Wyoming Arts Council

Michael Flicek’s photograph, “Waiting For Work, Wuhan,” was accepted for the ONWARD ’09 Exhibition at Project Basho Gallery in Philadelphia. The show opened Thursday and will run through Feb. 22.

According to the Project Basho Web site, “ONWARD is an annual juried photography exhibition presented by Project Basho exclusively featuring the work of emerging photographers with unique vision and talent.” Peter Barberie, curator of photographs for the Alfred Stieglitz Center at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, juried the exhibition.

Flicek, of Casper, shot this photo last year as part of his “China Life 2008 Project,” featuring photographic images of older neighborhoods in China cities.”The kind of neighborhoods that are rapidly disappearing,” Flicek said.

“Waiting For Work, Wuhan” is of a group of apparent laborers in Wuhan waiting for someone to hire them.”One man appeared to be a bicycle courier while many of the others had bow saws. These saws were handy for cutting bamboo, which is commonly used for scaffolding and other construction purposes in Wuhan and
throughout China,” he said.

Twenty-four images and an artist statement from this project were previously selected for an online exhibition on the portfolio page of Fotomission, a not-for-profit organization based out of South Beach, Florida. To see it, go to Fotomission.org.

This year’s ONWARD competition attracted entries from 413 national and international photographers who submitted over 1600 photographs. Barberie picked
73 photographs from 69 emerging photographers.

To see more of Flicek’s work, go to his Web site, www.michaelflicekgallery.com/.