The Arts Depot has a special thought provoking exhibit for the public beginning on March 4, 2010. The Virginia Poverty Law Center’s “Through Different Eyes: The Faces of Poverty in Virginia” photography exhibit will be making its Southwest Virginia debut at the Arts Depot in Abingdon, Virginia. This exhibit will continue through March 27th and there will be a special reception for this exhibit on Saturday, March 13, 2009 from 1 - 3 PM. The public is invited and there is no charge. The VPLC has created a publication featuring the photography from the "Through Different Eyes: The Faces of Poverty in Virginia” and a limited number of copies will be available during the exhibit.

“Through Different Eyes: The Faces of Poverty in Virginia” was a juried competition the Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC) sponsored in 2005 in which photographers in the Commonwealth were asked to submit their interpretations and representations of poverty. The purpose was to commit the power of interpretative documentary photography to translate the relevance of the only statewide nonprofit working on behalf of low income families and individuals. The photographic submissions that are included in this exhibit were chosen by a panel of four of America's foremost experts and practitioners of documentary photography. Documentary photographs are thought of as a visit into a world separated by ones own experiences by time, distance, or perhaps simply social status. The images in this exhibit represent the many families that still deal with poverty everyday in Virginia.

The exhibit at the Arts Depot in Abingdon will feature over 30 of these photographs, including the work of the first and second place winners of the competition, Christopher Winton-Stahle and Susi Lawson. Through his photographs, Winton-Stahle, a professional photographer based in Richmond, captured the people and places of his upbringing in Fancy Gap, VA. Lawson, also a professional photographer based in Wytheville, VA found that the “Faces of Poverty” competition allowed her to document the lives of those in her own community.

Jeffrey Allison, Curator and Paul Mellon Collection Educator of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, had this to say about the exhibition: "The works by these photographers....... have been brought together to create a series of visual conversations about what it means to be poor in 21st century Virginia. While often eloquent and lyrical, all of these images maintain an integrity that asks us not only to look the individuals in the eye but also to carry these conversations out of the gallery--carrying the lessons on until photographs such as these are documents of a past no longer experienced by any citizen of the Commonwealth".

The Virginia Poverty Law Center has been in existence over 30 years. It is an organization based in Richmond dedicated to advocating on behalf of low-income residents of the Commonwealth. Since it's inception, the VPLC has been a clearinghouse of information on poverty law, providing expert technical assistance and training to Virginia's legal aid community, private attorneys, and other advocates for low income people. If you would like to find out more about their programs, please contact Urmila Oberoi at the Virginia Poverty Law Center at urmila@vplc.org.

The Depot Artists Association is a non-profit volunteer organization that operates the Arts Depot and is dedicated to promoting the arts in the community and features the region’s artists. The Arts Depot is located in the historic Depot Square area of downtown Abingdon, VA. The gallery and artists studios are open for your viewing pleasure Thursday thru Saturday, 11-3 pm, or by appointment. There is no admission charge. For further information, please contact the Arts Depot at (276) 628-9091, or e-mail at abingdonartsdepot@abingdon.com, or visit their web site at www.abingdonartsdepot.org. The Association is supported in part by grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.