The Photography Gallery at Riley Hall is proud to announce lots lots—an exhibition of photographs by Eleanor Oakes. The exhibition is open from January 22, 2022, and will run until February 18, 2022.
As a photographic artist, my work is created through light and time; elements that can be exactly measured, but are rarely experienced at specific values. My practice seeks to subvert the indexical photograph, drawing from themes of memory, absence, error, and the mutability of history as seen through a faulty lens. lots lots and exposure are recent, ongoing projects that examine the failing domestic structures of Detroit and the toxins present within our historic housing stock. lots lots explores the abundance of vacant lots created as a result of homes demolished throughout the city. exposure looks explicitly at lead paint present in all pre-1970’s homes and is made from lead paint I stripped from my own home, referencing a different type of ‘domestic labor.’ Together they question the fallacy of safety within the notion of home, and the institutionalized forces that put families at risk.
Eleanor Oakes is a photographic artist based in Detroit, MI. She is Assistant Professor of Photography at the College for Creative Studies, and founder of Darkroom Detroit, a local non-profit that increases access to photography and visual literacy. Her work has been featured internationally in numerous exhibitions and publications, including at Tyler Wood Gallery (New York and San Francisco), the University of the Arts (Philadelphia), Simone de Sousa Gallery (Detroit), N’Namdi Gallery (Detroit), Beyond Magazine (Germany), Detroit Sequential, among others. She was an Applebaum Emerging Artist Resident at Ponyride (Detroit) where she completed the collaborative public art project, “Graffiti Wanted,” to include residents in an open dialogue about government censorship, and is the recipient of awards including the Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Award from the San Francisco Foundation.