This image is a blend of gothic revival and Mughal architectural styles. Gothic revival began in the second half of the 18th century and into the 19th, while Mughal slowly died right before, starting in the early 16th until its foreign influence replacements in the mid 18th century. I used an image of a gothic revival church with pews and a large window shining light at the end of the room, with a image of two Indian men in an Akbar-style room. I found it interesting that both of these images had the same flooring, which made it perfect for combining the two seamlessly. On the left, I added a pillar that had traditional indian/mughalcarvings, which would portray religious representation. On the right, I have a arch that you would typically see in a gothic revival style building. I chose to combine these styles of building together because despite being different in cultural context, both reflect aspiration and dedication
This piece is about modernization and industrialization, particularly the contrast between old and new architectural styles and their varying functions. I was inspired by the artist’s piece we saw in class about historic buildings getting renovated to fit a new style or serve a new purpose, so I chose to show this contrast in my piece by combining a grand decorative staircase and the mall food court from Concord Mills. The piece highlights how modern life often places convenience and consumer culture inside spaces that were once meant to feel timeless and important by putting the ordinary inside the extraordinary.
Staircase: https://www.pexels.com/photo/elegant-wedding-scene-in-grand-hallway-33283538/
Tables: https://www.pexels.com/pt-br/foto/leve-luz-light-arquitetura-27452442/
Two Cities Pictures - Me
Cracked Texture - https://www.pexels.com/photo/broken-glass-wallpaper-866351/
The photo I took myselft to use was the hanging bar light.
Images:
https://www.pexels.com/photo/professional-tennis-match-in-large-stadium-30088684/
https://unsplash.com/photos/a-pool-table-in-a-bar-with-a-neon-sign-pGOtOSCYSr4
https://www.pexels.com/photo/billiard-balls-on-the-billiard-table-7403819/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/billiard-balls-on-blue-table-7403779/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-of-pool-balls-on-a-green-table-32095963/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-shot-of-black-8-ball-on-pool-table-32095954/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/people-playing-billiards-6253703/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/photograph-of-a-group-of-friends-playing-billiards-7403837/
https://stock.adobe.com/images/brown-glass-beer-bottles-with-black-cap/255954163?prev_url=detail
https://www.pexels.com/photo/green-glass-bottles-on-wooden-surface-3660307/
Train: https://www.pexels.com/photo/hello-kitty-train-in-kyoto-in-japan-20892175/
Sign: https://www.pexels.com/photo/train-at-japanese-station-platform-31770124/
Sign: https://www.pexels.com/photo/tokyo-subway-station-with-people-walking-31519557/
Hanging Sign: https://www.pexels.com/photo/entrance-of-underground-train-station-in-japan-17637739/
Architectural Blend: George Stern
This composite combines my original photographs of a roller coaster, the Chicago skyline, and the Bean, reimagined within a surreal landscape of floating islands. By blending these architectural elements, I constructed a fabricated space where the roller coaster acts as both pathway and metaphor. It leads upward toward a city suspended in the sky, suggesting ambition, progress, and the thrill of striving toward an elevated ideal. However, the placement of the Bean on isolated islands and the small roller coaster flying off the edge introduce a sense of instability. What at first appears as a climb toward success ultimately becomes fragile and superficial, raising questions about the meaning of achievement when its foundations are uncertain.
By placing familiar urban landmarks in impossible contexts, this composite highlights the tension between fantasy and reality, accessibility and collapse. The work reflects both the exhilaration of striving and the inevitability of falling, encouraging viewers to consider how architectural spaces can symbolize human ambition and its limits.
For this project I used a photo I took this summer while traveling through Europe. It’s from Hallstatt, Austria, which is known for its really pretty lakeside views and the church that usually stands out in the center of town. Instead of keeping the church, I swapped it out with a McDonald’s.
I wanted to play with the idea of how historic places get commercialized and turned into tourist backdrops. Replacing something meaningful, like a church, with a fast-food chain shows how global brands can take over spaces that used to represent community or tradition.
Other than that change, the rest of the photo is left the same so the McDonald’s really jumps out. It makes the scene feel a little absurd, which was the point—to question how much of these beautiful places are being preserved, and how much are being consumed.
My composition is titled “Sanctuary of Consumption.” For this piece, I combined Gothic cathedral windows with the interior floors and spatial layout of an airport, transforming them into the setting of a ritualistic grocery store. Each element carries distinct associations: cathedrals symbolize spirituality, ritual, and collective gathering; airports suggest movement, transience, and global connectivity; grocery stores represent the everyday rituals of consumption and sustenance.
By merging these spaces, I want to suggest that consumer culture has become a modern form of ritualized worship. The cathedral windows frame the grocery aisles with a sense of grandeur, elevating ordinary acts of buying food into something almost sacred. At the same time, the airport flooring introduces an atmosphere of constant movement and impermanence—shopping here is not grounded in tradition but in efficiency and circulation, much like travelers passing through terminals.
To reinforce this commentary, I incorporated figures and details that anchor the scene in contemporary consumer culture. One shopper, distracted on their phone, pushes a cart of produce toward the self-checkout area, while another stands in front of the produce stand wearing a mask, carefully deciding what to buy. Self-checkout machines, along with a guiding sign, mark the conclusion of the shopping “ritual.” Between the produce and checkout area, a section of greeting cards bridges the space, creating continuity and emphasizing the blending of commerce with personal expression. On the far left, a Pepsi fridge stocked with beverages inserts a familiar brand presence, while overhead grocery store light fixtures brighten the otherwise dim cathedral, further transforming the sacred into the commercial.
