Jeffrey Wolin: Pigeon Hill: Then & Now January 10 — March 1, 2014

For more than 25 years, Jeffrey Wolin has combined photographic portraiture with handwritten text, exploring issues about memory and identity. Beginning in 1985, Wolin turned the camera on himself, writing personal stories directly on photographs that related to his life. Soon after, he began photographing residents of Pigeon Hill, a low-income area in his hometown, Bloomington, Indiana. Since then, he has worked with Holocaust survivors, his two sons and Vietnam Vets, combining portrait and personal histories written on the photographic surface. But in 2010, when reading an article in the local paper about a murder, Wolin realized he had photographed the victim on the Hill decades prior – it was then that he decided to find the people he had met in Pigeon Hill, and continue their stories.

Pigeon Hill: Then & Now features a selection of people Wolin worked with from 1987-91. Through Internet searches, word of mouth and visits to the housing complex, Wolin found dozens of people who posed for him when they were young. Now adults, Wolin showed them the original photograph, and asked them to recall that day, and reflect upon how their lives have changed. These memories are written directly on the photograph, and are presented as a diptych alongside a recent portrait Wolin made, with accompanying text.

Pigeon Hill: Then & Now poses questions about how we understand a person’s past through present day portraiture; how the passing of time allows us to look back on our past with greater clarity and honesty; and the resilience and vulnerability expressed when people are confronted by the lens of a camera. Wolin creates collaborative works that say as much about the people depicted as the society in which they live. Through their words, we reflect on our own lives, and the decisions made along the way.

Jeffrey Wolin is the recipient of an NEA and Guggenheim Fellowship, among other awards. He has three monographs on his work, Stone Country (Indiana University Press, 1985), Written in Memory: Portraits of the Holocaust (Chronicle Books in conjunction with Catherine Edelman Gallery, 1987) and Inconvenient Stories: Vietnam War Veterans (Umbrage Editions, 2006). His works are in numerous private and public collections including the Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY), Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, TX), Los Angeles County Museum of Art and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Art Institute of Chicago.

Pigeon Hill: Then & Now images are available as 20 x 24" pigment prints made in edition 8 for $2,200 or as diptychs for $4000.

Please call: (312) 266-2350 for prices of specific pieces.
Prices are print only unless otherwise indicated.