Principal Project
Principal Project is an ongoing body of work within CPS Lives, a citywide non-profit arts organization where Chicago artists are paired with Chicago Public schools to share each school’s unique story. The photographic portraits of Chicago Public School Principals in their offices show what the leaders of public school look like today. The formal portraits of the Principals in their personal space show the dynamic range of character and personality of each individual. The way each Principal presents themselves in their portraits shows how they would like to project their leadership. Mementos and signage in their offices tell stories about the individual, what things are important to them and their ideas of leadership in their school community. By looking at the Principals using traditional documentary methods, I hope to change conceptual and cultural perceptions of what a leader of a public school looks like.
For the Glass
For the Glass transforms the flatbed scanner into a contemporary version of the photographic plate. Meditating on the tradition of portraiture, Bross mimics the sharp details and imperfections in the surfaces of 19th-century studio portraits. She uses digital equipment to return to this slow pace of production by scanning over her subjects as they sit for extended exposures. Bross’ portraits capture every movement to create a unique digital image that she cannot replicate. Her relationship with her subjects becomes a performative act of photographing. With the inclusion of Bross’ likeness in the series, her focus is on the intimacy of the work’s process and her investigations on how one is to interact with her reinvented plate. This suite of prints invites the viewer to become
immersed in the surface of the image as it magnifies her relationship to the process and our uneasy relationship with technology.
Uptown Tent City
Last year I noticed more tents under the viaducts in Uptown, Chicago and it made me wonder why there were more tents and who was living in them. It also made me think about the tent as a changing symbol of hearty outdoor living to urban homelessness. When I was contacted by Streetwise in Chicago to help document the Uptown tents, I learned about the Uptown tent city and its wonderful community. The bonds of this community help its residents survive.
Walks
Sometimes my walks are a form of repetition and variation. They are mostly the daily journeys up and down stairs, walks to the store or to pick up a child or be with a child. There is infinite repetition in mundane daily action. The tedium of the moment becomes a meditation in the cracks on the sidewalk, the curve of the manhole covers or the greenness of the seeds in the dirt, patterns in everyday life. Repeated action and overlooked steps become a performance. A dynamic rhythm occurs when walking and constructing an image.
Commute
Everyday we make journeys. During these journeys to our intended destinations, it is easy to become detached from the surroundings, lost in thought. It becomes hard to see anything before or beyond what we have already learned to see and most of what we see, when we see, is quick and remote. These photographs are images of transition, images between and bordering seeing and knowing, images of movement through space, fleeting moments in time. These photographs were taken through glass, a car window. We live in an age of accelerated transition. These images are of the ‘in between’ places. Consider them part of our new picturesque, symbols of America, symbols of internal musing. Can you stop long enough to ‘sightsee’?
Commute: Trucks
Commute: Trucks is a continuation of my body of work that was first shown in 2003. While the original images were about the conformity of the modern landscapes and our modern way of perceiving our surroundings, these new images are a reinvention of the landscape using a more formal aesthetic that links painting. Continuing my exploration of the modern landscape in Europe, I photographed trucks there and elsewhere as they sped by, blotting out the landscape. In many images, the shapes and forms of the vehicles melt away, becoming ribbons of color that blend with, and become the newly perceived landscape.
Commute: Water Towers
In commute: water towers, I continued my exploration of the landscape from the car, this time focusing on water towers. I photographed several towers in my original body of work and loved their forms that stuck out of the flat Midwestern landscape like lollipops, some more garish than others. I admire the work of the Bechers and noticed that many of their water tower images were photographed in the Midwest. As a Midwestern photographer, I have taken back this symbol of my landscape and re-contextualized it using motion and low rez digital images.
iScapes
Suzette Bross subverts the instant imagery of her camera phone to re-imagine the
landscape of her childhood. Bross pauses during her routine commute to take fleeting looks at the familiar landscape, sometimes seeing something new or newly seen. The motion of the drive warps and twists the images, just as memories of home, youth and truth warp and twist over the course of time. However, the instant flow of current information is paused as the truth in the bend in the road is questioned and the truth about her mark in time. What Bross sees seems to stay the same but is irrevocably altered through renewed and repeated telling of her story. Bross’ interactive installation with iPod touches and a box of prints also examines the way we look at and engage with the image. By having the viewer examine the image traditionally and digitally, Bross wants to break down the passive stance of the viewer and make the viewer actively engage with the artist and her vision.
44 for 44
I went down to the rally without a ticket and without a real camera, but it didn’t
matter as I just wanted to see history in the making. Once I was there, I wanted
to capture the happy energy that floated over Grant Park. How could I
photograph something so ephemeral? By taking pix of the shirts, and the stickers
and the buttons that people wore and happily showed me.
Girls
This work is a personal celebration of my daughters. I chase after my girls with many cameras, but the camera that is with me most often and ultimately seemed to capture their adventure most appropriately, is a camera phone. Everyone uses a camera phone; the images seem ephemeral yet are important and gain further importance through repeated viewings. These images of my daughters are a collection of the wonderland moments of childhood, mine to enjoy and share long after the girls slip and dance away.
Strong Touch
Throughout history, humans have healed themselves. Many of the ‘alternative’ or ‘complementary’ medicines of today were the established medicines of earlier times. It was only in the last century that western medicine became powerful enough to marginalize complementary practices. By the middle of the 20th century, western medicine seemed to be the only valid medical system; however, in the latter half of this century dissatisfaction with established western medicine has grown and complementary practices are again on the rise. I spent a year and a half photographing complementary healing modalities that are popular today in an attempt to document the experience which seemed to be best illustrated by touch – the connection between patient and practitioner.
