Kirk Crippens
Kirk Crippens
Kirk
Crippens
b. 1971 STUDIO IN EMERYVILLE, CA
For photographer Kirk Crippens, the widespread national recession and subsequent bankruptcy of Stockton, CA stimulated a desire to capture an image of something that’s largely intangible. This question resulted in multiple projects, including Foreclosure, USA.
In this particular project, Crippens documents the physical manifestation of the financial crisis: the loss of homes, businesses, and an overall foreseeable future. Even in his many photographs without direct human representation, the artist is able to find some sense of personality, loneliness, or dark humor within the unpopulated spaces. What is left behind may be only small remnants and indicators of the full lives that once inhabited the empty rooms, but Crippens’s photographs present a narrative that is both haunting and beautiful.
In this particular project, Crippens documents the physical manifestation of the financial crisis: the loss of homes, businesses, and an overall foreseeable future. Even in his many photographs without direct human representation, the artist is able to find some sense of personality, loneliness, or dark humor within the unpopulated spaces. What is left behind may be only small remnants and indicators of the full lives that once inhabited the empty rooms, but Crippens’s photographs present a narrative that is both haunting and beautiful.
The camera constantly takes me into the presence of people and into places that, when I’m there, I think to myself, ‘This is exactly where I want to be and exactly what I want to be doing.’ I would have no idea how to meet all these folks without the camera taking me there. The camera is leading me on my life path and all of these projects are what I’m doing along the way that take me where I need and want to go.
— Kirk Crippens
