C h r i s S c h e d e l : P h o t o g r a p h s : A m y
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Stillness: Photographs of Amy In the late summer of 2004, I moved to the city of Chicago. I had great expectations of finding something there; I wasn't sure what it was, but I was ready for it. During the fall of that year, I began my graduate studies in photography at Columbia College Chicago. It was not long after school began that I found myself lost in the perpetual movement of the city. In this state of constant motion I became aware of what I was looking for: stillness. At the time, I was making photographs of walls throughout the city that I felt held a sort of character that intrigued as a wandered throughout Chicago. Through this, I realized that I had been wandering for the past five years. Over those five years, I had not lived in one house or apartment for more than ten months. This hit me hard, both emotionally and physically, and I felt like I had no place; like I was the guy you see walking down the interstate, uninterested in getting a ride, but just walking. I had finished my first year of graduate school, and still there was this thing in my brain that wouldn't stop moving. At the end of the summer of 2005, Amy and I moved in together. We were to be colleagues at school, co-workers at our jobs, and roommates. The first months were hard, and it wasn't any easier when things outside of our relationship had not slowed down at all. Amy saved me, I had a nervous breakdown and she saved me. During my recovery, I was forced to take a step back and to physically and mentally slow down. Early on during my continuing recovery process, I received a point and shoot digital camera. With this camera, I made photographs of everything: the cat, a pile of dirty clothes, a messy dresser or nightstand, the tops of people's heads, anything you could think of; I was making a picture of it. It occurred to me that I very rarely made pictures of the person closest to me, Amy. I began to do that, and I became distracted as well as very aware of these wonderful little nuances of her actions and the details of how her things were both carefully arranged as well as strewn haphazardly around our apartment. Through these wonderful, daily things that she did, and my awareness of her belongings, I have begun to find this stillness I had been looking for. This set of ongoing photographs, are an extended portrait of Amy. Through the physical and emotive description of her and the daily activities she engages in, in addition to the sort of anthropological studies of her belongings, the photographs are an attempt to visualize who she is, as well as this sense of stillness I have gotten through the attentiveness of these everyday things. click "NEXT" to view the photographs |
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