©Shelley Given, Kenny’s Hand

To Wait Without Waiting depicts this action as an experience witnessed in solitude. Shelley Given’s photographs are quiet and contemplative in nature. Of all the artists representing Indiana this week, her images typify this Midwestern terrain the most. Indiana is the Crossroads of America and Given’s shows a sense of transience (driving through at dusk) and also lingering (the organization of possessions showing decades of accumulation). Seasons change from brutally cold winters to muggy summer nights. People convene in small town motels and aging relative’s houses. The nostalgia emanating from Given’s artwork is reminiscent of road trips to family reunions where this Midwestern state is the destination not a transitory movement through the landscape.

Shelley Given’s work has been exhibited in the United States and abroad, and she currently works as Visiting Assistant Professor of Photography at Indiana University in Bloomington.

©Shelley Given, Self Portrait

To Wait Without Waiting

As an artist, I am concerned with investigating the distance between things— the distance from oneself, from one’s environment, from other people, as well as the disconnect between psychological and physiological experience. Photography is an ideal tool with which to attempt map these indefinite gaps, as the act of isolation is inherent to the medium.

To Wait Without Waiting is a project that stems from questions that defy clear answers:

Is it possible to wait without waiting?

What is the distance between desire and fulfillment when you’re unsure of what you want?

Is it possible to look in two directions at once while continuing to move forward? Is it possible to be still while maintaining momentum?

Can the disconnect between what you say and what someone else understands be measured?

How do you map the width and breadth between psychological and physiological awareness?

Is it possible to be nostalgic for something that has yet to happen or might never happen?

©Shelley Given, Backyard

©Shelley Given, Windshield

©Shelley Given, Wetland

©Shelley Given, Subway Forest

©Shelley Given, Snow

©Shelley Given, Pool

©Shelley Given, Pair of Jewelry Boxes

©Shelley Given, Pair of Chairs

©Shelley Given, Night Swim

©Shelley Given, Field Sunset

©Shelley Given, Family Portraits

©Shelley Given, Empty Bed

©Shelley Given, Dandelions

©Shelley Given, Condensation

©Shelley Given, Christmas Afternoon

©Shelley Given, Billboard