Lauren Powell Presents:

~ Chanel Von Habsburg-Lothringen ~

Seduced & Abandoned Reprise

Truly honored to be sharing a very special curated selection of 5 works produced at a smaller, 11” x 14”, size. Chanel generously offered this unique collection to help with my mission to make living with art more inclusive to everyone - two girls from the suburbs of Detroit. <3 I found myself pulled to this particular body of work - Seduced & Abandoned, 2014 - while scanning her archive during quarantine and thinking about a memory of home and also my grandmother. The images made me feel very uncomfortable at first glance, but as the elements of familiarity seeped in, they felt like a form of comfort blanket. Chanel collaborated with her grandmother, archiving and creating personal documentation of objects she used for both health and daily functioning. Many of the compositions are inspired by Chanel’s own research archive of fashion and commercial photographs of 1980-1990s luxury brands - informing tone, style, and crop. Seduced & Abandoned is the result of research into mortality and within the photographs it is unclear if the subject is reflecting on her own past, looking forward to the future, or trapped somewhere in between. The anxiety of this limbo reads as strongly as the comfort of the objects within each carefully arranged and selected frame. In America we love a good before & after story, but in what direction is this documentation leading towards? Beyond the content, it’s important to note how sculptural each print feels - generated by the extreme care and intent on choosing each prop based on its aesthetic and form. If an object is not a “necessity” and required for daily life it is one of “desire” - evoking aspirational lifestyles, and in some images the differences may blur. I feel lucky to hold Chanel’s archive close and the unexpected comfort that sits in me from being stirred up by it.

Learn more about Chanel’s work here: http://www.chanelvonhabsburglothringen.com/ .

Chanel Von Habsburg-Lothringen (b. 1989, Detroit, MI) holds an MFA in Photography from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BA in Social Science and History of Art from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her work addresses the American notion of aspiration, mortality, and persona. Her work has been exhibitioned at: ltd los angles, Arturo Bandini, 1.5 Rooms, gallery1993, NADA New York, Harmony Murphy Gallery, Loudhailer, Detroit Independent Film Festival, and Royal Albert Hall. She is the recipient of the Toby Devin Lewis Award, Mercedes-Benz Emerging Artist Award Finalist, the Warren and Margot Coville Scholarship Recipient. She co-founded of EMBASSY and has curated projects at Los Angeles Museum of Art (LAMOA), Detroit Design Festival, the Mike Kelley Mobile Homestead and Cranbrook Museum of Art.