First Thursday Gallery Walk is March 6

DUMBO’s First Thursday Gallery Walk is March 6 and we’ve got your guide to the robust line-up of openings, performances and cultural activities.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL FIRST THURSDAY GALLERY WALK MAP + LISTINGS

This month, United Photo Industries shows work by photographer Dave Jordano, whose exhibit Detroit: Unbroken Down celebrates the power of human spirit and perseverance in the much-maligned city. In the words of the artist:

Detroit is my hometown, but I’ve been gone for over three decades. As a child growing up, my dad, who worked all his life for General Motors, used to joke and say that we had motor oil in our veins. Even after all these years I still believe there is some small truth to what he said.

These photographs are my reaction to all the negative press that Detroit has had to endure over the years. I wanted to see for myself what everyone was talking about, and like everyone else I was initially drawn to the same subjects that other photographers were interested in; the crumbling factory interiors, the empty lots and burned out houses that consume a third of the city, and the massive abandoned commercial infrastructure. It took me a week of shooting this kind of subject matter to make me realize that I was contributing nothing to a subject that most everyone already knew much about, especially those who had been living there for years.

To counter this, I began looking at the various neighborhoods within the city and the people who live within them. This human condition, while troubled, struggling, and coping with the harsh reality of living in a post-industrial city that has fallen on the hardest of times, does thrive, and demonstrates that Detroit is not the city of death and decay that everyone had been reporting in the media, but one that shows signs of human activity and movement. However, not withstanding the recent press about Detroit’s efforts to rebound from the depths of ruin, which is in all ways promising, my focus continues to rest on the current conditions that affect many of the poor and marginalized people whose fate will be drawn out in the ensuing months and years 

All First Thursday events are open to the public and free. Galleries and shops stay open late, making DUMBO a great after-work destination for art-seekers. Local bars and restaurants also get in on the action: check out neighborhood happy hour specials here.

 Image by Dave Jordano via United Photo Industries