Town of Chapel Hill issued the following announcement on Jan. 31.
Hundreds of dedicated employees work behind the scenes and on the front lines each day to keep Chapel Hill running smoothly.
Many of the community members who benefit from these efforts may never see the workers responsible for them.
Michael Schwalbe, a documentary photographer and sociology professor at North Carolina State University, set out to change this through his photography project, “Chapel Hill Works.” Beginning Tuesday, February 1, fifteen large-scale photographs of Town employees at work will be on display in the lobby and lower level of Chapel Hill Public Library, along with a slideshow of all 118 portraits, text panels, and a video documentary about the project. Visitors can browse the exhibition through the end of the month.
Since the fall of 2015, Schwalbe photographed 118 Town of Chapel Hill employees across every department—from the fire department and public works, to the library, police, and transit—doing what they do every day to make Chapel Hill a better place to live.
Schwalbe had two goals with this project: to create a visual record of public service workers and their work, and to increase appreciation for the maintenance and service work required for Chapel Hill to function well. In each black-and-white photograph, Schwalbe aims to convey something about both the individual and their work environment as a whole.
“The Chapel Hill Works Project calls us to recognize that what was true before the pandemic will remain true afterward: the quality of life in Chapel Hill depends to a great extent on the dedication, skill, and effort of Town employees,” Michael said of the upcoming exhibit. “I hope viewers of the exhibit will appreciate this more fully by getting a look at those employees and the environments in which they work. My hope is that if people appreciate the workers, they’ll have a stronger sense of obligation to the people who devote their lives to providing the services that make Chapel Hill work as well as it does.”
“I’m excited that the public will get to see and experience these portraits of town employees. This project has always been about showing all the different types of work that goes into making Chapel Hill so special,” said Sarah Wagner, Library Experiences Specialist at Chapel Hill Public Library and Chapel Hill Works project liaison. “The pandemic has helped many of us see the hard work that goes into working with the public, and this exhibit is another way to highlight the amazing work town employees do every day.”
The pandemic delayed plans for the initial exhibition of the project. Following a sneak peek exhibit held in 2019, the full exhibition, which was set for 2020, was postponed. Now that the library is once again open for indoor browsing, residents and Town staff can view the full exhibit.
The public is welcome to browse the exhibit as they visit the library at their leisure. Due to COVID-19 protocols, no formal reception or event will be held. The exhibit documentary can be viewed on the Chapel Hill Public Library YouTube channel. Further information about the project can be found on the Town of Chapel Hill website.
With questions regarding the project, contact Sarah Wagner, project liaison, at swagner@townofchapelhill.org, or get in touch with Schwalbe at MLSchwalbe@nc.rr.com.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Town of Chapel Hill
