2016: a year of extracting time capsules from chicago church buildings

another physically and emotionally draining  year has drawn to a close, but the ungodly amount of projects have left a heap of photographic images, documents, and artifact extractions waiting to be transformed into blog posts, exhibits, lectures, and narratives, that will carry into 2017 and perhaps beyond.

being stuck now in the depths of this torturous "slow season," i'm forced to look back on so many of these unfinished projects, and inadvertently fan the flames of a self-induced stress. in 2017 i aim to find new ways of handling this weight, by both managing my stress and knocking out more of these incomplete projects, currently scattered across my desktop. returning to the "slow season" is bittersweet - i struggle without many projects on the board, and consequently, find it difficult to remain inspired to tackle existing projects. it leads to a fleeting depression that continuously knocks me down. it's a seasonal yet rather exhausting symptom of this work.

i have, as of late, found some solace in looking back at the year, identifying highlights that remind me why i've devoted my life to this endeavor. one of the most unusual and least expected series of events in 2016 was the discovery and extraction of 5 time capsules - all from church buildings which the original congregations left long ago. as with many places of worship around the city, a vacant congregation meant they were open targets for demolition. i managed to secure both the cornerstones and capsules of these structures, with all contents documented and stored away. these items await re-use in an upcoming exhibit on the theme of time capsules - exploring their various physical characteristics, the role they played in a building's construction (in the form of a ceremony where the cornerstone is laid), typical contents, and displaying messages left behind - written with the full intention that the capsule would someday be found and the voices of the past reawakened.

each and every discovery has been carefully examined in great depth in previous blogs this year, and the upcoming exhibit will expound upon those posts. the images that follow simply revisit the discoveries both in the field and in the studio.

adams street church, completed in 1888.

st. paul evangelical lutheran church, constructed in 1889. 

st john's church, built 1910.

park view church, completed in 1970.

park view lutheran church, completed in 1929.