Television Room

Green Chair

“Forgotten Hotels”

“Forgotten Hotels” is a series of abandoned hotels that are on the verge of being demolished.  Each hotel has sat vacant for ten -thirty years, with several failed attempts to bring them back to life. With plans of demolition, each structure awaits an uncertain future.

In my work, I’m drawn to places that are isolated and have been forgotten about by society.  I use my camera to examine these areas that often go unnoticed.  Through the use of color and light, I try to capture the beauty the once existed in these magnificent environments. By photographing these structures, I attempt to provide a visual record of what might be lost forever.

Zebra Print

About Samantha –

Born in 1982, Samantha VanDeman grew up in the suburbs of Chicago.  She studied fine arts at Columbia College Chicago, receiving a BFA in 2005.  During her last year in college, she took a B+W photography class and found her passion.  From that point on, she started to actively documenting everything around her.  In 2007, she returned to college, this time to earn a MFA in photography from the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University in 2009.  It was during her time at the low residency program at AIB, that she was able to have independent studies with artists such as Anne Wilson, Mayumi Lake, Jeanne Dunning, and Laura Letinsky.

Two Chairs

Samantha has exhibited her work nationally.  Her work has been exhibited at Review Santa Fe 100, Santa Fe, NM; The Worldwide Photography Gala Awards; The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO; Newspace Center for Photography, Portland, OR; Emory Visual Arts Gallery, Atlanta, GA; Smash Box Studios, Culver City, CA; Denver International Airport, Denver, CO; Finch and Ada, NY; New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery, New Orleans, LA; Las Manos Gallery, Chicago, IL; Gallery 263, Cambridge, MA; Midwest center for Photography, Wichita, KS; Gallery 808, Boston, MA; Change Artist Space, San Francisco, CA; Perspective Gallery, Evanston, IL; Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR; Barrett Art Center Galleries, Poughkeepsie, NY and Fourth Wall Projects in Boston, MA. In 2012, Samantha was selected as a finalist for Photolucida’s Critical Mass. And most recently, she received first place in The International Photography Awards for architectural interiors.  Samantha has been published in Shots Magazine and The International Photography Annual.

She currently resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Blue Curtain

To see more of Samantha’s work, please log onto her website.