by Bailey White
Staff Writer
Having settled into his duties as City Council president, Jerry Holland is now doing his part to beautify Council offices with a new display of artwork. An exhibition of photographs of local firefighters was recently installed on the walls of the Council offices.
“When I was installed as president, I had two main issues — education and public safety,” said Holland. “I want to continue to work at both and I felt we could capture public safety in the photographs.”
Holland approached the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters in the initial stages of the project and worked with Randy White, the organization’s president, to choose the photographs that were then blown up and framed.
“They [the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters] took on the expense of having the pieces blown up, and we provided money for the framing,” said Holland.
White, who has been a firefighter for 23 years, is the photographer, though as he says, “I actually know nothing about photography.”
Since the beginning of his term in January, White has been taking photographs of his colleagues and collecting them in an album.
The photographs are large scale, color pieces, showing the community’s firefighters doing “what they do best,” said Holland. Some depict fire personnel in clear moments of danger, charging towards a burning building. Others show them in more reflective moments — in one photograph, two firemen rest in their truck, a bright, quarter moon in the background.
This latest art series continues an unofficial tradition of Council presidents commissioning art for the office. The fire photos replaced an exhibition of photographs of area churches installed by former president Alberta Hipps.
Sandra Henderson, Holland’s assistant, helped coordinate the installation process, which serve as a daily reminder of the work done by public servants.
“These are our local heroes,” she said.