Expect Delays by Barbara Strigel

Issue 179

In Expect Delays, construction zones become an entry point to visual thinking. Barbara Strigel layers fragments of her photographs with drawings and prints, assembling the built environment into studies of form and shape that evoke an urban rhythm and prompt us to think about how we apprehend space. Her constructed landscapes digitally combine fragments of multiple cities and create a sense of space that is both familiar and elusive.

“When I photograph a row of rebar, I enter a state of abstraction, capturing moments where form and space align. Artists have a language for the relationships within compositions – words like balance, unity, rhythm, and harmony. This way of thinking shapes my daily experience. If I can find balance in a stack of cinder blocks or unity in the lines of a fence, I can extend this perspective to the broader world.

I believe in the value of visual thinking. A visual consideration of a space can connect us to a place and allow us to appreciate the transitory moments of visual grace that surround us. Construction zones are temporary spaces, evoking past, present and future time. My digital collages are a way for me to represent this dynamism.”

Expect Delays presents an expansive view of photography, one that draws on the language of visual art and is both abstract and representational.

Barbara Strigel (she/her) lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
www.barbarastrigel.com | @barbarastrigel