200 Houses: Distressed and Foreclosed
200 Houses is a side project shot in the city of Pittsburgh and its surrounding environs between 2007-2009. Taken during the end of the housing boom, thru the beginning of the market crash, to now what is known as the Great Recession, these images of houses and their interiors stand as physical manifestations of the difficult struggle affecting millions. These monuments are represented in various states of disrepair, foreclosure and full abandonment. Often these lines are blurred as much of the damage came at the hand of the occupants as a result of a notice of foreclosure and order to vacate. Many of these homes were abandoned leaving the only the traces of the lives that inhabited them. While others were left in such haste, that entire tracts of family history and memories lay disregarded and forgotten. To a certain degree, these images reference the genre of crime scene photography, with each photograph documenting some important piece of evidence. In many ways, they point to a crime that in someway or another, we have all had a hand.
During this time period, well over a thousand images were taken. Only a small portion are represented on the site. Out of courtesy, most were made with only a small digital camera and flash. Although these images are a slight departure from my large format "body" work, I find they convey an existential notion of "struggle" in a way that the body cannot.