Press Release for the 30 Strangers Exhibit

Photography Show Benefits Women’s Shelter

Provo, Utah – June 23, 2009 – How did one photographer and 30 strangers team up to help local victims of domestic violence? Find out when art and activism come together at a downtown Provo gallery on Thursday, July 2. Featuring the work of Justin Hackworth, the “30 Strangers II: Portraits of Mothers & Daughters” exhibit will raise funds for the Center for Women & Children in Crisis.

For the second edition of Hackworth’s 30 Strangers Project, the fine art photographer shot portraits of 30 sets of mothers and daughters, some spanning four generations, over 30 days. In lieu of a sitting fee, each donated $25 to the Center. Hackworth is offering the same arrangement during the show opening, which starts at 6pm at the Knight-Block Building at the corner of University Avenue and Center Street.

Shelter manager Kim Kowallis hopes the show also boosts awareness of the Center’s mission. “I want people to realize how many women and kids we serve,” Kowallis says. The center can’t afford to advertise, and relies instead on word of mouth to reach both potential donors and women in need. “Our shelter is about women who are fleeing domestic violence, who have to just grab their kids and run.”

Kowallis says the exhibit theme suits the Center’s message of hope. “At the shelter, people are in crisis, and life is not good,” she says. “I want them to see mother-daughter relationships that are in a good place. I’m definitely taking some of them to the show, to see how things can be—that things can get better.”

One portrait subject was so excited about the project, she drove to Provo from her home in Denver, Colorado to participate. “Considering the level of Justin’s photography, I would have paid him so much more for these pictures,” says Utah native Rachel Miller. Miller posed with her daughter, mother, and grandmother, who plans to attend the exhibit. “What he did, having us donate instead to the Crisis Center, making this a project to help others, I think it’s amazing.”

Hackworth, whose work has shown at Salt Lake City’s Art Access and Finch Lane galleries, Park City’s Kimball Art Center, and the Springville Art Museum, started the 30 Strangers Project in 2008. “Over 30 days, I shot portraits of 30 people I didn’t know,” Hackworth says. “That experience was fascinating, so I wanted to do it again. But this year, I wanted to focus on a theme that could give something back to the community.”