Waste Water (B)

About the Photographer

Szoradi, Stephen

American, b.1968

After making documentary-style portraits of steel workers, Stephen Szoradi embarked on the series Full Circle, which investigates the structure of the City of Chicago waste system and conveys the cyclical nature of its processes. In silver-gelatin prints Szoradi obliquely addresses the various stages of refinement and reclamation, while the pictures themselves build in complexity from the sparseness of a single drain to visually complex labyrinths of geometric waterways made from concrete walls. In many works from the project, such as Waste Water (A) and (B), Szoradi uses a diptych or triptych format to reinforce themes of repetition or to play with expectations of sequence and progression in adjacent frames. At the same time, these pairings of similar images create a sense of formal rhythm and emphasize the structural qualities of these typically unseen places. Szoradi has also looked at the collection of raw materials and their subsequent transformation in photographs of slag and scrap metal heaps. Photographing these piles from a head-on vantage point and with a tight framing, he brackets out the surrounding environment and eliminates a sense of perspectival space. The resulting images resemble abstract, gestural compositions, while retaining the literal detail of the physical materials. Szoradi holds a BA in Photography and Architecture from Bennington College (1990) and an MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago (1997). He is a professor of photography at Columbia College Chicago.