Principal Project is an ongoing body of work within CPS Lives, a citywide non-profit arts organization where Chicago artists are paired with Chicago Public schools to share each school’s unique story. The photographic portraits of Chicago Public School Principals in their offices show what the leaders of public school look like today. The formal portraits of the Principals in their personal space show the dynamic range of character and personality of each individual. The way each Principal presents themselves in their portraits shows how they would like to project their leadership. Mementos and signage in their offices tell stories about the individual, what things are important to them and their ideas of leadership in their school community. By looking at the Principals using traditional documentary methods, I hope to change conceptual and cultural perceptions of what a leader of a public school looks like.
For the Glass
For the Glass transforms the flatbed scanner into a contemporary version of the photographic plate. Meditating on the tradition of portraiture, Bross mimics the sharp details and imperfections in the surfaces of 19th-century studio portraits. She uses digital equipment to return to this slow pace of production by scanning over her subjects as they sit for extended exposures. Bross’ portraits capture every movement to create a unique digital image that she cannot replicate. Her relationship with her subjects becomes a performative act of photographing. With the inclusion of Bross’ likeness in the series, her focus is on the intimacy of the work’s process and her investigations on how one is to interact with her reinvented plate. This suite of prints invites the viewer to become
immersed in the surface of the image as it magnifies her relationship to the process and our uneasy relationship with technology.
Uptown Tent City
Last year I noticed more tents under the viaducts in Uptown, Chicago and it made me wonder why there were more tents and who was living in them. It also made me think about the tent as a changing symbol of hearty outdoor living to urban homelessness. When I was contacted by Streetwise in Chicago to help document the Uptown tents, I learned about the Uptown tent city and its wonderful community. The bonds of this community help its residents survive.
Walks
Sometimes my walks are a form of repetition and variation. They are mostly the daily journeys up and down stairs, walks to the store or to pick up a child or be with a child. There is infinite repetition in mundane daily action. The tedium of the moment becomes a meditation in the cracks on the sidewalk, the curve of the manhole covers or the greenness of the seeds in the dirt, patterns in everyday life. Repeated action and overlooked steps become a performance. A dynamic rhythm occurs when walking and constructing an image.
Commute
Everyday we make journeys. During these journeys to our intended destinations, it is easy to become detached from the surroundings, lost in thought. It becomes hard to see anything before or beyond what we have already learned to see and most of what we see, when we see, is quick and remote. These photographs are images of transition, images between and bordering seeing and knowing, images of movement through space, fleeting moments in time. These photographs were taken through glass, a car window. We live in an age of accelerated transition. These images are of the ‘in between’ places. Consider them part of our new picturesque, symbols of America, symbols of internal musing. Can you stop long enough to ‘sightsee’?
Commute: Trucks
Commute: Trucks is a continuation of my body of work that was first shown in 2003. While the original images were about the conformity of the modern landscapes and our modern way of perceiving our surroundings, these new images are a reinvention of the landscape using a more formal aesthetic that links painting. Continuing my exploration of the modern landscape in Europe, I photographed trucks there and elsewhere as they sped by, blotting out the landscape. In many images, the shapes and forms of the vehicles melt away, becoming ribbons of color that blend with, and become the newly perceived landscape.
Commute: Water Towers
In commute: water towers, I continued my exploration of the landscape from the car, this time focusing on water towers. I photographed several towers in my original body of work and loved their forms that stuck out of the flat Midwestern landscape like lollipops, some more garish than others. I admire the work of the Bechers and noticed that many of their water tower images were photographed in the Midwest. As a Midwestern photographer, I have taken back this symbol of my landscape and re-contextualized it using motion and low rez digital images.
iScapes
Suzette Bross subverts the instant imagery of her camera phone to re-imagine the
landscape of her childhood. Bross pauses during her routine commute to take fleeting looks at the familiar landscape, sometimes seeing something new or newly seen. The motion of the drive warps and twists the images, just as memories of home, youth and truth warp and twist over the course of time. However, the instant flow of current information is paused as the truth in the bend in the road is questioned and the truth about her mark in time. What Bross sees seems to stay the same but is irrevocably altered through renewed and repeated telling of her story. Bross’ interactive installation with iPod touches and a box of prints also examines the way we look at and engage with the image. By having the viewer examine the image traditionally and digitally, Bross wants to break down the passive stance of the viewer and make the viewer actively engage with the artist and her vision.
44 for 44
I went down to the rally without a ticket and without a real camera, but it didn’t
matter as I just wanted to see history in the making. Once I was there, I wanted
to capture the happy energy that floated over Grant Park. How could I
photograph something so ephemeral? By taking pix of the shirts, and the stickers
and the buttons that people wore and happily showed me.
Girls
This work is a personal celebration of my daughters. I chase after my girls with many cameras, but the camera that is with me most often and ultimately seemed to capture their adventure most appropriately, is a camera phone. Everyone uses a camera phone; the images seem ephemeral yet are important and gain further importance through repeated viewings. These images of my daughters are a collection of the wonderland moments of childhood, mine to enjoy and share long after the girls slip and dance away.
Strong Touch
Throughout history, humans have healed themselves. Many of the ‘alternative’ or ‘complementary’ medicines of today were the established medicines of earlier times. It was only in the last century that western medicine became powerful enough to marginalize complementary practices. By the middle of the 20th century, western medicine seemed to be the only valid medical system; however, in the latter half of this century dissatisfaction with established western medicine has grown and complementary practices are again on the rise. I spent a year and a half photographing complementary healing modalities that are popular today in an attempt to document the experience which seemed to be best illustrated by touch – the connection between patient and practitioner.