SCRANTON — For some people, window shopping is an art. For Tamara Dunn, it is art.
Dunn, a Nanticoke resident and Times Leader night editor, has spent the better part of two decades photographing shop window displays.
She was on hand Friday as selections from her ongoing series, “Store Windows,” were on display themselves at the Scranton Art Haus theater in downtown Scranton. They were exhibited as part of Scranton’s monthly First Friday celebration of local art.
The venue was fitting, as it represented another of Dunn’s interests: Cinema. Readers should recognize Dunn’s name from her film column, “That’s a Wrap,” which appears in the Weekender and the Times Leader.
Her interest in store windows dates back to a college project.
“In 2000, when I was a student at Wake Forest, we were given an assignment to do a series of photos, and I started with store windows,” Dunn said.
While the early entries in the series focused on the shopping districts in the area around her alma mater in North Carolina, Dunn said the project continued to follow her imagination a she moved from city to city on the east coast. And 20 years later, she’s still doing it.
“It’s like the assignment never ended,” she said.
While Dunn said some viewers might be inclined to think that her fascination with window displays is caused by a penchant for fashion, Dunn said it’s about more than that. While exploring the very literal barrier between the consumer and the products they are buying, Dunn said her work explores themes of race, body positivity and the passage of time.
Most notably, Dunn said one of the things that stands out to her the most in recent years is the way mannequins have changed over time.
“I saw a plus-sized mannequin in a wedding dress at a shop in Quakertown, which I was very surprised by,” she said. “You wouldn’t see that in New York City.”
Dunn’s work suggest the way mannequins have changed in the 20 years she’s been photographing them reflect changing societal attitudes, as they are increasingly made in non-white races and come in a variety of sizes besides being incredibly thin. Some are even heavily-tattooed, she said.
The project has definitely become a preoccupation for her.
“Whenever I go to a new place, we have to take a detour to the shopping district,” she said.
Dunn is currently working on a series of books, highlighting the photos from the “Store Windows” project.
Her exhibit at Scranton Art Haus, 301 Lackawanna Ave., continues until the first Friday in February.
