Erin Geideman
I can see right through you
[ FUJIFILM/YOUNG TALENT AWARD 2015 FINALIST ]
During the summer following my last year of high school I started documenting the lives of my closest friends. We grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, a sprawling city in decline. Unable to afford anything else, we entertained ourselves by partying excessively in our friends? small two-bedroom apartment.
On August 20th, 2010 my best friend Ian was shot in the stomach on the stoop of that same apartment building. He still suffers occasional pain from the scar tissue within his body. His crippling anxiety and other psychological maladies are further exacerbated by an abusive father, and alcoholism.
Michael, Ian’s older brother, has mostly, moved on in his life. He works as a hospital cook and married Heather, the mother of his children. His mangled left hand however, which he broke that chaotic evening remains as a constant reminder of the night he almost lost his only sibling.
Heather acted as a caregiver to Ian when he was first out of the hospital. As a nurse?s aid she had no problem changing Ian?s bloodstained bandages. Ever since their friendship has been in decay despite her marriage to his brother. On April 2nd, 2013 Heather and Michael welcomed their second child, a son Deavon Ian Connor.
I have photographed my friends for the past four years. Within this time I have watched, as they?ve gradually grown apart, fighting circumstances and personal traumas that have renders them depressed but not hopeless. I have created a family album that is laden with themes of intimacy, alienation, and pain.
Bio
Erin Geideman is a graduate of Syracuse University where she received a BFA in Art Photography with a minor in Art History. For two years she has worked as an assistant to The Canary Project under its founders, Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris. She has also completed a one year internship at Light Work, an internationally known art photography organization, where she has assisted artists including Valerio Spada, George Gittoes, Jason Eskenazi, and Alexandre Demenkova. Geideman is currently based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Related links
FujiFilm/EPF Young Talent Award
The FujiFilm/EPF Young Talent Award is an additional grant for photographers under 25. Using David Alan Harvey’s words “A heart felt thank you also to FujiFilm for making it possible for the EPF to keep focus on the future generations, the young ones, the ones with a vision already making a mark now… and just might make another jump soon…”
