International Women’s Day:
Continents in Pittsburgh!
March 8th, 2019 I felt that International Women’s Day was not acknowledged and celebrated in Pittsburgh as much as other parts of the world did. Some of my friends didn’t know about the day and I remember thinking of doing something about that. At the start of this year, I made it one of my goals for 2020 to do a photo exhibition for International Women’s Day. I started working on the concept for the production in February.
I moved from Kenya to Pittsburgh for school in 2004. The image I had of the city then compared to now bare stark differences, with the city slowly evolving to become more welcoming to people from other parts of the world. While there is room for growth, no doubt, it wouldn’t be right not to acknowledge the changes I’ve seen and appreciate them. More than 15 years after I moved to Pittsburgh, it is a city I call home, where I am now a business co-owner and photographer.
I wanted to put a photography collection together in honor of International Women’s Day, because I think of the many women from all over the world who have moved to Pittsburgh for varied reasons and now call Pittsburgh home like myself. I want to put a face to these women who are your neighbors, friends, attendants, employees, etc., and join together to celebrate International Women’s Day.
March is an important month for women. Not only is it International Women’s Day on Sunday, March 8, but it is also Women’s History Month. As an immigrant from Kenya who calls Pittsburgh home, I wanted to highlight the many immigrant women like me who are living in the city, through a photography/interview project where I talked to six women from six habitable continents. Each of them represent a different decade of life. In one photo (color), they show where they are form in their attire or a flag in the background, a location that is quintessentially Pittsburgh. In the other photo (black and white), they are posing in the International Women’s Day “Equal for Each” stance in solidarity with women of the regions they represent, but most importantly Pittsburgh.
The continents and countries represented are:
Africa - Uganda
Asia - Taiwan
Europe - Bulgaria
North America - Pittsburgh
South America - Venezuela
Ocenia - Australia
I asked the women questions they most frequently are asked as immigrants and also had them write it out in their own words, to best demonstrate their own voice.
In this current political climate, the idea of immigrants moving to and living in the United States divides a lot of people, but we are here, and we make up what it means to live in Pittsburgh.
Update:
This photoexhibition is displayed at Tu Y Yo Cafe. Grace, the owner of the Latin American cafe was gracious enough to host the images and is also one of the women featured. The Exhibition was only supposed to run through the end of March but after we announced the launch, Covid happened, leading up to the lockdown and subsequently to close of the restaurants for their dine in services. As things open up, please feel free to stop by the cafe to see it in person.
Photo Exhibition Location:
Tu Y Yo Cafe
447 Harts Run Rd,
Glenshaw, PA 15116
Published: City Paper Pittsburgh
