Fine Art nominee

Our lives, moods and experiences are informed by the spaces we inhabit. As a child I used to visit the homes of others and imagine what it would be like to inhabit their space. As the ways we live change, the space needed to accommodate contemporary life shifts. Old spaces become impractical or unnecessary for a given family, business or population. Two years ago my grandfather passed away and in his passing, the family home, our gathering place, the place of my memory ceased to exist. This loss inspired a need to document the place so that I might never forget it. Now that this home, this place where I belonged, is gone I have a compelling need to document spaces slated for demolition or drastic renovation, spaces where the possible lives that passed between the walls are palpable or inspire a certain sense of possibility. In Ghosts Immemorial I aim to bring a wisp of life to spaces forgotten, abandoned, left for dead, spaces we can no longer afford to live in or maintain, spaces deemed no longer necessary for for contemporary life, spaces in need of new life.

Vanessa Filley was born in New York City in 1975. She began her career as a human rights investigator for a law firm, but six years in discovered a compelling emotional need to make more tangible work in the world. After founding a clothing company of one of a kind wear from recycled fabrics she quickly evolved into a mixed-media fine art practice. Her work ranges from large scale sculptural installations to tiny embroidery pieces. After years of taking pictures she discovered that she could synthesize her art making in photographs, allowing her to design scenes, make costumes and conjure a certain sense of emotion and place. She has been showing work, and has won a number of juror’s awards, throughout the US and internationally since 2015. In 2016 she was one of Photolucida’s Top 200. In November of 2017 she had her first solo show at Perspective Gallery. She lives and works in Evanston, Il.