Event > Easton Nights – photography series by Peter Ydeen at the Susquehanna Art Museum
Susquehanna Art Museum > from 01/11/2019 to 12/01/2020, opening: Tuesday through Sunday 10:00 am through 5 pm.
“Dreams” – a selection of photographs from the series “Easton Nights” will be shown at the Susquehanna Art Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania from November 1st through January 10th. Included in the exhibit will be a set of three video montages made in collaboration with composers Robert Paterson, Blake Tyson and musician Adam Teller.
Peter Ydeen has been photographing the Easton, Pennsylvania area at night since 2015. He takes inspiration from the work of noted American photographer George Tice, who captured images of American life and landscape.
Ydeen explores the Easton area at night, discovering the ethereal presence of contrasts and colors. As if lighting a classical still life or stage set, Ydeen takes advantage of the lights in the city which highlight his subjects. Coupled with the pink light emitted by the sodium vapor streetlights, Easton at night becomes a silent city of lit stages bathed in unreal color and shadows.
These scenes share a familiarity with countless American cities during the quiet of night. The temporarily abandoned spaces reflect the citizens who built and occupy them during daylight. The remnants of decades of development offers a portrait of a community in absentia. For Ydeen, creating the series was both addictive and cathartic. What started as a photographic exercise became an intimate interaction with the quiet shapes and exotic lights of a sometimes-forgotten American city.
