Community Corner
Photo Exhibit On Lafayette Crosses Opens
The exhibit at the Lafayette library was organized by a woman who has lived in town for 24 years
A photo exhibit featuring one of Lamorinda's most visible landmarks has opened.
"The Crosses: A Protest Against Forgetting" is now on display in the gallery hallway inside the Community Hall building at the Lafayette Library and Learning Center.
The exhibit, which opened Monday afternoon, features 18 photographs of the Lafayette crosses that sit on a hillside across the BART station as a remembrance of the soldiers killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The pictures were taken by Binh Danh, a Vietnamese-born photographer who specializes in war memorials. Danh, a professor at Arizona State University as well as a well-known photographer, uses a Daguerreotype process for all his works.
The library exhibit is the world premiere of the crosses photographs. It runs through March 21.
The exhibit was organized by Carol Reif, a 24-year resident of Lafayette who specializes in curation and exhibits.
She petitioned the Lafayette Public Art Committee last summer to display Danh's photographs. They approved the request.
Reif said she was drawn to the project because she lived through the history of the white hillside crosses from when they were first installed to the shouting matches along Deer Hill Road to what she believes is an acceptance now of the symbolic markers.
"Maybe that's why it was time for this artwork to be made public," she said.
Reif added she feels the exhibit is one that is appropriate for a public place like the city library.
"It's part of our history," she said. "It's art and art is intended to start conversations."
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