POINT PARK UNIVERSITY

RUINED AND REVIVED

Ruined and Revived

Ruined; (adj) having been irreparably damaged or harmed.

Revived; (v) to return to life, consciousness, vigor, strength, or a flourishing condition.

From a journey across the breathtaking landscapes of the American West that are facing immense destruction from human intervention to the more modernized streets and architecture of the historical city of Berlin, Germany, Ruined and Revived travels the world, taking a deeper look at key struggles and societal issues that are plaguing the planet. Themes like architecture, politics, sustainability in fashion, abuse, and environmentalism are at the forefront of this exhibition. With visual works of photographs printed on sustainable fabrics, poster-style public service announcements, and the incorporation of virtual reality, Ruined and

Revived challenges viewers to look at the medium of photography in a new way.

Over time, aspects of the world have been ruined as a direct result of humans and their impact on the environment, culture, construction, and even one another. This severe damage and its resulting effects provided the photographers in this exhibition with an opportunity to confront these issues head on, focusing their lens on subjects and topics that are often ignored. However, everything that is ruined can be revived through hope, change, and progress. The word revive itself suggests an action, or more specifically, a change. A change in environment, a change in mindset, or a change in place can all transform the everyday experience. Ruined and Revived is asking its viewers to explore and critically examine both the devastating effects of a ruined world and its new-found sense of revival in the face of change and awareness within these five bodies of work.

Alicia Angelo

Hannah Kaupinis

Natalie Lacek

Ian Nath

Dashiell Reardon

Ruined / Revived. Beyond the Frame

This generation of photographers uses their cameras to process their world. They visually explore the human impact and the impact on humans in both our society and the environment. The photographers choose very personal stories to reveal what they witness. Investigating new storytelling technologies Dashiell Reardon through the lens of virtual reality, shares his observations of a small rural Pennsylvania town. Hannah Kaupinis explores Berlin’s architecture with a post-war post-wall American lens by traveling across the Atlantic. Travel may be the best antidote to pandemic boredom. Travel also exposes the photographer to see beyond their expectations. The intertwining of the unexpected is most evident in Ian Nath’s pandemic road trip. Packing a view camera and a limited supply of color sheet film, he witnessed the intersection of both social injustice and climate change. They are confronting cinematic tropes of the American West and the infamous imagery of the sacred American photographic Canon. Instead of the Purple Mountains’ majesty, we encounter the smoke-filled valleys of a once ancient forest. The low water reservoirs and witnessing the protests over sacred indigenous lands. These photographers during this pandemic experience also turned inward to two very personal topics what we choose to wear (fashion) and the suffering and shame from abuse. Natalie Lacek’s interest in fashion leads her to look at the “fast fashion” industry practices exploring how global corporations feed the consumer clothing that impacts our climate and numerous social issues. Lacek’s process led her to learn more about textiles, mending, and thrifting as alternatives to consuming revealing themselves in photographs of fabric printed on fabric. Alicia Angelo shares the emotional weight of these global issues in a series of deeply personal PSA posters shining a light on the five types of abuse that humans do to our fellow humans. These core personal attacks shape a person for the worse, often disguised as love or caring.

These photographers go beyond the frame to show us what they want us to see.

Richard Kelly

Adjunct Instructor

Point Park University, Photography BFA