FARGO, ND.- ArtView: Secrets of the City: Photographs of Fargo by Meghan Duda opens May 28 and runs through August 16, 2009 in the Serkland Law Firm and Xcel Energy Galleries at Plains Art Museum. In this ArtView exhibition, Duda’s photographs reveal and highlight secrets that are in plain sight but that people rarely really see or notice.

Duda, currently of Fargo, is originally from Charleston, South Carolina. She received her formal education in architecture from Virginia Tech and after graduating decided to follow her passion of photography by pursuing a career in architectural photography. Her work is mostly documentary, finding inspiration in industrial and vernacular architecture. Secrets of the City is Duda’s attempt to document her observations of Fargo as a new resident. Being new to the city offers a point of view that often fades as one becomes accustomed to one’s surroundings.Duda records the moments often passed by.

Duda is one of a dwindling number of professional photographers who continues photographing with film. She says that the medium allows for extraordinary precision, contrast and detail. She prefers working with a tripod and large format camera, creating a way of looking that is different from working with smaller formats. The size of the camera creates a relation to the photographed object and this factor influences the photo. Each photo is therefore more carefully planned, making the outcome more beautiful in proportion and balance.

Secrets of the City is part of a dynamic initiative, PlainsInsideOUT, a series of programs that uses the arts to offer opportunities for fresh perspectives on our urban spaces and places. PlainsInsideOUT aims to give audiences experiences of new art forms; opportunities to meet and work with exciting artists and designers from local, regional and national arenas; and new insights through participatory art events about our town and cultures. Many of the PlainsInsideOUT programs will take art and audiences out of the museum building and into the neighborhood in downtown Fargo.

The exhibition is also part of the Museum’s signature ArtView program, which enables local and regional artists to exhibit their work in the Museum’s additional gallery spaces. ArtView exhibitions are supported by a grant from The FUNd at the Plains Art Museum.