Reading\u2019s City Hall doubled as an art gallery last week with a popup exhibition of photographs highlighting the city\u2019s beauty, spirit and sense of community.<\/p>\n
Organized by Barrio Alegria, the event featured the works of local artists who set out to capture familiar as well as overlooked aspects of the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis exhibition is not just about photography, it\u2019s about civic pride,\u201d said Anthony Orozco, director of operations for Barrio Alegria. \u201cThese talented photographers have captured Reading\u2019s essence in a way that reminds us why we love this city.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event featured works by participants in Barrio\u2019s Ojos: Eye of the Beholder project, a community-focused photography program.<\/p>\n
\u201cOjos\u201d means \u201ceyes\u201d in Spanish.<\/p>\n
![\"Reading's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_8896.jpg\")
Reading\u2019s City Hall doubled as an art gallery Friday with a popup exhibition of photographs highlighting the city\u2019s beauty, spirit and sense of community. The exhibit was part of Barrio Alegria\u2019s Ojos photography program. Photos by Michael Harts, Courtesy of Barrio Alegria.<\/p>\n
The program seeks to foster a sense of community connection and leadership among young artists and highlight the beauty and everyday life of Reading through diverse perspectives, organizers said.<\/p>\n
To create the exhibit, more than a dozen photographers took part in free workshops led by award-winning photojournalist Susan L. Angstadt and international multimedia artist Juliana Delgado.<\/p>\n
The participants used their own or borrowed digital cameras for two weeks to document life on the north and south sides of Reading.<\/p>\n
The resulting collection showcased a wide range of images, from striking architectural details and cityscapes to neighborhood snapshots and quiet everyday moments, Orozco said. It also reflected each artist\u2019s personal connection to the city and offered fresh perspectives on its landscapes and community life, he noted.<\/p>\n
The public had the chance to meet the photographers, enjoy light refreshments and purchase prints during the free event.<\/p>\n
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Ojos Photography program, one of Barrio Alegria\u2019s longest-running initiatives.<\/p>\n
The Reading-based nonprofit arts organization offers workshops, presentations and courses designed to empower residents and build community through the arts.<\/p>\n
The reception was presented in partnership with the city of Reading and its Downtown Reading initiative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reading\u2019s City Hall doubled as an art gallery last week with a popup exhibition of photographs highlighting the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,857,182,139,28,736,128,130,129,706],"class_list":{"0":"post-3271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-berks-county","9":"tag-essential-reading","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-reading","14":"tag-reading-city","15":"tag-reading-city-headlines","16":"tag-reading-city-news","17":"tag-top-stories-reg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}