RUSTBELTLEGACY.NET - Key Persons
Mari Hulick grew up in Detroit. Before attending design school, she completed undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan in American History. She has maintained a passionate interest in social history ever since. The Rustbelt Legacy Project brings her professional life and personal interests together fully for the first time.
Mary Jo Toles photographed the layers of settlement, development and industry found in The Flats. While she investigated these subtle layers of history, Mari Hulick began collecting the facts of that history. As she compiled the story of the region, Mari was reminded of the phenomenon of a palimpsest-often a writing material (parchment, tablet, or other "permanent" writing surface) that has been used after earlier writing has been erased. In a palimpsest, traces of the earlier record always remain. The photographic studies that Toles created showed the diverse layers easily apparent in The Flats. Their first piece, Palimpsest, is an overview of those layers.
Mary Jo Toles grew up in the Great Lakes region. Before joining the Cleveland Institute of Art as a Professor, she worked as a professional photographer in Chicago. She grew up in an industrial landscape that was a constant influence on her visually, physically, and philosophically. Earlier work that parallels this project investigated the Great Lakes waterways. "Getting out into the landscape leads me to people and stories."