Matthew Schenning

Matthew Schenning is a Brooklyn based photographer originally from Baltimore, MD where he spent his youth playing in the abandoned spaces under highway overpasses. While seeking to understand his own relationship to his surroundings he interjects a bit of humor and poetry into the imagery of the everyday.

Abandoned Railroad Tracks, 2018

Tourist Gorge, 2017

Crossroads, Hoonah, AK, 2015

Not So Sure

Manifest Destiny and man’s divine right to conquer has been baked into America from the start. It’s no surprise that, most of the time, capitalism makes no room for environmental responsibly. The march of dominance over everything in our path has been the only thing that matters. But, as scientific research begins to make direct correlations between our actions and the health of the planet, we are forced to examine our past. With the current political environment, and as the government continues to roll back environmental protections and dismantle regulations, you have to wonder what our future looks like. What will the landscape of the future look like? How will we continue to manipulate our surroundings?
We are at a point in global development were much of the world has been developed and redeveloped many times over. I am searching for places that reveal multiple points on this development cycle’s timeline. I am investigating the environmental and political issues surrounding how a place looks and how it’s constructed. We have forced our will on our surroundings and imposed structure everywhere you look but sometimes nature pushes back. It’s helpful to step back and take in a broad view spatial relationships. By pulling back until just before the picture falls apart, I am attempting to show a bit of the context for the existence of the subject and maybe reveal something of our future.

Alley Restaurant, 2016