The Oxford Project - Prairie Lights

Ticket Availability: No ticketing

Seating: General admission

More Info: www.welcomebooks.com/theoxfordproject

Description

Steve Bloom and Peter Feldstein with the Oxford Project

THE OXFORD PROJECT
A new book by Oxford, IA resident Peter Feldstein and University of Iowa professor Stephen G. Bloom

A theatrical presentation of The Oxford Project featuring the authors and a number of special guests!

Book signing to follow.

A portion of the proceeds to benefit Iowa Flood Relief

To learn more about THE OXFORD PROJECT, please visit www.welcomebooks.com/theoxfordproject

Sponsored by Prairie Lights Books and Welcome Books.

Description:
In 1984, photographer Peter Feldstein set out to photograph every single resident of his town, Oxford, Iowa (pop. 676). He converted an abandoned storefront on Main Street into a makeshift studio and posted fliers inviting people to stop by. At first they trickled in slowly, but in the end, nearly all of Oxford stood before Feldstein’s lens.

Twenty years later, Feldstein decided to do it again. He invited writer Stephen G. Bloom to join him, and together they went in search of the Oxford residents Feldstein originally shot in 1984. Some had moved. Most had stayed. Others had passed away. All were marked by the passage of time.

This time, they didn’t just pose, they talked—about their lives over the past two decades—about children lost and loves finally found; about living with illness and the wounds of war; about small town values and the promise of an afterlife; about making ends meet and wishing for more; about dreams unfulfilled and simple daily pleasures.

Through Feldstein's lens, meet the town auctioneer who fell in love with his wife in high school while ice-skating together on local ponds; his wife who recalls the dress she wore as his prom date over fifty years ago; a retired buck skinner who started a gospel church and awaits the rapture in 2028; the donut baker at the Depot who went from having to be weighed on a livestock scale to losing over 150 pounds with the support of all of Oxford; a twenty-one year-old man photographed in 1984 as an infant in his fathers arms, who has now survived both of his parents due to tragedy and illness. In these pages, over 150 people come to life through their own words, their portraits that span two decades, and through the complex connections that are revealed among neighbors, friends, and family.

In a town like Oxford, Iowa, not only does everyone know everyone else, but also everyone else's brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, lovers, secrets, failures, dreams, and favorite pot luck recipes. This intricate web illustrates the disappearing tradition of small town America and is unforgettably captured in The Oxford Project in beautiful black-and-white portraiture and astonishing rural storytelling.

What emerges is a living portrait of Small Town, USA, told with the words and images of its residents—then and now—and textured by their own words. It tells the compelling story of one archetypal American community—its struggles, accomplishments, failures, and secrets—and how it has both changed, and stayed the same, over the course of the years.



See the authors on YouTube: