Statement

 Obelus to Ruination is an exhibition of photographic work outlining and exploring the process of reaping memories from birthplaces, hometowns, and other places of origin.  Centered around the Cayuga Lake Salt Mine of Lansing, New York, the deepest salt mine in North America, the project situates the slow-fading of the built environment—like the slow rusting of a bridge—with the looming threat of a mine collapse, which would dramatically alter local environments and public memory.

 

Through the hazy lens of alternative printing processes, "home" becomes an amalgamation of the lived and the liminal.  The roadside trail, the rusted bridge, the desecrated barn; all of these become the show's namesake obelisks, monuments to ruins past and ruin to come.  The work curates a collective memory among those engaging with the work and encourages us to hold these spaces close — whether or not we know them.