“Windows to the Past: Arlington, Then and Now” A Historic Photo Exhibit by Tom Dickinson
On exhibit at the Shirlington Branch Library, November 5, 2019- December 16, 2019
The exhibit is a compilation and comparative arrangement of historical, documentary photographs of residential and commercial buildings in Arlington that all have been demolished – and the structures that replaced them in the exact location. The photographs document a time span from the late 1800s and early 1900s (when most of the original buildings were constructed) to the present.
The exhibit is a photographic depiction of the slow, but inexorable and ceaseless changes to the character of the community through extensive loss of older homes and buildings over the last 40 years in Arlington.
The Shirlington area is highlighted in this exhibit. All pieces are for sale, and others can be custom ordered. This project is the result of an Arlington Arts Grant award.
About the Artist:
My interest in photography started when my Grandmother gave me her Kodak Folding Brownie camera which she acquired around 1915. My Dad was also an avid photographer, shooting
Kodak color slide film exclusively. Sunday nights in my home routinely included watching “The Ed Sullivan Show” on a small black and white TV, followed by a big-screen, real-life, full-color slide show of my Dad’s most recent photographs.
My first photographic subjects were not people, but outdoor scenes around my house and neighborhood, thus the basis for my lasting interest in documentary and scenic photography,
and the places where I have lived. Arlington has been my home for the last 40 years. I have owned a camera and have taken photographs continuously for over 60 years.
Want to buy something you see on our walls?
Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.