Gallery 210 is pleased to present the video “Chicago Cottages” by noted Chicago photographer Jane Calvin. The exhibition opens on September 14 with a reception for the artist from 5PM to 7PM.
Jane Calvin’s video is an accidental documentary that came about when her assistant, Eve Kalugin, discovered these photographs in a box in one of the artist’s files. These once forgotten images are reminders of buildings and communities dissolving under the relentless assault of real estate development. Of this work Calvin writes: I actually made the photographs that comprise this body of work in the 1970’s. I dragged my rented 4x5 view camera into the Pilsen area, inspired by a beloved professor at the School of the Art Institute, Harold Allen, who lived in the area and was himself an architectural photographer. He understood the uniqueness of this architecture, and certainly was familiar with the area. It was summer and hot and the children of the area were fascinated by what I was doing. So, each time I emerged from beneath the black cloth covering the camera, I was surrounded by a ‘mob’ of small, curious kids. I enjoyed the activity, and the lively quality of the neighborhood, which no longer exists thanks to ruthless gentrification.
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