BOISE.- Boise Art Museum (BAM) announces the first solo museum exhibition by Idaho photographer Susan Valiquette. Her work was last shown at BAM in the 2004 Idaho Triennial exhibition, which was juried by Arthur C. Danto, one of America's most inventive and influential art critics and philosophers. Valiquette’s Portraits of Courage consists of 20 black and white portraits of Idaho Special Olympians of all ages, interests, and abilities. Several of the featured athletes will compete in the Special Olympics World Winter Games being held in Boise, Idaho, February 7 – 13, 2009. The Treasure Valley will host 2,500 Special Olympians from over 85 nations.

Susan Valiquette has photographed Idaho Special Olympians at their summer and winter games for the past six years. As the mother of a participating athlete, her interest in the competitors and events is intensely personal, as well as professional. Valiquette, who studied with renowned photographer Emmet Gowin, “seeks to capture the unique beauty” that resides in each of her subjects and in doing so, “communicate the transcendent nobility of humankind.”