Critique-Lauren E Simonutti,

The photographer I have chosen is Lauren E Simonutti, the image is “She Left The Light on But They Were Never Coming Back” (2007) the image is from the series “8 Rooms, 7 Mirrors, 6 Clocks, 2 Minds and 199 Panes of Glass” the image is of Lauren herself sitting in a chair, in two different position indicating her mental struggle, while looking at photos on the wall. It looks like she is waiting for someone and remembering something. The image is dark and not completely in focus, the use of colour is also an indication of loneliness or fading away. The series was done during the time that she was diagnosed with rapid cycling, mixed state bipolar with schizoaffective disorder and she wanted to document her thought and feelings during this time so she kept to herself until she died in 2012.

The image is quite dark which shows how Lauren must have been feeling during this photo it indicates that she has been abandoned, which is what happened to her when she was diagnosed; her family and friends left her so she was alone during this time of her life you can see this in the image she is looking at photos on the wall while feeling in despair about losing the people she loved.

Chicago art magazine did a review on the series “8 Rooms, 7 Mirrors, 6 Clocks, 2 Minds and 199 Panes of Glass” when it was in the Catherine Edelman gallery in 2010. The review was done by Debbie Labedz she mentions how Lauren E Simonutti’s photos are calculated and almost obsessively composed because each item is carefully placed unimaginable detail. The review ends with how the reviewer thinks of the exhibition and the photographer “The resulting exhibition is a brave concept- exposing one’s mind to the scrutiny of the public (Debbie labedz, review in Chicago art magazine(2010) http://www.edelmangallery.com/exhibitions/2010/simonutti/simonuttieviews2010.htm) 

On a website called Lens culture the editor received an email from Lauren E simonutti who told the editor about her illness and how it affected and her photography. The editor “The range and richness and consistency of the work thrilled me, while the background story created a deep uneasiness of emotion. These impressions and strong feelings have remained” by saying this, the editor has acknowledged how Lauren E Simoniutti may have wanted her audience to know what she went through and how she feel which you get when you know the background to the images

I agree with Debbie Labedz with how brave Lauren E Simonutti is by exhibiting her work that has so much of her feels and thought shown in them while she was suffering with the mental illness. Also the editor on the lens culture website shines a light on the perspective of how the image makes people feel. All in all Lauren E Simonutti’s image have a very strong meaning to the photographer and to the audience in a way that it helps them to understand how she felt.