Columbia Pike Documentary Project Gets Emmy Nod
By Clara Ritger
In 2008, freelance photographer Lloyd Wolf paired up with Paula Endo, a long-time friend and fellow photographer, to start the Columbia Pike Documentary Project [CPDP], a photographic history of the Columbia Pike community. The team they assembled to help complete the project has already made history. Roger Munter, a producer at the Arlington Virginia Network, created a documentary video on their work that received a regional Emmy nomination.
The documentary captured the photographers moving throughout the community. Rather than sitting them in a room and doing an interview, Munter stayed true to the project by documenting the documentary project. “They love their community, and they recognize that it is changing, and it is kind of scary. You don’t know what will still be there five years down the road,” he says.
Wolf describes the Columbia Pike community as “a wonderful, rich mix of humanity in a bland package.” He believes that the community has a lesson to offer, and his art is not just for art’s sake. “People here don’t live separated from one another like the enclaves of New York. It’s a model of how a diverse community can co-exist on the visual side. It’s a model of a way that urbanization can be done right.”
Wolf thinks the project will increase awareness of racial tolerance. “By highlighting the diversity, I believe it has political ramifications, especially with increased acceptance in the community,” he says.
“After all, the moral imperative of art is to bear witness,” Munter adds.
(August 2011)
Slideshow
Photography by Aleksandra Lagueva, Duy Tran, Lloyd Wolf, Paula Endo and Xang Mimo Ho
[slideshow id=37]
