Artist Statement

Possibility explores the natural degradation of a family farmhouse that was built in the late 1860s in an area surrounded by Civil War battlefields. Located in Madison County, Virginia, the house has stood unoccupied for many years. This place that was once a site of family gatherings and summer play has shifted into a rewilded tilt.  

Within this disarray, reflections emerge in the tarnished mirrors and shadowed corners that emulate the disorientation of a woman and mother’s journey through midlife. Drawing inspiration from the interior compositions produced by contemporary German-American photographer Uta Barth, Coker’s photographs locate the bounce of light, movement in stillness, and seek solace in the chaos. Upon each return the house seems to have shifted, its bones straining under the weight of time and neglect. Different seasons and times of day unveil new evidence of decline, as well as beauty and resilience.

Possibility is at heart a portrait of an aging Southern house, a space filled with stories and walls that speak. Much like a daguerreotype photograph from the 19th century, the static requirements of film photography allow for the manifestation of an atmosphere of shape-shifting backgrounds—cosmic realms that can only be seen with a focus of attention and light, a slowing of time. And with that time shift perhaps an opportunity to understand how the loss of a place can also be viewed as a sublime reclamation by nature.

— Courtney Coker
November, 2025