I have always been interested in pursuing a career in the arts. Four days after my eighteenth birthday, September 11th 2001, I moved from rural Indiana to the heart of Humboldt Park, a Chicago neighborhood.I have watched as development devoured wilderness, and created urban areas out of rural environs. After nearly four years of moving around Chicago, I finally identified a void in my life, which I refer to as being disconnected to place or lacking the securities that the notion of home provides. In 2005, I earned my B.F.A. in photography from Columbia College. While at Columbia, I had the opportunity to self-publish a limited edition of books, investigating development in the Midwest called, ‘Across the Way.’ funded by the Weisman Scholarship Committee. 'Across the Way,' was recently added to the collections of the Newberry Library and the Chicago History Museum.

Currently, I am working a variety of freelance jobs. I have taken on the role of documentary photographer, graphic & web designer, photo assistant, teacher and mentor. In April of 2007 I received a Community Arts Assistance Program grant from Chicago Department of Culutural Affairs. The funds contributed to the print production of a new series of color landscape work

Moving to Chicago provided me with a larger view of the process of urban sprawl. I continually use photography to explore and question environmental issues. The term sprawl references widespread development, which promotes the use of automobiles, and creates major fiscal disparities among localities. My photography focuses on the automobiles impact on the changing Midwestern landscape. Living within environments that are continually changing removes a shared sense of history. A loss of history & automobile dependency limits a person's value of place, creating spaces that are lonely, utilitarian and based temporary commodities. I strive to create images that are a strong fusion of concise composition and content that is timely and socially relevant. Within our world of expotentional population growth resulting in rapid development I strive to make images that capture an often temporary urban landscape. I usually photograph by way of bike or on foot, this changes the way I relate, see and experience the world around me, and vice versa for the automobile dependent. I photograph using color 35 mm film, in a aesthetic style that I described as formal precisionism, an iconic, clean, strongly composed image.

As I make progress in my photographic endeavors I will update this site, please visit frequently.
-Kelly Strycker