A newspaper notice for runaway slaves hangs against a stark white wall in the UB Art Gallery.
The notice lists the physical characteristics of the slaves who fled to the Underground Railroad, from their gender and height to their skin and eye color. Each advertisement box reveals the hefty monetary reward offered for their return in bold, black numbers.
This photograph is one of over 50 images photographer and digital montage artist Stephen Marc created for his exhibition titled 'Passage on the Underground Railroad.'
Marc, who recently visited UB, teaches art at Arizona State University's Herberger College of Fine Arts.
The exhibition includes two series. The first series is photographs of Underground Railroad sites from across the U.S. and Canada, allowing viewers an inside look at hidden rooms and the overall landscape of the structures involved in the Underground Railroad.
The second series is comprised of montages, which combine images of slavery with images from today, creating narratives that simultaneously speak from the past, and to the present.
For Marc, exhibiting what he describes as 'the largest, most definitive exhibition of this work' at UB is only natural. After all, the City of Good Neighbors is where this particular artistic journey of his began back in 2000.
Marc was in Buffalo doing a two-year residency at CEPA Gallery on Main St. It was during his time there that he began photographing Underground Railroad sites.
Marc has since exhibited his work at the Smithsonian Institution, Notre Dame, Harvard University and many other institutions.
'It's fun being back in Buffalo,' says Marc at the exhibition opening. His face opens into a smile. 'It's exhilarating.' He looks around the room at the completion of his work, at the people mingling and admiring it all. He pauses, and adds, 'It's also a relief.'
Three of the historic sites in the exhibition are located here in WNY: Michigan Street Baptist Church in Buffalo, the Root House in Pekin, and Murphy Orchards in Burt which became his inspiration when he was in Buffalo almost a decade ago.
Marc explained that what started out as a simple idea—photographing Underground Railroad sites—became complex as he discovered the layers of stories behind the historic sites.
'It ended up being much bigger than I envisioned,' Marc said.
The stories involved not just the actual Railroad hiding places and landscapes but also documents like letters and newspapers, artifacts such as a horse and buggy and the people who maintain the sites today.
'To put a montage together like this is really unusual,' said Sandra Olsen, director of the UB Art Gallery and Curator of the Exhibit. 'He'll start out with a site somehow connected to the Underground Railroad and combine it with modern images, giving it this incredible ring of relevance that is really amazing.
The exhibition is now open and will be on view through October 18 in the first floor gallery of UB's Center for the Arts.
Marc has also recently published a book of his Underground Railroad photos called Passage on the Underground Railroad: Photographs by Stephen Marc.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
