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Jennifer Shaw


ARTIST STATEMENT:

relic n.
1. Something that has survived the passage of time, especially an object or custom whose original culture has disappeared.
2. Something cherished for its age or historic interest. 3. An object kept for its association with the past; a memento. 4. An object of religious veneration, especially a piece of the body or a personal item of a saint. 5. or relics A corpse; remains.


This series was inspired by the neighborhood I call home. These photographs were taken along the Tchoupitoulas Street corridor, which parallels a curve of the Mississippi River connecting uptown to downtown New Orleans. It’s old, unkempt, and a little bit tough, with a mix of residential and industrial uses. Brick warehouses and maritime chain yards that fed (and feed) off the port are juxtaposed with turn of the century working class houses.

This body of work is both formal and documentary in nature. I am drawn to the shapes and textures of the postindustrial urban landscape, and feel compelled to capture it while I still can. The area is rapidly changing, due in part to the effects of both globalization and gentrification. Warehouses sit empty, crumbling monuments to the commerce and industry that once flourished here. Simultaneously, some structures are being renovated and finding second lives through various forms of adaptive reuse. As a result, the area is in an odd state of flux, flirting with both decay and renewal.

While this project is based on my immediate surroundings, it speaks to issues that are affecting many urban centers. Perhaps the most dramatic change to occur here is the impending arrival of a Wal-mart, taking over several acres of land where warehouses, wood shops and clapboard homes recently stood. Though I realize that change is inevitable, this one is symbolic to me of larger issues affecting our country, as we shift from a production to consumption based economy. So, out of nostalgia for American industry in general and this neighborhood in particular, I’ve made it my mission to try and capture the patina, the funk, the grit, the beautifully rusty underbelly, before it disappears completely.

BORN

1972, Lafayette, Ind.

EDUCATION

1994, BFA Photography, Rhode Island School of Design

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2001 New Orleans and Beyond, Joey K’s, New Orleans, La.
Botanicals: Photographs by Jennifer Shaw, Galerie Avance,
New Orleans, La.
The Holga Project, Gallerie Porche-West, New Orleans, La.,
Oculus Gallery, Baton Rouge, La.
2000 Flora, CC’s Cafe, New Orleans, La.
1999 Jennifer Shaw, The Look, New Orleans, La.
1996 Recent Photographs, True Brew Cafe, New Orleans, La.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2004 Spring Group Show, Bassetti Fine Art Photographs,
New Orleans, La.
New Arrivals (Three Person Exhibition), Metroform Limited,
Tucson, Az.
2003 1st Annual Winter Group Show, Metroform Limited, Tucson, Az.
Louisiana Purchases, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans , La.
Dasani Festival, New Orleans, La.
2002 Studies of the Everyday Sacred, Baton Rouge Gallery,
Baton Rouge, La.
2001 The Lay of the Land: A Nat’l Juried Exhibition, Gallery on the Square, Danville, Ky.
Visual Fragrance: Floral Interpretations, Benham Gallery, Seattle, Wa.
2000 Gala 2000 National Invitational, Breauneau University, Gainesville, Ga.
20x20x20: A Compact Competition, LSU Union Art Gallery,
Baton Rouge, La.
Photo Posse Presents: Mixed Messages, Crescent City Brewhouse, New Orleans, La.
Cemetaryscape 2000, Hotel Intercontinental, New Orleans, La.
1999 The Art of Photography, Armory Art Center,
West Palm Beach, Fl.
A Sense of Place, Associated Artists of Winston-Salem,
Winston-Salem, NC.
Triennial Southeastern Juried Exhibition, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, Al.
Louisiana Opened Juried Exhibition, Contemporary Arts Center,
New Orleans, La.
1998 The Red Clay Survey, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, Al.
Photowork ‘98

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