Fri / Sat 12 - 5pm.
Or by appointment.
-
Justin
Schmitz
The Wrestlers
- September 9th through October 8th, 2005.
-
GARDENfresh
is pleased to launch it's West Loop location with photographer Justin
Schmitz. Justin earned his BFA with an emphasis on photography from
Columbia College Chicago. He currently works at Columbia College's
Digital Photography Lab and teaches digital imaging at the Marwen
Foundation. He has been awarded the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation
Scholarship, Weisman Memorial Scholarship, and best in show at the
11th annual Hokin Honors Show. A collection of his nightscape photographs
have been included in the 6x6 book series Sites published by Columbia
College. His current work focuses on high school wrestlers.
This
series of photographs is a study of high school boys who wrestle on
their school's squad. I am interested in studying what type of boy
chooses to wrestle as a way to define who they are as a young man.
Competitive athletics represents a highly structured and ritualized
presence in many young boys lives. Belonging to a team helps boys
develop an identity and provides a peer-group with similar interests.
Belonging to an athletic team can build self-esteem as well as physical
fitness. Unlike most sports that emphasis the team, wrestlers are
sent on their own to face their opponents. Few sports pit lone boy
against lone boy in such a physical manner. Winning is based on the
one boys physical submission to the other. This intensifies the mental
and emotional effect the outcome has on a wrestler. The strength and
power each boy exudes is contrasted with their still developing bodies
and childlike faces. The posturing that must be done to intimidate
an opponent coupled with the innocence of adolescent. This work is
meant to examine both the confidence and the awkwardness that each
boy exudes.
