Wendy Burton
Wendy Burton has been photographing variations on the theme of vacated environments for the past fifteen years. The multiple series subtly weave together—some subjects more literal, some metaphoric, but all of them dealing with spaces that were at one time inhabited and no longer are. Trace Elements, her first body of work, focused on detritus in the landscape or in abandoned buildings —imprints and artifacts that were left behind when humans had moved on to new places. These photographs ranged from cathedral-like interiors of deserted grain elevators in Buffalo, New York to the iconic, crucifix-like form of a fallen telephone pole at a deserted copper mining pit in Butte, Colorado. Empty houses, shuttered schools, closed factories, Baptist Church interiors destroyed by Hurricane Katrina —all are subjects that attracted the photographer. In recent years, her focus has moved to different kinds of uninhabited spaces—birds’ nests that had served as avian domiciles during the mating season and then were left empty after the fledglings had taken flight, and in her most recent series, Natural Histories, animal skulls that once held life and now are all that physically remain of the animal that once resided within. Burton's complete series of Nests will be …
Wendy Burton has been photographing variations on the theme of vacated environments for the past fifteen years. The multiple series subtly weave together—some subjects more literal, some metaphoric, but all of them dealing with spaces that were at one time inhabited and no longer are. Trace Elements, her first body of work, focused on detritus in the landscape or in abandoned buildings —imprints and artifacts that were left behind when humans had moved on to new places. These photographs ranged from cathedral-like interiors of deserted grain elevators in Buffalo, New York to the iconic, crucifix-like form of a fallen telephone pole at a deserted copper mining pit in Butte, Colorado. Empty houses, shuttered schools, closed factories, Baptist Church interiors destroyed by Hurricane Katrina —all are subjects that attracted the photographer. In recent years, her focus has moved to different kinds of uninhabited spaces—birds’ nests that had served as avian domiciles during the mating season and then were left empty after the fledglings had taken flight, and in her most recent series, Natural Histories, animal skulls that once held life and now are all that physically remain of the animal that once resided within. Burton's complete series of Nests will be included in the forthcoming book: VARIOUS SMALL BOOKS: Referencing Various Small Books by Ed Ruscha (Mit Press, March 2013).