It is night. A boy of about twelve stands on the sidewalk, a halo of light from the Clearfield Beer Distributor framing his dark outline. The boy looks to our right, toward the darkened storefront of the Front St. Gym Boxing Club. Caught between two choices on the lonely street, the boy takes a step the other way, black hightop a quick-stepping blur.

Charged with tension and steeped in atmospherics, Jim Lommasson’s photographs of the vanishing world of boxing gyms will be featured at The Painted Bride as part of the First Person Festival. Five of the gyms are in Philadelphia: Front Street Gym, Joe Frazier Gym, Blue Horizon, James Shuler Memorial Gym, Joey Eyes and Goodfellas. The bound version of this exhibit is found in Shadow Boxers: Sweat, Sacrifice & the Will to Survive in American Boxing Gyms.

On Friday, November 7th, join us for American Fight Clubs

Location: Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St.

Time: A reception will run from 5-9pm in the Painted Bride Gallery, and Jim Lommasson will lead a discussion at 7pm.

Cost: Free

Jim Lommasson is a photographer based in Portland, Oregon. He and writer Katherine Dunn were awarded the 2004 Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University for their collaboration on this book. Recently, he has been photographing and interviewing returning Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans. “Recovery Mission,” a photo essay featuring their stories, appears in the September issue of Portland Monthly Magazine. The complete work will be exhibited at the New American Art Union this fall.

The exhibit will be on display in the Painted Bride Gallery during the Festival and throughout November and December.

Find out more about Lommasson at his website, and if you happen to be in Portland over the next month, stop in and see his work Exit Wounds: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming at the New American Art Union.