Former City Woman's Photo Exhibit Tells Stories of Women Immigrants

The Museum of Work & Culture will feature an exhibit by Maria Bleahu titled “Photographic Journey of New Americans in the Ohio Mahoning Valley,” starting now through the month of August.

The exhibit was created to acquaint locals with their immigrant neighbors and to welcome them into the community.  It  features the ethnographies of 18 women from around the world who moved to the US for a better life, aligning wonderfully with one of the main narratives of the Museum of Work & Culture.  

The women whose photos and profiles are featured in the exhibit represent all different ages and nationalities including China, Ethiopia, France, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Liberia, Malaysia, Mexico, Palestine, Peru, Russia Syria, Ukraine and Vietnam.  are all different age ranges and nationalities including Chinese, Lebanese and French.

Bleahu is a native of Romania and a former resident of Woonsocket.  Maria’s father, Fr. Remus Bleahu, was the pastor at St. John the Baptist Romanian Orthodox church in Woonsocket, RI for 10 years.  She attended Boston University and finished her degrees at Youngstown State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology and a Masters of Fine Arts in Photography.  

While in college, she started her own freelance photography business and started videotaping events for clients.  She also attended the NY Film Academy where she studied writing and directing films for one year.  After film school, she was hired by Stark State College to be an adjunct instructor for the video department.  

She eventually took on a full time faculty position and course coordinator of the video department.  In 2008 she won best cinematography for :The Fastest gun in the West” at the London Soho Short Film Festival and the same film made it to the Cannes Film Festival 8mm Short Film competition. 

The show has been to a number of venues including the Trumbull Art Gallery, the Youngstown Historical Society of Labor and Industry, the Maag Library of Youngstown State University and the Hoy Museum in New Castle, PA. 

The Museum of Work & Culture is located at 42 South Main St., Woonsocket, RI and is open Tuesday-Friday 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Sunday 1-4 p.m. For questions, call 401-769-9675.