily on a minority of protestors. The photos are intended to illustrate and celebrate the wondrous diversity of humanity; gay and straight, male and female, young and old, singles and couples, minorities and sub-groups within the gay and lesbian community and at the same time, capture the sheer joy of American citizens exercising their hard won freedom to publically advertise their pride. The day is tempered, by those few who use religion to condemn, a sad reminder that the struggle for equal rights for all citizens is far from over. Seen however in the larger context of violent religious and ethnic conflicts around the world, this peaceful clash of ideas takes on added significance, providing a powerful affirmation of the civil liberties we all enjoy but too often take for granted. --Lamar Marchese, Photographer

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Lamar Marchese was raised and educated in Florida and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1972. Noting the lack of public radio in southern Nevada, he and his wife Pat and several others soon founded Nevada Public Radio, an independent public benefit corporation.. He then served as its first President/General Manager from 1979 till his retirement in 2007, having built a network of six stations, anchored by all news KNPR. Always interested in photography, Lamar bought his first 35mm Pentax in 1969 while a grad student at the University of Florida, had his own darkroom back when enlargers and chemicals were the tools of the trade and then made the transition to digital photography in the early 2000’s.

Upon his retirement, Lamar bought a Nikon D60 and went about reviving an interest that had been neglected during his broadcasting career. His interest lies in the human face and figure. He favors candid photographs taken (with permission) of interesting people in public settings; a mix of portraiture and photojournalism. He strives to reveal “the extraordinary in the ordinary and the ordinary in the extraordinary” and hopes that his photography heightens viewers appreciation of the ever fascinating family of man. His major visual influences are Diane Arbus and Federico Fellini.