What: I Am Everyday People: Photographs by Kurt Ullrich
When: 5 p.m. today
Where: Old Capitol Museum Hanson Gallery
Admission: Free
By Jasmine Putney
[email protected]
An elegant woman sits on a high stool in a fancy department store while another puts makeup on her face, and
I stare too long, and I wonder if she has known love, and I can’t figure out why it matters or why I should care, because I hope she has …
This moment, described by photographer Kurt Ullrich, will find a place among many other profoundly simple moments at 5 p.m. today during the opening reception of his newest exhibit, I am Everyday People, in the Old Capitol Museum. The exhibit is free and will run through Jan. 3, 2016.
The black and white collection frames the seemingly mundane activities of each day with a new sort of beauty. Museum communication coordinator Casey Westlake said they were thrilled when Ullrich approached them earlier this year.
“Kurt’s photos capture the lives of people who aren’t normally in the spotlight in rich wonderful detail,” she said. “And while each subject is wonderfully unique, they also remind me of friends, family, and neighbors of my own who live quietly good lives but go unrecognized.”
To some, the title I Am Everyday People, may sound familiar. In 1968, Sly & the Family Stone released the song “Everyday People,” which spent 19 weeks on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Ullrich cited this song as his primary inspiration for his photographs; the continuing relevance of the song’s message resonated with him.
“The song is an exhortation and plea that rings as useful today as it did in 1968 with lyrics like ‘we got to live together,’ ‘I am no better and neither are you,’ and ‘we are the same whatever we do,’ ” he said. “I hadn’t given the words much thought until a rock and roll band I was in performed that song each time out. For the audience, it was just a nostalgic song putting them in a certain place at a certain time. But the words are more than that.”
The photos were taken in a number of places, including Iowa and Chicago, Ullrich said. He was proud to be among the people he photographed and referred to them as “his people.” Yet, remarkably, Ullrich also admitted to not knowing the names of most people he spoke to.
This exhibit may provide a bit about someone’s circumstances, but it is the remaining mystery about who the subject truly is Ullrich finds compelling, he said.
“As we look at the photos, we are able to walk right up to the edge of their existence but no further,” he said. “We see the subjects through our own experiences in life, and anything else is pure conjecture.”
Rachel Winter, who curated Ullrich’s exhibit last summer at the Iowa State Fair, said she is excited to see I am Everyday People, and she remembered his ability to cut through the “haze of fried food and politicians” at the fair with his art.
“He is one of the most genuine artists I have ever met,” she said.
Though he is unsure what the viewers of the exhibit will think, Ullrich said, he hopes they see more than a group of photos strung together. Ultimately, he wanted to voice the confusion he feels about people’s incapability to simply get along with each other, he said.
“Because when you get down to the skin and bones of our existence, we, in the end, are all everyday people,” he said.