I have photographed in 28 states over a five-year period. The outcome of my travels is a two- part body of work entitled: "This Was What There Was: American Palimpsests." At the time I started this project the nation was experiencing a housing boom; we left established neighborhoods behind to build new ones on fresh lands. Today we are facing the effects of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Many of the new communities I photographed for this project now lie empty, with many developments left incomplete. If it is true that history is cyclical, then we need to look to our past to restore our immediate future.

BIOGRAPHY
Originally from New York, Stacy Arezou Mehrfar is an artist and freelance photographer based in Sydney, Australia. In 2002 she completed the one-year program at the International Center for Photography. Her work has been exhibited throughout the US, Poland and Australia and has received numerous distinctions including from the Center of Photography at Woodstock NY, PDN, Perth Centre for Photography in Perth, Australia, the Camera Club of New York and the Magenta Foundation. Mehrfar has participated in artist residencies at the Makor/Steinhardt Center of the 92nd St Y, as well as at the Camera Club of New York. Her images are held in the Barclay’s Bank Emerging Artist collection, the Center for Fine Art Photography Permanent Collection, and several private collections.

stacymehrfar.com