This layered combination highlights how modern society has redefined where we seek community, meaning, and fulfillment. Instead of gathering in sacred or lasting spaces, we now congregate in environments built for commerce and circulation. The fabricated grocery store becomes a symbolic commentary on how rituals of faith and travel are replaced—or reimagined—through everyday consumerism.
ALL Links to images used in Architectural Blend Composition:
Candy Rack Link:
https://unsplash.com/photos/tulip-bulbs-are-for-sale-at-a-shop-MMYtcyI38O4
Airport Floor Link:
https://share.google/images/i08DDem5q58TKHFEI
Cathedral Link:
https://pixabay.com/photos/light-architecture-shades-church-5083606/
Lady in Red link:
https://pixabay.com/photos/woman-red-dress-phone-purse-bag-6576618/
Person shopping w/ green cart:
Self Checkout Sign:
https://share.google/images/KNnxYpKRi6fwC2Uyx
Self Checkout Machine:
https://share.google/images/xWEH8ygxlKyd30kD9
Produce stand:
https://unsplash.com/photos/variety-of-fruits-on-brown-wooden-crate-SU7vtzLonS8
Green banner:
https://unsplash.com/photos/a-one-way-traffic-in-operation-sign-in-a-mall-4bUeU2iTcw8
Shopping Cart:
Light Fixtures:
https://unsplash.com/photos/white-fluorescent-lamps-V1tZWfLowRY
Soda Stand:
https://unsplash.com/photos/a-young-girl-standing-in-front-of-a-vending-machine-rAB2w717N1s
The concept for this project is the merging of work and life.
I have combined an office/library with parts of a bedroom to show
that, for many people, especially students, the two are one in the same.
Images used
The goal of this project for me was to romanticize and pay homage to the age of steam. Even though there is a contradiction in the technology, the phone, that the woman is holding up, this level of steam engineering, a mallet steam locomotive would not be designed and built until the mid the late 1940's. I decided not to use scratch overlays from 3rd party sites, because I wanted to see who well I could create them on my own. The drips convey a sense of sadness and at the same time give a feeling of high humidity. The part of the image that I appropriated from the Library of Congress was the engineer and conductor exchanging orders.
Link to Library of Congress Image: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8d11758/
Link to Library of congress: https://www.loc.gov/item/2006681063/
Royalty Free Scratch overlays: https://ahc.me.uk/downloads/scratch.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cliffordsax/2760733943/in/photostream/
My project is based on the story of the Bell Witch, a ghost legend from Appalachian folklore. John Bell and his family were farmers who moved to rural Tennessee in 1817, when the family started reporting cases of strange noises, voices whispering and singing, and knocking on the walls at odd hours of the night. The incidents quickly escalated into deafening shrieking at all hours and eventually physical violence, which is when the spirit seemed to develop a fixation on John Bell and his oldest daughter Betsy. The Witch would repeatedly slap Betsy, pull her hair, and leave scratches over her body, and when John started experiencing health problems the Witch would choke him, knock him to the ground, and hit him when he would have a seizure. After the three years of relentless abuse, John Bell became bedridden and died in 1820 with a vial of mysterious black liquid by him, and the family said the Witch’s voice could be heard the entire day loudly screaming about how she poisoned him.
I used multiple Library of Congress photos to depict the Bell family posed in front of their farm in a traditional wet plate style portrait but I wanted to include the Witch as a hidden cryptid accidentally caught on camera. I made my roommate dress in an old fashioned, spooky outfit to take photos of her posing in the woods, and then edited those images to give my Bell Witch eerie and uncanny features. I added lots of texture to the image and heavily distressed the edges to make it appear like a forgotten about or hidden photo.
Link to Library of Congress images:
https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/fsa/8c00000/8c00400/8c00435u.tif
https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/ppprs/00700/00720a.tif
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014718067/resource/
Living Traditions
For this project I wanted to focus on something personal to me, so I worked with imagery connected to the Blackfeet tribe. The figure on the left is someone I photographed at Blackfeet Indian Days this past summer, and the two people on the right are from an older Library of Congress photo. They’re believed to have been storytelling, which I thought connected nicely to the idea of past and present being in conversation with each other.
My overall concept wasn’t about loss or culture being erased, it was about celebration. Powwows and Indian Days still take place today to honor traditions, so I wanted the piece to feel like it was carrying that same energy. I wanted the image to show resilience, connection, and joy from the past to present.
From the Library of Congress image, I used both the background (the tipi interior) and the two main subjects. I shifted them to the right side of the frame so they could be positioned in line with the modern Blackfeet figure on the left. This layout makes it feel like the historical image and my own photo are meeting each other, showing that these celebrations and traditions are not only from the past but still alive today.
The wet plate collodion effect adds that sense of nostalgia and history, but pairing it with a present-day subject keeps the piece forward-looking.
Library of Congress photo: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95508629/
Rewrite History
Many people have heard the term "rewrite history". It is one of those terms that we sometimes wish we could do literally. Whether it's rewriting our own history or imaging a big event in history. Through this project I wanted to create an image of what I believe rewriting history would look like. Because there's so much history before us, I imagined the book would be huge and in order to "rewrite" we would have to sit on it. I photographed a journal that I had that had an older feel to it as well as photographed myself in a sitting position. The frame came from the Library of Congress.
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