News Release

Capitol Exhibit Honors America's Last Pioneers

Oct. 29, 2007

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Ann Dee Lee
Public Information Director
Oklahoma Arts Council
(405) 521-2931
anndee@arts.ok.gov

Oklahoma City, OK -- M.J. Alexander traveled nearly 5,000 miles of dirt roads, main streets, and interstates to photograph and interview more than 100 Oklahomans born in or before 1907. Her exhibit, The Centenarianswill be on display in the first floor of the East Gallery at the State Capitol from October 29th through January 6th. Curated by the Oklahoma Arts Council, the East Gallery is devoted to Oklahoma’s finest photographers and is open daily from 8:30-5:00.

Her mission was to photograph the oldest people in one of the youngest states for Oklahoma's 100th birthday. The elders in this exhibit represent an estimated 400 Oklahoma centenarians. Alexander said that the featured portraits show us 100 different ways to be 100.

“I met them where they lived, traveling through tornado sirens in Blackwell, forest fire haze north of Ardmore, and ice storms in Yukon, through temperatures ranging from 5 to 105 degrees. The trek demonstrated the conditions Oklahoma 's elders weathered without the luxury of running water, much less central heat or air-conditioning. As I spent more time with more centenarians and absorbed their stories, I came to realize their unique significance. They are America’s last pioneers,” said Alexander.

As a photographer and writer, Alexander explores the people and places of the American west, combining the vision of an artist with the skills of a storyteller. Her photographs have been published in the United States and abroad and exhibited in venues ranging from Pleiades Gallery of New York City to New Mexico 's Hubbard Museum of the American West.

She is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States who graduated with degrees from Vassar College and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and earned a Certificate in British Culture from Cambridge University. Since moving to Oklahoma City in 1998, she has become a fulltime independent photographer and creative writer. She is the first Oklahoman to have a solo show in the Main Gallery of the International Photography Hall of Fame.

For more information, contact Ann Dee Lee, Public Information Director, Oklahoma Arts Council, (405) 521-2931 or anndee@arts.ok.gov.

ABOUT THE OKLAHOMA ARTS COUNCIL

The Oklahoma Arts Council is a state agency whose mission is to improve lives through the arts by promoting and sustaining the development of a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education and economic vitality for all Oklahomans.

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