“We Are Dearborn” exhibit returns to the Sisson Art Gallery

The “We Are Dearborn” exhibit – which first was displayed in 2018 – will return to the newly-remodeled Sisson Art Gallery in the MacKenzie Fine Arts Center (Building F on the main campus) as the Fall 2023 semester begins.

“We Are Dearborn” will run from Thursday, August 24, to Wednesday, September 20. The gallery's hours are:

• 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday
• 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday

“As the new academic year begins, I didn’t want the students to see bare walls in the gallery,” said HFC Faculty Chair of Fine and Performing Arts Steve Glazer, who is also the Sisson Gallery's curator. “These photos will certainly get their attention.”

The diverse people who make up the city of Dearborn

Glazer has overseen the renovation of the Sisson Gallery, which began in early 2023. Since 1979, the Sisson Gallery has showcased the artwork of student and professional artists from across the region and the nation.

“The Sisson Gallery is not officially finished, so we are not able to bring in outside exhibitions yet,” he explained. “‘We Are Dearborn’ was a very cool venture between the HFC Fine and Performing Arts Department and the Dearborn Community Fund. When this exhibit was up the first time in 2018, it was quite popular.”

Coordinated by the DCF, “We Are Dearborn” celebrates the City of Dearborn’s rich cultural landscape. It comprises 43 large scale (3-4 ft. tall) black-and-white photographic portraits of people from all walks of life who live in, work in, or are students in Dearborn.

“In all of their diversity, these are the people who make up the city of Dearborn,” said Glazer.

“The idea behind the project was to focus on the beautiful people who call Dearborn home,” said DCF Director and HFC alumna EmmaJean Woodyard. “We are absolutely thrilled it has been brought back for people to enjoy.”

French artist who uses photographic art to evoke social change inspired “We Are Dearborn”

Woodyard helped organize the display of the large-scale photographs of Dearborn residents taken by two local photographers, students in HFC’s digital photography class, and students from the SURA Arts Academy, which is a photography art program supported by the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn. The larger-than-life images seem to say, “This is us. We Are Dearborn.”

“We Are Dearborn” was inspired by a larger, global project called InsideOut, an initiative started by French artist JR, who won the TED Prize in 2011, an award given annually to an individual who is “able to capture the imagination while making a meaningful impact, both a dreamer and a doer.”

JR engages with communities to create socially significant art through photographic portraits. With the TED Prize, JR launched InsideOut, in which he attempts to compel and aid others in their own efforts to use photographic art to evoke social change.

“Being a joint venture between HFC and the DCF, the ‘We Are Dearborn’ exhibit was a huge hit the first time we put it on display,” said Glazer. “The fact that half of the images were the products of our digital photography class here at the College made this exhibit even more appealing. The scale of the prints, as well as the clarity of them, always seems to surprise viewers.”

Send your Dearborn selfies to Glazer

Glazer will post selfies of people in the gallery, which will be posted as small images around the “We Are Dearborn” sign in the gallery’s northeast corner. The only requirement is these selfies must be taken in Dearborn.

The selfies can be sent to Glazer at sglazer@hfcc.edu as attachments and should have “Dearborn Selfie” in the subject line.