abandoned library

Library

Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber, 2007, archival pigment print, 48″ x 60″, © 2007, courtesy of Clamp Art Gallery and the artists

Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber

Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber are Brooklyn-based artists whose dioramas and miniatures are captured in unsettling photographs. Lori Nix, who grew up in a small, rural town in western Kansas, channels an ongoing fascination with the natural disasters that she experienced as a child. In a series of works entitled “The City,” Nix and Gerber depict a future in which man made environments have been emptied of human inhabitants and reclaimed by nature. For each of these surreal, post-human scenes, Nix and Gerber construct an intricate diorama, filled with hand-crafted details, miniature reproductions and subtle humor. Nix then stages the scene with dramatic lighting and captures it in a photograph. In these haunting works, an unidentified disaster has cleared the way for new life, which takes root in the abandoned, crumbling buildings that once housed human activity. We are reminded of the transience of human civilization and the power of nature to reclaim our shopping malls, libraries, museums and other domesticated spaces. Were the events that led to the human exodus set in motion by our failure to care for the planet? Nix and Gerber do not answer this question, instead offering a romantic vision of the aftermath, in which we find hope in colorful sunsets, poetic decay and the return to nature.

Explore the Gallery

book with bookmark
brain
inkblot in the form of insect with wolf profiles in negative space
image of mountain with reflection in lake
fist that grows into a tree
abandoned subway car

Subway

Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber, 2012, archival pigment print, 48″ x 60″, © 2012, courtesy of Clamp Art Gallery and the artists

abandoned beauty parlor

Beauty Shop

Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber, 2010, archival pigment print, 48″ x 65″, © 2010, courtesy of Clamp Art Gallery and the artists

abandoned control room with flooding

Control Room

Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber, 2010, archival pigment print, 48″ x 65″, © 2010, courtesy of Clamp Art Gallery and the artists

abandoned library

Circulation Desk

Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber, 2012, archival pigment print, 48″ x 62″, © 2012, courtesy of Clamp Art Gallery and the artists

Aquarium

Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber, 2007, archival pigment print, 48″ x 63″, © 2007, courtesy of Clamp Art Gallery and the artists

abandoned Chinese restaurant

Chinese Take-Out

Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber, 2013, archival pigment print, 48″ x 65″, © 2013, courtesy of Clamp Art Gallery and the artists

abandoned natural history museum

Natural History

Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber, 2005, archival pigment print, 19″ x 60″, © 2005, courtesy of Clamp Art Gallery and the artists

Featured Actions