Our Votes, Our Values is an exhibition of photography, painting, and ceramics at The Art Museum of West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV. The included works were selected by Curator Robert Bridges, Educator Curator Heather Harris and Erik Herron, a professor of political science chosen as the museum’s 2023 Faculty Fellow. The exhibit, inspired by Herron’s teachings on election cycles, is convergence of cultural and political identity that emboldens viewers with a sense of patriotism in relation to the 2024 election.
Black and white photographs line the walls at the entrance of the exhibit. On one side are portraits of people from all over Preston County, WV, taken by Nancy Abrams, a reporter and photojournalist who worked at rural newspapers in the area in the 1970s. Across from them hang candid photos of people from all walks of life in New York City, taken by Leon Levinstein, a street photographer born in Buckhannon, WV, who later relocated to New York. Visitors are greeted by Abrams with the familiarity of their kin, and asked by the faces in Levenstein’s photos to expand their worldview outside of Appalachia, to defy borders and stereotypes.
Other works in the exhibit speak to the many complex issues relevant to voting and the impending election—climate change, worker rights, civil rights, and more. The Turkey Shoot (1906), a painting by William Robinson Leigh from Falling Waters, WV, depicts two men on a turkey hunt, appealing to the sense of Americana associated with hunting traditions. It is a serene, idyllic scene with cloudy lavender skies and rich, red fallen leaves. However, as your gaze travels to the display case below it, the pleasing depiction becomes more complicated than it appeared at first glance. Within the case sits a teapot made by Roberto Lugo, a ceramicist and social activist from Philadelphia. Its hardware is made of gun parts procured from a no-questions-asked buyback program. On one side of the teapot is the face of Tupac Shakur and on the other, Malcolm X, two men who were victims of firearms. The four men depicted in this space—the hunters, Shakur, and Malcom X—ask each other and the viewer what it means to bear arms, or rather, what it means to be disarmed.
History is rich within the exhibit, and context is everything. The Dominion Post, a local newspaper in Morgantown, WV, ran an article on the exhibition in September. One of the largest pieces, Hard Times (2010) by James Martin Mazorra and Mike Houston of Cannonball Press in Brooklyn, appeared as the feature photo. Hard Times is a black cloth camping tent, one of three from a larger installation, covered in woodcut images depicting the plight of homelessness. Another article published in the newspaper the same day covered the city council’s decision to adopt an ordinance outlawing “camping” on public property. Our Votes, Our Values is timely and timeless in this way. It may seem like the same issues are being discussed every four years, that progress isn’t really happening, but this collection of works serves refutes that assumption and as a call for action. The intention is obvious, it is written all over the walls in red, white and blue. Reiterating the civic message, QR codes provide access to information on voter registration, poll locations, and early voting sites dot the walls at the gallery exit.
In the show, a print titled Women’s March Anniversary (2017) by Basecamp Printing Company, a women-owned letterpress studio out of Charleston, WV, states, “Our Vote / Our Voice / Our Choice,” reminding visitors of the significance of voting as a collectivist consideration. The show is of the moment. Our Votes, Our Values asks voters to consider and choose what is right for the greater good.
