One of the things that made the late Cincinnati Post so good — and made it so important to the city — was its background as a blue-collar, afternoon newspaper. While its morning competition had to struggle to resist seeing the city solely through wealthy establishment eyes, the Post had a natural sense for Cincinnati as experienced by all its citizens. For better and worse, as the fortunes of the working-class (and, by the way, of afternoon newspapers) declined in post-industrial Cincinnati, the Post could capture some heart-wrenching portraits of people on the fringes.
Melvin Grier, a photojournalist for the late, lamented Post for some 30 years, was responsible for quite a few of those portraits. A retrospective of his work, much of it in classic black-and-white but several in color, is at the Kennedy Heights Arts Center through June 11. The show is called White People: A Retrospective, because — one presumes — as a black man, Grier didn’t take for granted the places to which his assignments gave him privileged access.
White People: A Retrospective is on view at Kennedy Heights Arts Center through June 11. Go here to read Steve Rosen's full review.
