Tammy Mercure

(b. 1976; resides Chicago, IL)

Free from the toils and cares of the work week and faced with the unstructured time of the weekend, many feel pressured to act productively during their spare time. People are often drawn to parks and open spaces nestled within the city in pursuit of holiday fecundity.  —Tammy Mercure

Tammy Mercure recieved her B.A. in Photography from Columbia College Chicago, where she is Digital Imaging Facilities Coordinator. She has exhibited in solo shows at the Chicago Cultural Center in Illinois and the Sioux City Art Center in Iowa, and has received numerous awards and grants, including a Polaroid Art Support Grant as well as several CAAP grants from the City of Chicago. Images from Wonders were published in the book Place, Art, and Self by Yi-Fu Tuan. She is represented by Catherine Edelman Gallery’s Chicago Project.

Past Portfolio

Using a pinhole camera to make her exposures, Tammy Mercure employs a simple tool to create pictures that examine the sensation of awe. The small, nearly square Carbon Quadtone inkjet prints of Mercure’s series Wonders are crafted to suggest monumental scale even as their subjects hint at more humble origins. Towering above the viewer is the realistic model of an elephant, a sandcastle lacks the context to distinguish it from an Egyptian pyramid. Yet the marvel in these pictures is not due to the objects they depict so much as the way in which they are seen, notable for a quality of light and soft focus that establish their dreamy, timeless quality.