Marion Faller: It’s a Wonderful Display in the Neighborhood

“My work is about how individuals and communities visually express their values, their interests, and their sense of what is important and beautiful….I am trying to document both the ordinary and the extraordinarily inventive ways people…[follow] established traditions and [create] new ones”

— Marion Faller

Western New York is a rich community of diverse people who have all left their mark on how events are celebrated throughout the year. Photographer Marion Faller has captured these moments in time to document the innovations shown by members of our community. The selection of chosen photographs showcases many types of yearly celebrations: religious, political, emotional, and secular. From a wintry scene tucked away over a bar to a large blown-up figure on a suburban lawn, or a simple doorstep decorated for a good old-fashioned scare, the photographs in this exhibit showcase the various traditions and rituals that have shaped Western New York’s identity through the lens of Marion Faller.

The Collection Study Gallery exhibition was created by undergraduate students in the “Curatorship” museum studies course, who include: Kelly M. Donovan, Krisha J. Godwin, Gabriel Maldonado, Matthew J. Massina, Deirdre B. Reynolds, Angelica M. Rodriquez, Katherine A. Shantler, and Malik Shaw. They worked with Nancy Weekly, Burchfield Penney Instructor of Museum Studies at SUNY Buffalo State and Head of Collections and the Charles Cary Rumsey Curator of the Burchfield Penney Art Center. The students selected images, researched the subject matter, and wrote label texts for adults and children. Their written texts also have been collected in a binder and will be kept in the museum’s document files for this important collection.