Sept. 22, 2000 — A multi-faceted documented project exploring grassroots activism in communities throughout the United States will launch in September. "Indivisible: Stories of American Community" consists of a nationally touring museum exhibition, a major trade book, postcard exhibitions and an extensive web site. The project, which features work by 12 influential photographers and ten leading documentary interviewers and oral historians, examines community initiatives at work in the United States. The museum exhibition will premiere at the Terra Museum of American Art on September 29. It will run through the month of November before traveling to various cities across the country. The accompanying book, published by W.W. Norton & Company/Lyndhurst Books, will be available nationally in bookstores in the fall. The project web site will be launched concurrently with the opening, and will present the "Indivisible" photos and interview excerpts along with background and archival information.

The museum and postcard exhibitions will be presented in cities across the country, including Chicago, San Antonio, Raleigh, San Diego, Tucson, Fort Worth and Philadelphia. "Indivisible" is a project of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University in partnership with the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona.

Twelve grassroots initiatives that address issues facing communities across the US such as housing, immigration, the environment, youth, religion and race are featured through photographs and audio interviews of citizens involved. Photographer Lynn Davis and folklorist Jens Lund meet with Alaskan fishing communities in the North Pacific Coast to learn about new marine conservation efforts; photographer Reagan Louie and ethnographer Barry Dornfeld travel to North Philadelphia, where—through the hard work of community residents and children at the Village of Arts and Humanities—some 87 abandoned properties have been converted into art parks, community gardens, education facilities and low-income housing; and photographer Sylvia Plachy and journalist Karen Michel visit midwives and doulas working to support women in labor on Long Island. Other collaborations document Haitian immigrants in Delray Beach, Fla. working with local police to patrol their streets to combat drug users and crime, migrant farmworkers in Texas border towns who learn to finance and construct their own homes, and loggers, conservationists and other residents in Montana forming a coalition on preservation and sustainable use of the forest.

"Indivisible," with more than 200 original photographs and extensive recorded interviews, is a portrait of an America moved to action. Using audio guides, museum visitors will hear the voices of citizens who are on the front lines of grassroots democracy, who share their stories of the relationships, motivations, struggles, ingenuity, commitment, frustration and accomplishment that drives community problem-solving.

"Indivisible" is a unique project matching documentary expression with committed grassroots community action. The creative work of project photographers and fieldworkers provides powerful testimony to personal efforts, encouraging dialogue about the importance of the individual in community life," said project co-director Tom Rankin, director of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. "By amplifying the stories of local people and places, "Indivisible" affirms the value of community and illustrates the potential gain that comes from recognizing mutual interests and interdependence."

Archived collections of "Indivisible" project photographs, interview tapes and transcripts will be housed at both the University of Arizona and Duke University, providing public access to an unusually large body of work documenting a cross-section of America at the end of the Twentieth Century. The historical value of the collection, given its grounding in a cultural perspective and the inclusion of a range of issues, places and demographics, will engage and inform future researchers and others interested in the diversity and complexity of American civic life. Each of the 12 communities will also receive a set of photographs and interview tapes from the documentation of their initiatives.

The photographers chosen to participate in "Indivisible" have made considerable contributions to social history and the art of photography. They are Dawoud Bey, Bill Burke, Lucy Capehart, Lynn Davis, Terry Evans, Debbie Fleming Caffery, Lauren Greenfield, Joan Liftin, Reagan Louie, Danny Lyon, Sylvia Plachy and Eli Reed.

The audio component of "Indivisible" is composed of excerpts from interviews with community members. Journalists, oral historians, radio producers and folklorists conducted extensive interviews in each of the 12 communities. Their interviews capture the stories of American community life that accompany the photographs in the exhibitions, the book and on the web site.

In conjunction with "Indivisible," W.W. Norton & Company/Lyndhurst Books will publish a major book, entitled Local Heroes Changing America. This publication will be a permanent record of Americans engaged in public life at the end of the Twentieth Century, powerfully represented in images and texts from the project.

The Terra Museum of American Art is located at 666 North Michigan Avenue. Hours are Tuesday, noon to 8 pm; Wednesday through Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm; and Sunday, noon to 5 pm. Telephone, 312/664-3939.