Herberger College
The StoryBackgroundStates PhotographedUGRR Network  to Freedom
2004 Exhibitions2004 TravelCareer SummaryExhibition History
 
CompositesMontages

The Story

montage

ASU photography professor and digital artist travels extensively throughout the Northeast, South and Midwest, rediscovering his African American heritage and photographing Underground Railroad sites and creating digital montages for an upcoming book and traveling exhibition.


 

The Urgency

Story timing in conjunction with the naming (in 2004) of the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom to the Top 10 list of most endangered U.S. National Parks; the scheduled opening of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, in mid-summer 2004; and the designation by the United Nations of 2004 as the international year to commemorate the struggle against slavery.


The Art

Marc creates digital photo montages from the approximately 30,000 photographs he has taken in 21 states, D.C. and Canada, creating captivating collages that blend the past and the present in artistic renderings that make history accessible – even fascinating – as he preserves and repackages the story of one of this country’s most significant historical movements. When the Underground Railroad project is complete, Marc plans to publish it in book form and exhibit it as a traveling exhibition.

Samples of Marc’s work can be seen on his Web site at Arizona State’s Herberger College of Fine Arts, where he is a photography professor. The site includes sample composites of locations as well as the offbeat and graphically compelling art montages that the artist hopes tell a bigger story.


Resources

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center - http://www.freedomcenter.org/

National Parks Conservation Association Web site: http://www.npca.org/across_the_nation/ten_most_endangered/

UNESCO Web site: http://www.unesco.org/

Links to recent media stories about Stephen Marc and his work:

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/9000983.htm

http://www.coastweekly.com/issues/Issue.06-17-2004/galleries/Article.art/print

http://www.detnews.com/2004/events/0406/10/e01-179268.htm


If you are interested in interviewing Stephen Marc, please contact Denise Tanguay at 480-965-7144 or denise.tanguay@asu.edu.

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Stephen Marc | Passage on the Undergroudn Railroad