Jarod Lew (b.1987) currently living and working in the metro Detroit area, is an artist/documentary photographer whose work tries to better understand the complexities between human identity and the environment that surrounds it. In 2014, he was awarded the Rangefinder Storytellers Award.
In 2015, his portrait “Audrey 2014” was placed in a group exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum’s National Portrait Gallery, which will continue to travel to several U.S. museums until 2018. In 2016, he was awarded the PDN Exposure Award and was spotlighted at Photoville 2016 in Brooklyn, New York.
About ‘Maybe I’ll se you there’:
The national news is full of stories about the revitalization of Detroit, but while these generally paint an optimistic portrait of a city on the rise, many neighborhoods and residents still feel like they are being left out. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Detroit Riots (July 23rd, 1967), my work focuses on the lives and stories of people who have yet to feel the ripple effects of downtown development, and who fear they never will.
After going through some of the worst riots in U.S. history and now coming out of bankruptcy, I explore the parts of Detroit that feel they are beyond the orbit of the city’s ongoing transition. Using the desolate cityscape as the backdrop, I wander through this landscape either by foot or in a car, searching for a past that’s creeping along with the present.
Combining the climactic scenes of a fragmented past with portraits of those residing within it, the photographs depict what life is like outside the epicenter of resurgence where there is still hope that a once great metropolis can shine again. With its history slowly being eliminated, this series tries to explore a resulting history and the uncertainty of everyone’s future in a city that is trying to find a new face.
