April 22 – May 25
There is something about ruins that calls to us to come explore, look closer. There is at once a sense of discovery and a feeling of long ago. A slipstream of hope. In the accumulated debris are the seeds for tomorrow, the roots of reclamation.
With Everybody’s Coffee newest art exhibition viewers can enter a world of Ethereal Abandonment. Local photographer Candace Casey has built upon three decades of work to bring us her loveliest ruins. “I see each piece as a story or part of a larger story. There are layers here that need to be uncovered.”
Side by side we see the past grandeur and the present decay—and something in between. Another world, an unearthly beauty that shines through. Ethereal Abandonment is a step back in time and, yet, also reveals an aspect not seen before.
Candace began as a portrait photographer, but branched out to record her extensive travels. Eventually her work took her to the urban jungles of abandoned buildings. She did a series of prints of chairs left out as if suddenly vacated. In the Michigan Building (Detroit) she loved the juxtaposition of a movie palace being used as a car park. A window pane pocked by bullet holes appears as a lacey pattern. She has managed to capture the spirit of the now-closed Agudas Achim Synagogue at 5029 N. Kenmore Ave.
All her works are one-of-a-kind, digitally rendered onto film that is then manipulated, and at times, superimposing other elements for a kind of collage affect.
Candace was recently featured on DNA Info: “Chicago Photographer Candace Casey’s Works Explores 100 Countries and Uptown.”
Candace lives in Uptown with her husband David.
Leave A Comment