Based off an April 2015 article in National Geographic Magazine, “Taking Back Detroit,” is a gallery at the MSU Museum. The article was written by MSU alumna Susan Ager.
The exhibit was first put together by MSU’s College of Communication Arts and Sciences and ran from April 18, 2015 to May 10, 2015. It has been in the MSU Museum since June 24 and will be displayed until Jan. 2017.
One reason for basing this exhibit off Detroit is the gallery’s ties to two MSU alumnae, Ager and Editor-in-Chief at National Geographic, Susan Goldberg.
Since the start of National Geographic in 1888, Goldberg is the first ever woman to hold the title of editor of the magazine.
“I would say that (featuring two MSU alumnae) was the catalyst on how it (“Taking Back Detroit”) came to be at the MSU Museum,” Production Assistant at the MSU Museum Stephanie Palagyi said.
A Detroit-themed gallery has been represented in the MSU Museum once before. The gallery, “Detroit Resurgent” was featured in 2013.
“They’re both similar in profiling Detroit and all of the great things that are happening since the bankruptcy (in July 2013),” Palagyi said. “(We want) to inform people of all of the great things and to help promote Detroit and what’s going on in Detroit.”
Ager, a Detroit native, worked for the Detroit Free Press for 25 years. Despite this, Ager didn’t exactly like the writing side of the article, the exhibit is based on.
“Despite all my years of experience, writing remains a hellish process for me,” Ager said. “I loved reporting it. ... I was astonished and amazed to see the changes that are happening, especially downtown, in Corktown, in Midtown and in some other more far-flung places in the city.”
Ager said she felt pressured writing about Detroit for a national publication such as National Geographic.
“The reputation of the magazine led me to feel quite intimidated,” Ager said. “I also knew that every person who has ever lived in the city of Detroit or visited city of Detroit would have a opinion of their own. ... I felt like I was writing about an icon and only had three thousand words to do it.”
Along with this, Ager noticed there was something different about the city she loved when reporting “Taking Back Detroit.”
“There’s a tangible hope in the city and tangible excitement that I haven’t seen in my lifetime,” Ager said.
