From the 1930s until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that Third Street Box Office, around the corner from the grand marquee and lobby of The Paramount theater in Charlottesville, served as the “Coloreds Only” ticket office and entrance to the Paramount Theater. A new exhibit brings people into that reality. Kori Price/Charlottesville Tomorrowby Kori Price

I’m curious about who is paying attention.

Not specifically to the art I created and installed as a part of the Paramount Theater’s Third Street Box Office project, but to our community and our collective history in Charlottesville. How often do we disrupt our daily hustle to the next meeting, to the next dinner, to the next event to be present in the spaces we pass through and the spaces we occupy?

“Walking Dualities” is a set of four life-size photographs printed on vinyl banners. By using a longer shutter speed and capturing motion blur, Black people from our present become apparitions representing Black folks from the past, walking to go see a movie or a show. I composed two of the photographs by combining pieces of over 25 different images and placed two in-motion photographs at the box office to draw passerbys’ attention and direct it toward the Third Street Box Office.

From the 1930s until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that box office, around the corner from the grand marquee and lobby, served as the “Coloreds Only” ticket office and entrance to the Paramount Theater. After purchasing their tickets, Black patrons would have to use a separate, outdoor staircase that led to seating in the balcony.

While they might have had the best seats in the house, the intent was to keep them as invisible members of society.

>>See the full story on Charlottesville Tomorrow’s site.