Pittsburgh Project - Matthew Conboy and W. Eugene Smith

There is one solo exhibit that has been commissioned to be part of First Night. The exhibit belongs to photographer Matthew Conboy, who is working to rephotograph W. Eugene Smith's amazing photo essay of Pittsburgh from the 1950s. You might remember the exhibit of W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh photos at the Carnegie Museum of Art in 2001... The show was called Dream Street, after one of Pittsburgh's poetic street names he had photographed (others including Love Street, and the intersection of Hamlet and Ophelia streets).

Conboy has found places that Smith had photographed, and rephotographed those places today, showing us what is there now. It is a reflection of how the city has changed and stayed the same over the past half-century. Matthew's exhibit is called Pittsburgh Project.

Shriner's Circus Parade, Sixth Street Bridge, 1965 by W. Eugene Smith

Sixth Street Bridge, 2008 by Matthew Liam Conboy

Matthew Conboy will exhibit 100 of his own photographs, as well as contact sheets of W. Eugene Smith's photographs, and three videos for Pittsburgh Project at 901 Penn Gallery (the old Watercolors Gallery space) on Dec. 31, 6-11pm.

http://matthewconboyphoto.com/index.html