Photographers Marianne Pojman and Sharon Turner felt compelled to memorialize two important people in their lives: Marianne's father and Sharon's grandmother. Their artistic collaboration produced "Remembrance: A Tribute To and Journey Through Two Lives," a new exhibition from Feb. 12 to March 18 in the Gallery at the Art and Music Library at the University of Rochester.
Long associated with Rochester's Community Darkroom, the women used different approaches to document the life of a loved one. Both relatives died within weeks of each other in 2001. "We were privileged to have them in our lives," the artists said, and they wanted "to produce a record that they existed, that they mattered."
Their families gained great pleasure from photographs. Marianne's father, Paul Joseph Pojman, was a photographer whose passion for the art was passed on to her. Sharon's grandmother, Mary Florence Elizabeth Evans Andrews, kept a carefully preserved photo album with pictures dating back to 1918. Part of each visit with her grandmother was spent looking at the pictures and listening to her comments and stories.
Turner has been director of Community Darkroom since 1978. In the 1980s, she worked as a freelance photojournalist for area newspapers and was part of a trio of women who produced a series of black-and-white postcards of Rochester. She has participated in many group shows at Community Darkroom, Pyramid Arts Center (now Rochester Contemporary), Center at High Falls Fine Art Gallery, Shoestring Gallery, and others. Most recently, she has been coordinator and one of the lead teachers for Community Darkroom's Urban Youth Programs.
Pojman became associate director of Community Darkroom in 1995. She has shown her work in various group shows there and at Center at High Falls Fine Art Gallery, Mill Gallery in Honeoye Falls, and others.
From Feb. 12 to March 7, the Gallery at the Art and Music Library is open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday; noon to 5 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 10 p.m. Sunday. During the week of March 8 to 15, gallery hours will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. because of spring break. From March 16 to 18, regular gallery hours will resume.
The gallery, which is free and open to the public, is located on the ground floor of Rush Rhees Library on the University of Rochester's River Campus. A reception with the artists will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Feb. 22. The exhibit continues through March 18. For more information, contact (585) 275-9249.