Notre Dame College’s Art Department presents an exhibit of photographs by Honey Lazar “The Portable Universe”

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio--- February 12, 2007-Notre Dame College’s Art Department is pleased to present photographs and video installation by artist Honey Lazar entitled “The Portable Universe”. The exhibit, on view from February 22 to April 12, 2007 includes twenty photographs, a handmade book and video installation. It opens with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. on February 22nd, is free and open to the public. The artist will give a gallery talk on March 28th from 11:45 to 12:30.

The photographs document the stories of women from around the world from birth to death through the common theme of what they carry with them each day and throughout their lives. The selected photos of women will serve as a prelude to women’s history month in March. In addition the artist will discuss her conclusions to this photographic journey at the end of the exhibit. The project was a more than a seven year endeavor by the artist. Lazar initiated the project after pondering the many decisions women make each and every day about what to carry for themselves and their families. She was inspired by Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried which chronicles what men carried into battle during the Viet Nam war. Lazar began to realize that women carried an assortment of possessions with them each day as well. “Women rarely leave the home empty-handed.” They carry with them a portable universe, a microcosm of “their histories, secrets, how they earn a living or their varied roles each day”. Lazar photographed eighty-eight women in her studio over a two and a half year period. They represented a cross-section of women” A 66 year-old-track star, a school teacher, a homeless woman, sisters, mothers and daughters and massage therapists. a Eventually she felt the need to expand her contact with more women and began photographing women in their workplaces, at fairs, markets and on the streets. She traveled to the streets of Oaxaca, Berlin and Prague. Her work carried her to many countries and allowed her access to many women’s lives.

The artist recently made a PS to her original video. Nine women from the first studio years assembled in her studio to follow up on their lives on January 21, 2007. One of the original group was photographed in an assisted living facility. Lazar said of the reunion, “The women talked about the progression of their lives, becoming mothers, trying to become mothers, moving their houses and making their universes far more portable and in the end, a 91 year old woman talked about her deceased husband’s love letters which she read every night.”

Honey Lazar will give a gallery talk on March 28th from 11:45 to 12:30 which is free and open to the public. Notre Dame College is located at 4545 College Road in South Euclid.
The Performing Arts Center Gallery is located on the Ground Floor of the Administration Building. It is open noon to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday or by appointment. Contact gallery director Rachel Morris at (216) 373-5320 or rmorris@ndc.edu for more information.