Gregory Crewdson’s “Redemption Center”

Gregory Crewdson is an American photographer who is “interested in . . . that moment of transcendence, where one is transported into another place, into a perfect, still world.”

While visiting Vienna, Austria in 2024, I had the privilege to see Crewdson’s work in the Albertina Museum.

One collection that made me actually tear up and begin crying in front of the entire museum was Crewdson’s “An Eclipse of Moths”, specifically the digital pigment print “Redemption Center”, 2018-2019.

REDEMPTION CENTER’S BACKGROUND

“Redemption Center” showcases Pittsfield, Massachusetts, a city where the majority of the population had worked for the local General Electric plant and many lost their jobs after the firm had closed down. In addition to high unemployment, the company left behind a devastated environment.

According to the Albertina, Crewdson describes the situation of neglected postindustrial places through the contrast between light atmospheres rendered in vibrant colors and desolate motifs of everyday life.

MY INTERPRETATION

In relation to my work of hopefully being a humanitarian who invests in social impact & advocacy, “Redemption Center” made me cry the most as it shows that America often has so many forgotten souls that we choose to forget or not visit and help.

A “redemption center” is old and dilapidated, which I interpret as there nothing else being left for this small town.

In the left foreground, you see a man that’s hoping to find the answers to his past, present, and future life in a rain-filled pothole while his shopping cart of things that were probably from the redemption center sits still.

In the right background, you see two people staring into the abyss while attempting to hang out.

And despite everything, all three subjects have no facial emotion. They are all just numb. Drained. Their souls, hopes, and dreams have been killed.

CONCLUSION

I hope that the people (not institutions or firms) that I work with and create strategic partnerships with understand how empathetic I am to the towns that we simply quickly pass by when we drive into the city.

At the very least, if you cannot help someone, you can listen and empathize with them.