Heavy. Literally and physically, about 115 pounds of metal to be specific. Jai Tanju’s solo show “Heavy” at The Slingluff Gallery, March 5 from 6-9pm, is an interactive photography show. He has combined metal work and his 15 years of skateboarding photography to make this show heavy, which correlates to the heavy content of his photos and the metal that the photos are mounted on. Also, most of the photos are encased with a metal hinged top that viewer lifts to reveal the photo. Why metal and photography? Jai has only been working in the metal fabricating field for about a year, but he’s fallen in love with the cold, heavy, rusty and dangerous aspects of the job and it was only natural for him to combine the two.

Jai Tanju, born in Long Island, NY and raised in San Jose, CA, comes from a long line of painters from Turkey. So, he has the mind of a painter but his style really meshed well with photography. At 25, Jai started taking pictures with a camera his grandfather gave him. He took a photography class at a local community college where he got a D-. That was the end of his class instruction, but the just the beginning of his love for photography. At the time he was living in downtown San Jose with his two friends Jason Adams & Tim Brauch, both pro skateboarders. He then started taking a lot of pictures of them & their skateboarding abitilities. Slowly he started to make something off these pictures & a few years later he was offered a job at skateboarder magazine where he worked for about 4 years, traveling, skateboarding & taking pictures along the way of his friends, surroundings & other pro skaters. His career as a skateboarding photograph has been going strong ever since.

The Slingluff Gallery
11 West Girard Ave, Philadelphia, Pa 19123
or on the information super highway at: www.SlingluffGallery.com