Image: “I Care,” 2004, Pigment print, 24” x 24”  

Farmilant's images explore the idea that the human presence remains a part of the history and narrative of these now uninhabited places.  The image is an historic record of a moment, a place, a community, and a service that no longer exists.

The artist comments: “My photographs explore the liminal moment that hovers between perception and recognition.” 

Mary Farmilant is best known for her work that examines the progressive deterioration of abandoned institutional spaces and the human presence that remains.  Farmilant’s images are an outgrowth of her background in nursing and her interest in addressing the issues we face today: the current crisis in healthcare, preservation of history versus building anew, the allocation of resources in a failing global community, and the pressure on the middle class.

Farmilant has exhibited throughout the U.S at venues including the Indianapolis Art Center, Walkers Point Center for the Arts, the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, the Griffin Museum of Photography, the Barrett Art Center, Vermont Center for Photography, the CONTACT Toronto Photography Festival, and the Art Basel Miami Bridge Art Fair.  Her image, "Treatment Room" was the cover image for author John McNally's book, Ghosts of Chicago, published in 2009.

Awards include the Illinois Arts Council Special Assistance Grant, the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Award in Photography, the Community Arts Assistance Program Grant (CAAP), the Stuart & Iris Baum Project Completion Grant, and the Follett Fellowship.  She has been awarded four artist residencies at the Ragdale Foundation.  Farmilant is a founding member of the artist collectives, Standard Usage Project and the Chicago Women in Photography (CWiP).

Born in Ohio, Farmilant received both a BA with Honors and an MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago.   She currently teaches as an adjunct professor at Columbia College Chicago.  She lives and works in Chicago, IL.

This exhibition is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.