Elke Morris 2013

Waterfront Properties

September – December

Our relationship to land and especially the use of land as real estate has always been of interest to me. In my photographs, the depiction of residential homes and private properties often addresses the organization of space for functional, recreational, and aesthetic purposes. The series Waterfront Properties incorporates our complex relationship with water, speaking to issues of conservation and wealth distribution. Most of the images in the series were taken in California, where policies regulating scarce water supplies have been a potent issue for decades. The photographs depict residences in upscale housing developments built next to constructed waterways. These artificial lakes and waterways add to the appearance of a surreal environment and landscape.

Elke Morris is a photographer whose work has been exhibited widely throughout the United States and in Germany. Venues for showing her work have included the Cynthia-Reeves Gallery in New York City, the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, MA, the Miller Block Gallery in Boston, and the Robert Morat Gallery in Hamburg & Berlin, Germany. In Maine, her work has been exhibited at the Portland Museum of Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Colby and Bates College Art Museums, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, and the Farnsworth Museum. Morris has received numerous awards and grants and her images are included in a number of museum collections. She holds an M.A. and M.F.A. degree from the University of New Mexico and teaches photography at Bates College.