Wake by Matthew Austin

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Dad and me talking (where he slept the first night)

2 of 30

Mom

3 of 30

Grandma's Tree in October

4 of 30

Uncle Joe singing in the rain

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Christmas Tree

6 of 30

Richie (April)

7 of 30

Dad (before he sold the guitar)

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Grandma and Mom at Grandpa's grave

9 of 30

Richie (October)

10 of 30

Me and Dad (at the old apartment)

11 of 30

Susan, Mom, and Grandma

12 of 30

Puddle (Grandma's 80th)

13 of 30

Slippers and Flannel

14 of 30

Prayer Card

15 of 30

Procession Tag

16 of 30

Lamp

17 of 30

Broken Mirrors

18 of 30

Jeff

19 of 30

Mom and Dad

20 of 30

Dad watching TV at the hotel in Boston

21 of 30

Dad and Jeff

22 of 30

Richie's Chair

23 of 30

Jeff at Grandma's

24 of 30

Dad looking up at the trees in Boston

25 of 30

Mom in her car

26 of 30

Jeff watching TV in Mom's bed

27 of 30

Richie's House on Christmas Day

28 of 30

Richie's Pillow

29 of 30

Jeff and Heather in the cemetery

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Grandma's Tree in February

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The work that exists in Wake started when I first arrived in Ireland in September of 2008 where I would be studying abroad for the next six months. My dad was evicted from his apartment the day after my birthday, September 8th: 6 days after my arrival in Ireland. The work really began as e-mail messages between my dad and I that were being sent multiple times a day. My dad continued sending me e-mails, but would include cell phone images from the eviction, and I would return the e-mails with my photographs of myself and my surroundings. Our e-mails persisted regularly for months and eventually I returned home to America. I began making photographs strictly of my dad and I hugging in various places of tragic relevance to our financial story (i.e. the storage bin where his belongings reside, our old apartment, the U-Haul rental building, and so on). As I continued photographing my dad, the process became intuitively based on my interest in connecting our family's personal story to the larger idea of financial tragedy in which our country's media poses as an understandable concept through numbers like 13.4 million unemployed or a 10% unemployment rate. I was interested in making a visual connection for people to make sense of this situation rather than through numbers that can't possibly represent any concrete visual for human understanding. During that process of continuing work based on my family's financial difficulties, a number of deaths occurred within my extended family. My mother's boyfriend Richie passed away due to cancer, his father figure Uncle Joe passed away from a falling injury at such an old age, and my cousin Mark died in a car accident at age 19: all of these happening in three consecutive months. Wake is a photographic narrative that represents these various struggles that have affected my family over the past few years. The book comprises my photographs and writing, along with excerpts of e-mails from my dad while I was abroad. By making metaphorical connections between our present economic time and physical death, I use this work to serve as a kind of elegiac document for these trying experiences. Wake functions as my personal understanding of our situation and an example of a story that is unfortunately familiar to so many others living in this generation.

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Matt Austin

Born 1986, Hartford, CT. Lives, works, and teaches in Chicago, IL.

mattaustinphoto@gmail.com

630.417.8919

http://mattaustinphoto.com

EDUCATION

2004-2005 - St. Ambrose University (concentration in Mathematics Education)
Fall 2008 - Burren College of Art, Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare, Ireland (concentration in contemporary art practices)
2005-2009 - Columbia College Chicago (Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in Photography)

EMPLOYMENT

After School Matters Digital Photography Instructor (2009-Present)

Jones College Preparatory High School - Digital Photography Instructor (2008-09)

Commissioned Photographer for the documentation of Ray Yoshida's apartment and art collection (2009-Present)

Freelance Photography Assistant for photographers such as Brian Ulrich, Cara Phillips, Anna Shteynshleyger, among others (2007-Present)

Columbia College Darkroom Teaching Assistant for Professors Dawoud Bey, Ben Gest, Jennifer Greenburg, Mary Farmilant, Cecil McDonald, among others (2006-09)

Archival Digital Inkjet and Silver Gelatin Printing Services for various clients (2008-Present)

AWARDS/NOMINATIONS

Acceptance into The Chicago Project of the Catherine Edelman Gallery

Winner of the 2009 InFocus Grant (selected by Will Steacy, Rachel Donner, and Brandon Sorg)

Juror's Choice Award, Glimpses in Time Photography Exhibition, Joyce Gordon Gallery

Albert P. Weisman Project Completion Grant 2009

Albert P. Weisman Project Completion Grant 2008

2008 Chicago Art Open Curator's Choice selected by Catherine Edelman

Columbia College Student Honors Exhibition Nominee

Kodak Scholarship Award Nominee 2008

Kodak Scholarship Award Nominee 2007

EXHIBITIONS

2011

Hornswaggler Arts Collection Anniversary Exhibition - Chicago, IL

Solo Show presented by ACRE - Johalla Projects

Catherine Edelman Gallery presents the artists of The Chicago Project

2010

FotoWeek DC - Indie Photobook Library - Corcoran Gallery - Washington, D.C.

Needless Suffering - Hopkinson House - Chicago, IL

Flash Forward Festival - Self-Published Book Expo - Toronto, ON, Canada

For No One But Us - Living Room Gallery - Chicago, IL

One Hour Photo - American University Museum, Washington, D.C.

ArtXposium SkieMall Exhibition - (a collaborative piece with Victor Yanez) - West Chicago, IL

Columbia College Manifest Graduate Exhibition - 1006 Gallery, Chicago, IL

New Romantics - East Bank Records, Chicago, IL

Chicago Art Open 2010 - River East Arts Center, Chicago, IL

2009

Albert P. Weisman Scholars Exhibition - Arcade Gallery, Chicago, IL

Northern Trust Group Showcase - Headquarters Bank Lobby, Chicago, IL

Transparent Reflect - Co-Prosperity Sphere, Chicago, IL

Mus-Mus @Paris curated by Stephen Shore, Gil Blank, and Denise Wolff - Online Exhibition based in Paris, France

Juror's Choice Winners Exhibition - Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland, CA

Glimpses in Time - Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland, CA

Bon Voyage - Harold Arts Auction, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL

All is Well Group Exhibition - De La Barracuda, Los Angeles, CA

2008

Equality IL Gala and Silent Auction Fundraiser - Joliet, IL

Mind The Mountain - Group Exhibition, Burren College of Art Main Gallery, Ballyvaugan, Ireland Co. Clare

Live@No. 8, A Space Without Rules - curated by Aine Phillips, Tulca Arts Festival, Galway, Ireland

Re-Invention of Allan Kaprow's 'Travelog 1968' - curated by Aine Phillips and George Bolster, Tulca Arts Festival, Galway, Ireland

Chicago Art Open 2008 (Curator's Choice) - Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL

Albert P. Weisman Scholars Exhibition - Hokin Gallery, Chicago, IL

Energy BBDO Group Showcase - Advertising Floor, Wrigley Building, Chicago, IL

15th Annual C Spaces Honors Exhibition - Hokin Gallery, Chicago, IL

2007

Chicago Art Open 2007 - Iron Studios, Chicago, IL

CoPA Milwaukee Exhibition curated by Brian Ulrich - Walker's Point Center for the Arts, Milwaukee, WI

COLLECTIONS

Hornswaggler Arts Collection