Arts Editor

Photos of graffiti in the District by an artist exploring the boundary between legitimate and illegitimate messages. Images of food and cooking and portraits by a photographer trying to connect with her husband's heritage.

Those images are included in the more than 1,000 exhibits by visual and performing artists at Artomatic 2009 in the District through July 5.

Boricua by Marriage (Boricua refers to someone born or raised in Puerto Rico) explores the Puerto Rican culture of photographer Stacey Viera's husband, Luis.

All nine of the Arlington resident's black-and-white photos were taken in Puerto Rico.

A University of Maryland graduate, she says she became interested in being a photographer after she saw and reflected upon some of the images of her family that her grandfather, a professional photographer, had taken.

"I was sitting at the dining room table and looking at the portraits taken by my grandfather of my great-grandparents' 50th anniversary party, my great-aunt and -uncle's wedding reception and photos of others in the family and thought how much I was enjoying the pictures, which had been taken 50 or 60 years ago," Viera, 30, says. "I decided that I wanted to provide people with that same kind of feeling."

The photographer, who grew up in a Conservative home in Silver Spring ‹ she became a bat mitzvah at the Conservative Shaare Tefila Congregation ‹ says she couldn't have imagined as a kid she would marry a non-Jew.

"But what I have learned is that our backgrounds are not so different when you begin comparing them," says Viera, who runs a home business specializing in public relations, writing and photography. "One of the things that make me feel at home in Puerto Rico or here is the warmth and familial feeling you get from the people."

Among the photos is one of her husband's 100-year-old grandfather waving good-bye to them.

Food plays a big part in both cultures, she says, and she wanted to cook traditional Puerto Rican and Cuban foods for her husband.

"My willingness to incorporate Puerto Rican culture into our life together has strengthened our ability to relate to each other and his willingness to incorporate Judaism into our family also," she says, noting that her husband has agreed to raise their future children Jewish.

In addition, she loves food and seeing people enjoy what they are eating. "I wanted to communicate those feelings through my photos," Viera says.

District resident Eric Shutt, 25, also credits his grandfather with helping to pique his interest in photography a few years ago by giving him a classic Canon AE1. His parents also gave him a digital camera after he graduated from the University of Maryland three years ago.

Shutt, who grew up in Baltimore, says he used both cameras for fun and also for providing photos for some of the jobs he had as a public relations freelancer.

But last year, he and his friends signed up to do a photo exhibit for Artomatic about the District's Columbia Heights neighborhood. "That pushed me into becoming a photographer," he says.

While shooting for last year's exhibit, he found an auto shop that allowed people to paint graffiti on its walls.

"I took pictures of it," he recalls, "but when I returned the following week, the wall was completely different. I realized that people would change the graffiti every week."

This year, his Artomatic exhibit ‹ Shutt also works in public relations for Artomatic ‹ is on D.C. graffiti. His exhibit, Mixed Media District, bears the same name as his blog.

The exhibit tries to delve into the question of what graffiti is.

"We should be aware of the messages that are being presented to us every day, and what we are willing to accept as legitimate," he says, comparing, for example, a political message from a candidate with the political message of a graffiti artist.

He says he opposes "vandalism," but would like to see "more space for creative expression."

The exhibits that comprise Artomatic are located at 55 M St., S.E.