Mary Lou Uttermohlen

Mary Lou Uttermohlen uses environmental portraiture as her practice. Her work has appeared in publications such as Time, Ladies Home Journal, Newsweek, New Orleans Magazine, Success Magazine and Inc. She thrives on long-term projects dealing with humanity and is presently immersed in two documentaries. For several decades she has been documenting the epidemic of unhoused Americans living in nontraditional dwelings through a series entitled STRUCTURE OUT OF CHAOS. The one person show will be on exhibit at THE BUILDING in New Orleans during PhotoNOLA in December 2022. It was made possible by a cross-sector partnership with a homeless outreach organization and funded through South Arts and the NEA. 

In another project she has been exploring the unique spiritual culture of New Orleans, in a series entitled SPIRITUAL YAYA. She documents rituals and gatherings from the mainstream to small sacred circles that coexist like ingredients in a pot of gumbo.  

Uttermohlen studied art at Shepherd University in West Virginia and received a Master's from The Ohio State University.  She has served as an adjunct professor of photography at The Ohio State University, The Columbus College of Art and Design, and Loyola University in New Orleans.  Photo Lucida’s Critical Mass named her as a top photographer and was chosen to exhibit internationally on “The Fence.” She has earned two individual artist fellowships, has a long exhibition record, and is in several collections including the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation.

STRUCTURE OUT OF CHAOS documents chronically homeless Americans living in non-traditional dwellings. It’s a paradox of visiting the unhoused, in their homes with the intent of shedding light on our domestic humanitarian crisis. The goal is to inspire an informed discourse about homeless Americans.

The federal government’s response to chronic homelessness is a rapid rehousing program. However, two of the three factors creating the situtation cannot be solved with housing. Those factors are severe mental illness and substance use disorders, which tend to be intertwined. After being housed these unresolved issues lead many back to the streets like a revolving door.

This work focuses on barriers to ending this epidemic by humanizing the people trapped in the cycle. If we continue ignoring vulnerable people, then this trauma will proceed unabated. A shift in social consciousness is required to end American Homelessness and this series strives toward that goal by being a platform for people without one.