All Photos © Inês d’Orey

Photographer Inês d’Orey was commissioned to photograph the interiors of the typical food and wine industries of the Douro region of northern Portugal.  The Douro is more than terraces, stone and river. Amid the stunning landscapes of this region are industrial areas where the agricultural bounty is processed for local consumption and export. d’Orey captures the stoves where the Mirandela sausages are smoked,  the assembly line of a cheese factory in Lamego and the storage rooms where hams mature. At Peso da Régua and Santa Marta de Penaguião, there are old and contemporary deposits, where the wine patiently ages.

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© Valentine Schmidt

Valentine Schmidt’s series ‘Plunge- The Plight of the London Lido’ was taken during the winter months at four London lidos (outdoor public swimming pools). Schmidt focuses on the relationship between the floor of the pool and the surface of the water. This dynamic of architectural and natural elements is constantly in flux – affected equally by the changing seasons and by the human forces of social policy. Plunge uses the evocative qualities of the surfaces to speak to the history and demise of these beautiful and tranquil spaces. Full, or particularly when bereft of water, the Edwardian bathing spaces are honored in their various states of preservation and dereliction. Contact Zoe Bingham Fine Art for further information or see the entire collection.

-courtesy Zoe Bingham Fine Art.

All photos © Brian Ulrich. Courtesy Cleveland Museum of Art. Above: Black River Falls, WI, 2006.

Later this month the Cleveland Museum of Art will present the first major museum exhibition of work by contemporary photographer Brian Ulrich. “Copia—Retail, Thrift, and Dark Stores, 2001-11,” is a decade-long examination of the American consumer psyche. From the Latin word for “plenty,” the artist’s “Copia” series explores economic, cultural and political implications of commercialism and American consumer culture. The exhibition, featuring 60 photographs, will be on view from August 27, 2011 to January 16, 2012, in the museum’s east wing photography galleries.

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All photos © Douglas Ljungkvist.

Douglas Ljungkvist first experienced Ocean Beach, New Jersey, in the early Nineties while visiting friends vacationing there. His first impression was that it looked like a work camp, mainly because of the enormous area with its small cottages, all the same size, laid out in a grid with streets made of sand.

Through this work, Ljungkvist takes on the role of visual historian and anthropologist as he works to capture the fast growing minority of cottages that have not yet shed its wood paneling and kitschy beach decorations for generic white sheetrock walls, flat screen TVs, and Wi-Fi Internet access. This may offer vacationers more comfort and conveniences but also sacrifices the strong sense of place and charm that Ljungkvist remembers. He has come here five times since that initial visit in the Nineties and plans to keep coming back.

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All Photos © Alyssa Miserendino.
Chicago-based photographer Alyssa Miserendino’s documentation of her own abandoned home in 2004 paved the way for her current project Our World Insideout. During the economic crash in 2009 the familiar emotion of loss and displacement resonated with her so much so that she began documenting foreclosed homes in the Chicago area, and eventually homes in Brazil and New Orleans. Miserendino has spent time photographing families in Brazil who are part of the favelas, historical abandoned sites, and reclaimed homes. In New Orleans the project focused on the five year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and what was left untouched versus what people have squatted in to make their own home.

Miserendino is currently working with an organization in Brazil to help turn the most popular squatted in building into the first urban public housing building in Rio de Janeiro. She says, “I created the imagery with the hope that this project will incite a visual, global dialogue concerning the used and unused resources; thus inspiring change. It touches on the many levels of humanity and one of the most sacred places for us: home.”

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