Title
Kirk Crippens: Foreclosure USA
Files
Exhibit Dates
January 18 - February 16, 2011
Description
This solo exhibition of San Francisco Bay Area photographer Kirk Crippens documents the home foreclosure crisis of 2008 and 2009, with particular focus on Stockton, CA.
Crippens explains that he chose Stockton as the subject of his Foreclosure, USA series in 2009 as it became a center of the housing foreclosure crisis in America:
In the first quarter of 2009, one in every twenty-seven housing units in the area received a foreclosure notice, against a national rate of about one in one hundred and fifty-nine. Foreclosure, USA explores Stockton's foreclosed homes and the abruptly suspended housing developments in its hardest hit neighborhoods. It also documents the "foreclosure industry" and businesses affected by the housing crash. A city that twice received the All America City award from the National Civic League as it converted large tracts of farmland into "homes" can surely teach us much about truly sustainable development. It is hoped that the project will promote dialogue about sustainable economic growth in local communities everywhere and educate us about the real cost of the unquestioned American dream.
In the last few years, Crippens has had solo exhibitions of his Foreclosure, USA series at the SFMOMA Artists Gallery and RayKo Photo Center in San Francisco, CA. They were both positively reviewed, including an interview on KALW radio for Cross Currents. Additionally, he was invited to speak at San Francisco PhotoAlliance, opening for John Pfahl. Crippens also won the Blue Earth Prize for Best Project Photography for his Foreclosure, USA series and was nominated for the Fleishhacker Foundation's Eureka Fellowship Program for 2011 - 2013.
Recommended Citation
University of the Pacific, "Kirk Crippens: Foreclosure USA" (2011). Reynolds Gallery Exhibits Archive. 90.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/rg-exhibits/90
