Karen Jerzyk is a self-taught, internationally published photographer from the Greater Boston area. After many years of photographing promotional shoots and stage portraits for bands she decided to shift her focus to people, portraying them in elaborate scenes. Jerzyk discovers abandoned spaces, seeing them as the ideal location for her dark fairy tale images and uses them to produce the intriguing dark fairy tales.
The turning point for Jerzyk’s dark fairy tales came after her father’s unexpected death.
“They [the photos] displayed stories and purpose and a sense of beautiful dismay, which was a direct mirror of how I felt on the inside. I poured all of my feelings and struggles into my work.”
Her trademark of shooting elaborate scenes in abandoned buildings involves a laborious process of cleaning and restoration, with attention paid to even the smallest of details. The peeling paint, sunken walls, and dusty debris become their own character alongside the humans.
“I strive to produce photos that tell a story that connects with the viewer on a personal level. I like to find locations that were abandoned before any sort of technological age, typically locations with relics left in them from 1980 and earlier (the older, the better), to capture a feeling of "future-past." I ultimately strive to present my photos as ‘readable images.’ There is no right answer to the ultimate meaning of any one of my photos, as each viewer can read the scene differently.”