For Immediate Release
Contact: Bill Underwood
(561) 267-2632
Wellington Teen’s Photo Exhibit
“Palm Beach: One County, Two Worlds,”
Opens April 15 at Dolly Hand Cultural Arts Center
“This project does not pass judgment in any way. Its intent, using photography as a medium, is to highlight the stark differences that exist between two parts of one Florida county.” – Allison Parssi
Exhibition runs April 15 – May 20, 2010
Dolly Hand Cultural Arts Center / Palm Beach Community College
1977 SW College Dr, Belle Glade, FL 33430 / (561) 993-1160
Sponsored by Chandler Gallery, Fine Art & Custom Framing in Jupiter
Wellington, FL — When she first envisioned the photo exhibit she titled Palm Beach: One County, Two Worlds Wellington teenager Allison Parssi hoped that her photos and the story they told would resonate with viewers. The reaction, she said, has been “amazing.”
The exhibit, a collection of forty side-by-side images taken in Belle Glade and Palm Beach , explores the great disparity that exists between the eastern- and western-most regions of Palm Beach County. To the east is the town of Palm Beach, ranked as the third-richest community in America with a per capita income of $109,219 and an average estimated home value of $1,130,739. On the western edge of the county is the city of Belle Glade , where the median household income is around $22,000 and the average estimated home value is $130,170. (sources: income data, 2000 census; home values, AOL real estate chart, April 2009).
Parssi’s photographs offer side-by-side comparisons of such things such as schools (Palm Beach Pubic School / Lake Shore Annex); watercraft (a luxury yacht docked in Palm Beach / a meager fishing boat in Belle Glade); churches (an ornate church in Palm Beach / a simple metal building that houses a church in Belle Glade) and other side by side comparisons that bring into focus the extremes that can be found in this one county we all call home.
“This project does not pass judgment in any way,” said Parssi. “Its intent, using photography as a medium, is to highlight the stark differences that exist between two parts of one Florida county.”
Parssi was inspired to create the exhibit while reading The Story of My Life by Helen Keller. In 1902 Keller wrote: “Several times I have visited the narrow, dirty streets where the poor live, and I grow hot and indignant to think that good people should be content to live in fine houses and become strong and beautiful, while others are condemned to live in hideous, sunless tenements and grow ugly, withered and cringing.”
Just as she was finishing the book, Parssi said she heard about the people of Belle Glade being forced to live with contaminated water; and children of migrant farm workers who were born with missing limbs and other birth defects due to chemicals used in the fields where they work.
“I had the opportunity, prior to beginning work on this project,” said Parssi, “to visit both communities, so I already had an understanding of the differences between the two.” Parssi believes that many people do not know about the huge difference between eastern and western Palm Beach County, and this exhibit will help them better understand those differences. “The license tags on our vehicles have the words ‘Palm Beach’ on them, because we live in Palm Beach County . When we travel, people always ask what it’s like living in Palm Beach . They think we live on ‘the island.’ I always tell them we live in Wellington , which is in Palm Beach County but worlds away from Palm Beach .”
“Palm Beach: One County, Two Worlds” is sponsored by Chandler Gallery, Fine Art & Custom Framing in Jupiter.
Allison Parssi contact information (not for publication): 561-792-7731. -END-