Can You answer the question?
Take a look at the photos and let us know what you think the location of each of the twenty five photographs is. Please be as specific as possible. Example: What it was, where it was, and where and what it is now.
• All but one of the photographs were taken in Eau Claire.
• The correct location may apply to more than one photograph.
Whoever identifies the most photographs correctly may choose one of the unsold photographs to take home once the exhibit closes.
In the case of a tie, a winner will be selected at random.
Artist Statement
I moved to Eau Claire forty three years ago. Photography played a role in acquainting myself with my new surroundings. I would travel around town (and the countryside) and photograph whatever I thought was interesting. Much of what was new to me obviously had been here for a long time before my arrival. Soon, however, it became apparent that the area was changing slowly at first, but later the changes became more extensive and at a greater rate of speed. I would photograph some place or thing and sometime afterwards it would be gone or changed completely. The most dramatic example is the time I photographed the downtown Trailways/Greyhound bus station. I developed the film that same day, but I didn’t like the results. I went back the very next day to rephotograph the station, only to find that it was being razed with a wrecking ball.
I never deliberately set out to document Eau Claire and the surrounding area. It was a much more random process based on whatever “caught my eye.” Eventually it occurred to me that I had, in a sense, a literal “snapshot” of a specific, albeit short, slice of Eau Claire history. Over the years, some people have suggested that I turn this body of work into a book. However, my idea was to share these images with a wider audience, and I immediately thought, “What better place than the Chippewa Valley Museum?” Furthermore, let’s make it fun, create a scavenger hunt of sorts, and see how many people can correctly identify the location of each of the photographs.
So, my challenge to you, the viewer, and thus the basis for the title of the exhibit, is to answer the question, “Where Was I ?”
Bruce Warren
June 2025
