Nov 4, 2013 3 min read

CANONSBURG – An Uzbekistani police officer descends the steps into a Tashkent subway station. He is nameless – a man in motion, his face blurred – but art isn’t always in the details.

“I like to photograph an environment and a moment,” said John Sciurba, photographer and Washington resident. “It’s nice to be able to go deeper into what a place is about.”

This photo and others captured by Sciurba during his globe-spanning travels can be viewed at the Frank Sarris Public Library’s second floor art gallery until Nov. 29.

Sciurba, 35, who is mostly self-taught, took photography classes at Trinity High School, his 1997 alma mater. His passion for travel also flourished during that time when he traveled to Italy, and later to 10 countries in Asia, Northern Africa and Europe while participating in the Semester at Sea program as a University of Pittsburgh student.

After earning a degree in education, Sciurba joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Uzbekistan in Central Asia. Prior to that, Sciurba said his knowledge of the country was minimal.

“Aside from one college course where we briefly looked at the region, I had no idea about Central Asia,” Sciurba said.

“I knew it was part of the former Soviet bloc, and I could tell from its geography that it was along the Silk Road … (but) the real history of it and its influences, I didn’t know until I got there.”

Sciurba lived with a local family during his two years as a volunteer, and then stayed in the country an additional five years to teach fourth-graders in the international school system.

While teaching was his main focus, photography became a personal endeavor.

The longer he stayed in Uzbekistan, the more he noticed his photographs evolve from travel shots or “things you would see on a postcard” into more insightful glances into a culture.

Sciurba said he felt safe during most of his travels, but photographing a police officer in Uzbekistan was a “silly risk” in hindsight.

“At the time I was there, there were still a lot of hangovers from the Cold War, so any time they saw someone with a camera, they just assumed you were a spy or suspected you might be,” he said.

“I wasn’t trying to hide what I was doing, so I don’t know what kind of spy training I would have – not a very good one. The good thing was that (the officer) seemed to be in a rush.”

The library exhibit also includes photos from Romania and Bahrain, where Sciurba taught in international schools; Mt. Nebo and the iconic tomb featured in “Indiana Jones” in Petra, Jordan; several sites in Europe; and even a few snapshots in Washington County.

Sciurba is currently in the process of earning his master’s degree in education from Waynesburg University, and afterward he hopes to continue traveling and teaching abroad.