Mary Button’s ‘Hymnbook Project’ Exhibited at Tisch

An exhibition by Mary Button, the 2006 Daniel Rosenberg Fellowship winner in the Department of Photography & Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts, is on view through Jan. 5. Entitled The Hymnbook Project, the exhibition features works that explore the difficult relationship between faith and history in the American South.

      The Hymnbook Project comprises 15 artist books, each addressing different aspects of Southern culture, in personal narratives that explore topics as diverse as anti-Catholic propaganda in Louisiana, the novel Gone with the Wind, and the civil rights movement. Antique bibles, Sunday school primers, funeral home fans, sheet music, and other religious ephemera were collected from South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia, and Texas and used in the creation of these books.

      The Daniel Rosenberg Fellowship was established in 1989 by Irwin and Civia Rosenberg in memory of their son Daniel, who completed his B.F.A. degree in the Department of Photography in 1988. Each year since its inception, the fellowship has enabled one graduating senior to pursue a project involving travel.

      Button is a Southern-born but Brooklyn-based book artist.  Last June, her work was featured as part of a showcase of emerging artists in the Festival of the Photograph. She is currently a production manager at artnet.com.

      The Hymnbook Project is on view through January 5, 2008 in the Gulf+Western Gallery (rear of lobby), located at 721 Broadway (at Waverly Place).  Gallery hours are 10 a.m. through 7 p.m. weekdays and noon to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. For further information, call 212-998-1930; or visit www.photo. tisch.nyu.edu, or email photo. tsoa@nyu.edu.