The Photography Gallery at Riley Hall is proud to announce Slim’s Place – an exhibition of photographs by April Wilkins. The exhibition is open now and will run until March 16.
Slim’s Place
Installation View
April Wilkins
My photographic work explores how the environments in which one chooses to exist, helps to shape their identity and how one’s individual experience has meaning in a broader context.
Slim’s Place focuses on my father’s bunker-like, underground house in Utah’s Southern desert, and the immediate surroundings.
Abandoned after he was in a mysterious accident that left him first in a coma and then eventually in assisted living where he will remain for the rest of his life, Slim’s place drew me in and left me with a desire to understand what it was about it that had my father longing to return to the isolated residence that was left untouched in his absence.
I attempt to understand my father better by experiencing and documenting the beloved place he had to leave behind and hope others can see the beautiful uniqueness of Slim’s Place.
-April Irene Wilkins
(the images exhibited here are available in special 5”x7” dozen and half- dozen editions through The Donut Shop, a small independent print and publishing operation based in Chicago, IL.
ww.the-d-o-n-u-t-shop.com)
A locally, nationally, and internationally exhibited artist; April Wilkins is interested in how one’s individual experience has meaning in a broader context. She specializes in digital imaging and design, historical photographic processes, and bookmaking.
A seasoned educator with over ten years under her belt, she currently teaches art and design at DePaul University. She is also periodically commissioned by other artists to produce small, hand-bound editions of books, portfolios, and zines.
Born in New Mexico but raised all over the West, she eventually made her way to the Midwest and obtained an MFA in Studio Art from The University of Notre Dame in 2007. April now lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. Though a bit of a workaholic, when she does have free time it’s usually spent wandering the globe and dreaming of space travel.
Follow her photographed adventures on Instagram at @aprilirene