Neighbourhood lost

Houses seem to have their own life. The inhabitants who change over the course of time are apparently just a temporarily part of their physical state. They are only one historical layer of many others inscribed in the house. At least this is what Melissa Vogley Woods’ latest works suggest. Like in her former works on traditional American quilts she is looking for the hidden histories inside her objects. And once more the houses do not remain objects but become actors in their own right, reflecting a narrative. The versatile revised photograph’s of houses in Franklin, a run down neighbourhood of Columbus, Ohio, are tracing back these narrations, simultaneously manipulating the houses’ present, and looking forward to their future. Here at the latest it becomes clear that the inhabitant’s retreat will not be the end of the story but only the beginning of a new part of the history written by the houses and it’s environment. In front of this background the concern about shrinking cities should be taken as a problem for the people and not for the houses.
Speaking with Italo Calvino Vogley-Woods’ houses can’t be called uninhabited, whether been left before being inhabited or after.

Melissa Vogley Woods lives and works in Columbus/Ohio. She produced the works presented after she returned from Dresden/Germany where she participated in the artist-exchange-program of the partner cities Dresden and Columbus in the fall of 2008.