While the challenge of quarantines, shutdowns and other issues in 2020 were a nightmare for many, it was a literal nightmare that led Fischer to this project.
“It was a woman drowning in words. I had a third-party view of her, they just kept pounding her down,” he said. “This became my own personal interpretation of that.”
Fischer began collecting the 400- to 1,000-word essays of various people, from frontline workers and business leaders to everyday people on how 2020 impacted them. He then took two photos of them, one with a mask, one unmasked, putting them together and adding words from their stories over the images.
Rod Hatfield of Hatch New Media is collaborating with Fischer, as are the Heritage Center of Clark County and the McRay Company.
“Ty is one of the best portrait photographers I’ve ever met. When he approached me with the idea, I was instantly on board,” Hatfield said. “This gives people a platform for what a challenging year it had been.”
Fischer’s goal is to collect $20,000 for the project. The vision is to put up an exhibit of pictures, murals, audio and video installations from Mother Stewart’s Brewing Company up to COhatch on spaces such as the walls of the Park at 99 parking garage.
He will also have a coffee-table book of the photos available at a later date. Although the photos are in black and white and may be a stark reminder of a troubling time, Fischer wants the public to see it as a positive.
“This is strictly a passion project for me. It’s a celebration of making it through, about the empathy of what people went through and I’m simply the vessel displaying these personal lives,” Fischer said.
Dates for the exhibit will be announced later this summer.
To make a contribution, go to www.gofundme.com/f/your-story-exhibit. For samples of the photos and stories of individuals who are part of the exhibit, go to Fischer’s Facebook page.
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