Abandoned: Time and Place
Louisville Photo Biennial 2021
Regional Showcase
Abandoned: Time and Place is an international photography exhibition with the theme of vacant, uninhabitable, or otherwise abandoned spaces. By capturing images of these spaces, we are able to see the ephemeral nature of each environment and preserve them, often moments before these spaces are forgotten, condemned, demolished, or otherwise lost to time. What do these vacant structures say about us as we leave them to decay during a spike in our world's unhoused population? What is the meaning of shelter, and what-or whom-are we abandoning during these unprecedented times?
Hardinsburg, 2020, Monographic Photo Print on Metal, 12in x 12in. Price: $225 USD - David Becker, New Albany, IN
The Drive In, 2019, 20in x 12in, Composite, Canvas Print. Price: $400 USD - Tracy Robb, Evansville, IN
Wayside, 2019, Digital Composite, Canvas Print, 16in x 16in. Price: $400 USD - Tracy Robb, Evansville, IN
Merchant's Ice Tower Control Panel, 2017, River Ridge, Photographic Pigment Print on Fine Art Paper, 12in x18in. Price: $400 USD - Vyncex Gorlami, Louisville, KY
Missing Something in the Land, 2021, Photographic Inkjet Print on Archival Paper, 8in x 12in. Price: $135 USD - Caleb Jordan Burchett, Olive HIll, KY
Barnyard Fields, 2021, Photographic Inkjet Print on Archival Paper, 8in x 12in. Price: $135 USD - Caleb Jordan Burchett, Olive HIll, KY
Fun House, 2013, IAAP, Photographic Inkjet Print on Archival Paper, Signed and Serialized Edition, 12in x 18in. Price: $350 USD - Christopher Artell, Louisville, KY
Generals House, 2019, River Ridge, Indiana Army Ammunition Plant, Photographic Print on Metal, 15in x10in. Price: $225 USD - David Becker, New Albany, IN
Community Center, 2018, River Ridge, Indiana Army Ammunition Plant, Photographic Pigment Print on Fine Art Paper, 12in x18in. Price: $400 USD - Vyncex Gorlami, Louisville, KY
Schoolhouse: Knox County, Indiana, 2021, Photographic Inkjet Print on Archival Paper, 16in x 26in. Price: $275 USD - John Puffer, Vincennes, IN
You Left Long Ago, 2020, 12in x 18in, Print on Cradled Birch Board with Encaustic Medium and Oil Paint. Price: $250 USD - Melissa Hall, Lexington, KY
Northwestern Parkway, 2021, Photographic Inkjet Print on Archival Paper, Signed and Numbered Edition, 11in x 14in. Price: $400 USD - Sean Patrick Hill, Louisville, KY
The Sky Has Fallen, 2020, 18in x 12in, Print on Cradled Birch Board with Encaustic Medium and Oil Paint. Price: $250 USD - Melissa Hall, Lexington, KY
Black Grass, 2018
Rachel Yurkovich, Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Black Grass focuses on the abandoned remnants of humanity and the life that thrives without it in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The Zone is an area in a 30 km perimeter around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor where people are forbidden to enter without authorization and an escort due to the harmful levels of lingering radiation.
When I traveled to Chernobyl, Ukraine in May of 2016, it had been thirty years since the nuclear power plant exploded. Spring was just beginning, and green was erupting from unexpected places. I was awed by the vegetation’s ability to break through buildings and pavement; it seemed as though no material could stop it. Thirty years without human influence turned a once populated city into a wildlife sanctuary. The exclusion zone was strangely one of the most peaceful places I have ever visited. I had the impression that there was no chance of encountering another human besides the few I came with.
This project ties into my previous work which brings to light consequences of people's thoughtless actions. Similar to the Titanic catastrophe, where excess and overconfidence in technology resulted in too few lifeboats being available for passengers, the Chernobyl disaster demonstrates the potential repercussions of humanity’s hubris.