WVU Libraries

The Downtown Campus Library will host an opening reception for the West Virginia University Libraries’ newest exhibit, “Looking at Morgantown,” on April 20 from 4-6 p.m. in Room 1020.

“Looking at Morgantown” showcases 24 photographs specific to Monongalia County and the people, places and events that represent the area by 18 regional professional and amateur photographers. The WVU Art in the Libraries Committee selected the images from more than 350 submissions.

The exhibit is in conjunction with “Looking at Appalachia: Selected Images from 2014-2016” currently on display at the DCL. “Looking at Appalachia” is an ongoing crowdsourced photography project created by West Virginia-based photographer Roger May as a response to media coverage and perceptions of Appalachia and the President Johnson’s War on Poverty.

“We wanted to do an inclusive, yet specific project to both complement and counter Roger May’s ‘Looking at Appalachia’,” Libraries Exhibit Coordinator Sally Deskins said. “Although Morgantown is part of Appalachia, it also has its own personality. We think the selected 24 images provide an eclectic and honest view of the area that possesses qualities of rural Appalachia along with urban aspects brought by the University’s international culture and proximity to Pittsburgh.”

Contributors come from all walks of life – such as a WVU English major, a studio art graduate student from Moscow, a retired U.S. Army officer, a Morgantown native now teaching in Japan and a photographer transplant from New York City – offering a glimpse into their perspectives of this unique area with its own distinct character.

The exhibit runs through August 15. More information is available on the Libraries’ website, exhibits.lib.wvu.edu.