Catalogue > At random

Mercury Black Magic is a meditation on being young and restless. A young man transfers his grief into the reconstruction of a 1980’s muscle car. His description of this restoration parallels the coming to terms with the emotions related to the loss of his father. This piece follows him through the landscape in which he and his friends hangout, together. This work is created amongst the young people of Salina, Kansas. They were hanging out at lookouts, parking spaces, and park shelters, doing seemingly nothing, but to them (and me) everything: listening to music, gossiping, relaxing, being. These moments are often described as nothing or as boredom or as inconsequential, but these are the moments with the most potential. Maybe these instances will not be recounted or thought of as memorable but, to me these moments feel the most intense. Before there is time for reflection these times are over, exhausted without ceremony. This is less a full understanding of a place, but my impression, a trace of a series of moments or an attempt to understand the world. This is an attempt to make something with the participation of the young people I met in Salina.

Justin Schmitz is and photographer and video artist working outside of Chicago, Il USA. He completed his Master of Fine from Yale University in 2013. He is the recipient of the Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship, The Tierney Fellowship, City of Chicago CAAP Grant, Albert P. Weisman Scholarship, and The Union League Civic and Arts Foundation Scholarship. A collection of his work is part of the Mid-West Photographers Project at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. He was runner-up for the Photography Book Now Prize, and a finalist for the Honickman First Book Prize.