Filter Photo is pleased to announce Once We Were Here, a solo exhibition of work by Nicolò Sertorio, at Filter Space gallery.

Nicolò Sertorio considers himself privileged: white, male, educated, healthy, living in the Western world. He is, however, admittedly part of a ‘disenchanted generation’ born after WWII when globalization seemed like a great idea, a path towards unification, only to be awakened to a hard reality of inequality and environmental abuse. Contemporary media is filled with alarming news: ice melting, fresh water contamination, overpopulation, corporate greed, food poisoning, oil dependency, and wealth inequality, among other things. It seems the world has lost its mystery to become the playground of the very few at the expense of the many. Nicolò Sertorio’s photographs address the resulting sense of powerlessness that has left communities disenfranchised, resulting in a lack of social or environmental accountability.

Presented as a hypothetical archeological study on the nature of co-existence, Sertorio’s series, Once We Were Here, presents the viewer with a world where humanity’s need for insatiable consumption has led it to the ultimate consumption: the consumption of the self. We are shown a world where the selfishness of humanity has disappeared yet nature remains in its solemnness. Nature has endured and overcome the weight of humanity’s selfish behaviors and we are reunited with nature’s beauty and mystery.

http://filterphoto.org/portfolio/once-we-were-here/

Nicolò Sertorio is an artist based in Oakland, CA (born in Italy). He grew up influenced by both European and American culture in a family with a long tradition in academia, arts, and science. This multicultural and scientific upbringing influenced him to be both analytical and explorative.  Traveling extensively and living in many countries from an early age has left him with a unique combination of European sensibility and complex, and at times conflicting, worldviews.

Once We Were Here
Nicolò Sertorio
Exhibition Dates: November 3 – November 25, 2017
Opening Reception: November 3 | 6pm – 9pm
Location: Filter Space 1821 W. Hubbard St., Ste. 207, Chicago, IL 60622
Gallery Hours: Monday – Saturday | 11am – 5pm

Filter Space is free and open to the public.