The Streets
on View
A homegrown, self-taught
photographer comes out from
under the overpass
Zoe Strauss was always interested in art and
photography, but her career didn’t really begin
until she was given a camera 11 years ago, on
her 30th birthday. She began shooting the peo-
ple and places in her gritty South Philadelphia
neighborhood and quickly gained a reputation
as the city’s own Diane
Arbus. Her images find
beauty in the forgotten
and overlooked.
“She has revivified
the tradition of American street photography,”
says Peter Barberie,
curator of photographs
at the Philadelphia
Museum of Art.
From 2001 to 2010,
Strauss mounted an
annual show of her
work under a highway
the
AVENUE OF THE ARTS
Body
Awareness
Jan. 4–Feb. 5
In this play by Obie
Award–winning playwright Annie Baker,
Body Awareness Week
at a rural Vermont college brings the trials
and tribulations of a
feminist psychology
professor and her very
modern family to light.
ave
Date
wilmatheater.org
AVENUE OF THE ARTS
Jerry Seinfeld
Jan. 14
The comedian returns
to stage with a stand-up
act that shares the pur-
pose of his much-missed
eponymous sitcom: to
point out the absurdity
of the little things in life.
kimmelcenter.org
CITY GUIDE
Philadelphia
For additional event, attraction,
restaurant and hotel information,
go to arrivecityguides.com
overpass in South Philly. The decade-long project aimed to make art accessible
to everyone.
“Under I- 95 brought the museum to the
street,” says Barberie. “Zoe took this grand
architectural space and, instead of a scatter-
shot installation, carefully plotted it out.”
Now the PMA is bringing the street to the
museum with “Zoe Strauss: Ten Years” (Jan.
14–April 22), an exhibit that continues that
conversation. The first in her working-class
family to graduate from high school, Strauss
might seem an unlikely candidate for a mid-
career retrospective at a world-renowned art
museum. Barberie sees it differently.
“Zoe’s one of the most important contemporary artists working in the U.S. today,”
he says, “and it’s great serendipity for the
museum that she’s from Philadelphia.”
philamuseum.org.
Alzheimer’s, chromogenic print, 2002 (negative), 2003
(print). Purchased with funds contributed by Theodore
T. Newbold and Helen Cunningham.
Sleep with the
Mummies
“ 40 Winks with the
Sphinx” is for kids
who are “really into
archaeology,” says
Dari Sutton of the
University of Penn-
sylvania Museum
of Archaeology and
Anthropology—or
for kids who’ve
always wondered
what it’s like to
spend the night
at the foot of the
third-largest sphinx
in the world. So,
it’s pretty much
for every kid in
the universe. The
museum puts on
the event, which is
geared toward kids
age 6 to 12, one
Friday each month
(Jan. 27 and Feb.
17). The evening
includes a scaven-
ger hunt, games
and activities,
and two spooky
hours to explore
the museum by
flashlight. penn.
museum.
CONVENTION CENTER
Philadelphia
Home Show
Jan. 14–22
Gather redecorating
ideas, comparison shop
for countertops and
appliances, and discover
new trends in remodel-
ing from exhibitors and
HGTV personalities.
phillyhomeshow.com
UNIVERSI TY CI TY
RUBBER-
BANDance
Group
Jan. 19–21
This six-person Cana-
dian dance group
founded by a former
break dancer fuses
hip-hop, ballet and
contemporary moves.
pennpresents.org
AVENUE OF THE ARTS
Rachmaninoff
Second
Concerto
Feb. 17–18
Pianist Nikolai Lugan-
sky and the Philadelphia
Orchestra perform one
of Rachmaninoff’s most
enduring, popular and
challenging pieces.
kimmelcenter.org
