2013 CARNEGIE INTERNATIONAL ACQUISITIONS: ZOE STRAUSS
Zoe Strauss American, b. 1970
15 photographs from the project Homesteading: Mayor Esper on Picket Line, 2013 Jitney Office, 2013 Diane’s Hand, 2013 Deer in Cemetery Where Strikers Are Buried, 2013 Homestead Homes at Sunset, 2013 Homestead Homes at Night, 2013 Erica at Work, 2013 Vendomatic Job Application, 2013 Facebook Status of Homestead Resident, July 12, 2013, 2013 Jet-skiing on the Monongahela, 2013 Ryan on the Homestead Grays Bridge, 2013 Homestead Appliances Bow, 2013 K-9 Call, 2013 West Homestead Homes, 2013 Blast Furnace Matriarchy, 2013
For the 2013 Carnegie International, Zoe Strauss lived and an operated a portrait studio in Homestead, PA, a borough just outside of Pittsburgh and former site of Andrew Carnegie’s steelworks.
The 215 portraits of neighborhood residents that she gifted to the museum at the close of the exhibition reflect the relationships that she formed during her time there. These street photographs, taken around the neighborhood outside the portrait studio, document some of the first encounters the artist had in Homestead—with characters ranging from the town mayor, Betty “Bo Bo” Esper, and a factory worker named Diane to a shirtless young man on the Homestead Grays Bridge—as well as the homes and businesses that were to become familiar sights over the course of her stay.











