One of my images entitled "Icon" at The Detroit Historical Museum for the exhibit "Corktown Works!"

The history of Ancient Mesopotamia and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were some of my father’s favorite topics which he loved sharing with me regularly. I didn’t realize it at the time, but now I understand what he was trying to do: through understanding your roots and having an interest in history, you realize we all share a common experience that binds us together. This is why I am so excited to be a part of an upcoming historical exhibit on the oldest surviving neighborhood in Detroit, MI.

The exhibit, Corktown Works!, opens this Friday, January 22 and runs through April 26, 2010 at the Detroit Historical Museum. Of course, there will be a historical component, but its focus includes the living community of contemporary Corktown as well. My photographs show people living, working and playing in Corktown, representing the current economic and ethnic diversity of the neighborhood, which is its strength and the key to its vitality as a community. The opening reception starts at 6:30 p.m. and though it is a invite only event, email me here and I will forward you an electronic invite you can print out and bring with you.

The Blueflowers - photo © Marvin Shaouni Photography

Also, the following evening, Saturday January 23rd, I will be at the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID). I won’t be showing any photographs, as you might expect, but instead will be performing with my band the Blueflowers, celebrating Yelp’s one-year anniversary.  Music has always been a huge part of my life too and this should be a fun show. As long as you are signed up for a free Yelp account, you get in free. We will start our set around 9:15 pm, opening for my fiancée’s band Scarlet Oaks. She and I are both drummers, so as soon as we are done playing our reverb-soaked spaghetti western twang, she’ll “man” the kit and shuffle the gritty grind.  Should be a fun weekend… let’s make history!