Foreclosure, USA: The Great Recession

Photographer

Kirk Crippens

Concept

Periodically, Blue Earth honors photographic projects that demonstrate excellence in the field and promote work consistent with our mission. Kirk Crippens is the winner of the Blue Earth Prize For Best Project Photography at the PhotoAlliance 2010 Our World Portfolio Review, held March 12-14, 2010 in San Francisco.

In the last three years, the financial distress and misery induced by widespread foreclosures in the United States have become an urgent national concern. There is much public discourse on how to solve a problem that has decimated communities, threatens the entire financial system and seems to dis-credit the American dream. Inspired by the dust bowl photographs of the Great Depression, Foreclosure, USA focuses on the town of Stockton, California, now referred to as the ‘epicenter’ of the foreclosure crisis. Stockton enjoyed a spectacular housing boom from 2000 to 2006. The housing developments that had so eagerly pressed into the surrounding farmland stopped in their tracks when the economy became distressed. Sadly, Stockton is one of the foreclosure capitals of the country. In 2009 one in every twenty-seven homes in the area received a foreclosure notice and the unemployment rate surged to 17.1%.

Biography

Kirk Crippens had an early start with photography, learning from his grandfather, who kept a darkroom in his closet after retiring as a military photographer. As a college student Crippens interned with The Dallas Morning News in Dallas, Texas; The Flint Journal in Flint, Michigan; and The Patuxent Publishing Company in Columbia, Maryland.

Kirk Crippens has been based in San Francisco since the year 2000, where he began focusing his efforts on personal projects. His work began to be exhibited in 2003. In 2008 he was invited to display twenty-four pieces at the Berkeley Art Center. The show was positively reviewed and attended. In 2009 he was invited to exhibit in five shows across the country, culminating with an exhibition of his Pixel Nation series at the SFMOMA Artists Gallery. In 2010 he has had two solo exhibitions of his Foreclosure, USA series, which were widely, and positively reviewed, including an interview with KALW radio for their CrossCurrents show. He was recently invited to exhibit in three upcoming shows. Crippens enjoys a growing base of supporters and collectors.

www.kirkcrippens.com

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