New Photo Exhibit Announced At JKC Gallery Beginning 4/12

Mercer County Community College's (MCCC's) James Kerney Campus Gallery (JKCG) in downtown Trenton announces the opening of "America in a Trance," an exhibit by photographer Niko J. Kallianiotis, whose images of life in small Pennsylvania towns capture a fading picture of the American dream. The show runs from Thursday, April 12 through Thursday, May 10.

On Wednesday, April 18, JKCG invites the community to an Artist's Talk and Reception with Kallianiotis from 5 to 7:30 p.m. The talk will begin at 5:30 p.m. JKCG is located in MCCC's Trenton Hall, 137 North Broad Street, across the street from the Kerney Building. Additional hours for this exhibit will be posted on the JKCG website: www.mccc.edu/JKCgallery.

JKCG's director and curator is Michael Chovan-Dalton, Coordinator of the MCCC Photography and Digital Imaging program.

Kallianiotis was born in Greece, but immigrated to Scranton, Pa., 20 years ago. Since then he has crisscrossed the state, taking numerous photographs of Pennsylvania's small towns, including Scranton, Aliquippa, Lehighton, and many places in between. He notes that he came to America with visions of prosperity and vibrancy based on Hollywood movies. But what he discovered was something very different.

He has seen abandonment of buildings that once were sites of prosperous factories. He has seen casinos rising where industry once thrived. More recently, he has observed parallels between the troubled economy of his home country and the one in Pennsylvania: rising unemployment, a glut of services, and no industry. Now, he has turned those photos into the project he calls "America in a Trance."

Kallianiotis was recently featured in an interview by Elizabeth Flock on PBS Newshour. During the interview, he said, "I include the human element. But it's more about the place, and passing through it."

On his website, Kallianiotis states: "This project is an ongoing observation of the fading American dream so typified in the Northeastern Pennsylvania landscape but widespread across the United States...Through form, light and color, I let my work develop organically, and become commentary both of place, but also of self...I seek to visualize the core values of American society, while at the same time reevaluate my own."

Gallery Director Dalton notes that Kallianiotis' work is both reactionary and commentary. "He has witnessed the economic rise and falls in both his hometown of Scranton, Pa., and in his homeland of Greece. His work explores the social landscape of the places he has lived and visited while exploring his identity in both cultures," Dalton said.

Kallianiotis' work has been extensively featured in solo and group exhibitions from local shows in Pennsylvania to galleries in Vermont, Arizona, New York, California, Israel, the United Kingdom, and his native Greece. He has been featured in a long list of publications, including Focus on the Story, Edge of Humanity, iFocus, Fraction Magazine, C41 Magazine, Phroom Magazine, Photographers Quarterly, ArtCore Magazine, Vice Magazine, The New York Times Lens Blog, and International Street Photographer Magazine.