MACON, Ga. — Macon's 200th birthday is in full swing. On Friday, Macon artists will help you see your hometown through a new lens.
The Bicentennial Art Show Reception is once again at the Macon Mall. This is the second show in the trilogy. The theme for the night is untold stories.
"Untold stories is evoking names, places, faces and ideas that have been underrecognized or unheard at this point. Untold stories is meant to challenge our history a little bit," Marketing Chair for the Bicentennial Committee Julia Morrison said.
Every artist in the show is a resident of Macon and they are all photographers. The event includes images from Matt Odom, Christopher Smith and more. You may know their names but every artist will showcase works the public has never seen in a gallery.
One photographer, DSTO Moore, is showcasing his series 'We are Pleasant Hill" which details the lives of people in Macon's oldest historic African American neighborhood.
He's been working on these images for four years.
"This is very meaningful for me because I was born and raised on Pleasant Hill and my family still lives over there," Moore said.
He says the photography community in Macon is very close and he's glad to be in a show with them.
"Macon has so much to offer. It's not Atlanta, it's its own vibe, its own sense of community even with this gallery showing. Four different photographers from different areas all coming together and we love each other and we work together and you know I love the art community," Moore said.
For many of Moore's subjects the images he takes of them are some of the only high quality portraits they receive. For Moore, it's important to acknowledge each person while they still live and can experience your love.
He says his goal is to make sure people know they're valuable.
"Not just having a photo but this is the first time coming to the gallery before. So, that's a whole other level of showing people that like, you are somebody. People come to see you, you are somebody," Moore said.
Morrison says events like the Bicentennial Art Show are all about showing civic pride as well as reimaging classic spaces like the Macon Mall.
She says she wants people to know Macon has access to creatives who are making work national publications but these people are grown here at home.
"We have to have civic pride in the area where we are. It's really important this Bicentennial to develop civic pride and say 'this place has some of the best people and the best art that you will find anywhere,'" Morrison said.
The opening reception for the Bicentennial Art Show is Friday at the Macon Mall from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. You can also get free family portraits, a callback to vintage portrait studios in old malls, a living archive of what families were like during the bicentennial, and a service to Maconites.