Ryan Kukalis

Ryan Kukalis born in Ann Arbor Michigan in 1995 is an artist currently pursuing a BFA in photography at Kendall College of Art and Design. After high school, Ryan’s family relocated to Florida, which allowed him to travel extensively during his young adulthood. Regularly traveling across the country just to say the words “I’m home” has made him question the common idea of the home and the psychological impacts it creates on the inhabiting person. Ryan’s work umbrellas this diverse idea of the place called home, domesticated, and inhabited no matter the physical state it occurs in. As well as it’s ephemeral nature, which through a lifetime constantly morphs our surroundings resulting in an ever-changing natural landscape pushed to fit our vast conditions labeled as home.

Shaken Loose

“Shaken Loose” depicts Southwest Florida months after hurricane Irma. The place called home had been fragmented and scattered along the south during the storm. Around 5 million people were asked to evacuate Florida, many packed up and fled while others decided to brace it full on and stay. The ones that left packed up their homes and traveled north in order to escape the horrors Mother Nature was to bring. On return many found there to be nothing left, pieces of the neighbors houses filled the yard, debris of what was once the family car found in the woods across the street, no clue as to where the house went. Irma leveled everything. The original homes were swept away by the 90mph winds forcing people to live in their mobile homes and build a new life from scratch while cleaning up Irma’s mess.

To view more of Ryan’s work please visit his website.