What would look like an old, abandoned building to anyone else became art for Elon University senior art major Noelle Casimo.

Casimo is one of three winners in the Park Pictures billboard project, sponsored by the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. She will have her award-winning photograph, “Reclaimed,” featured in a 5-by-12-foot exhibition in the museum beginning this November. The photograph will also be presented on a billboard in the museum’s park.

“Reclaimed” depicts an “OPEN” sign, clinging to the front window of an abandoned gas station, which has become overgrown with plant life.

“I was just driving around Burlington one day, along these backroads, and there it was, this old gas station,” Casimo said. “There’s something so fascinating about these old buildings. My roommate makes fun of me all the time, saying I go into places I don’t belong in. I’ll find these old abandoned houses and I just want to go exploring.”

Casimo first heard about the NCMA contest from Mike Sanford, professor of art, who keeps his students updated on art-related programs, opportunities and exhibitions.

“There were many high quality submissions for this competitive exhibition and it is an honor for Noelle’s work to be selected and to have her represent our art program,” Sanford said. “Noelle has worked very hard to improve upon her art-making skills and to deepen her investigation of the conceptual and contextual foundations.”

The theme of the Park Pictures billboard project is based on American photographer Brian Ulrich’s exhibition “Copia-Retail, Thrift and Dark Stores,” which is currently on tour throughout the United States and has been on display at NCMA since Sept. 29. Ulrich’s work is a study of consumer culture — it documents what modern American shoppers choose to buy and what these consumers have come to disregard, as well as the emptying retail architecture of the United States following the Great Recession. Ulrich was awarded a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship for his work.

[quote] ...The natural world will always be present, even when human presence is absent." - Noelle Casimo, NCMA award-winning photographer[/quote]

In her statement for NCMA explaining “Reclaimed,” Casimo wrote, “The fact that this station is closed and literally reclaimed by the natural world brings to light the fact that as much as consumerism has become a part of our world, the natural world will always be present, even when human presence is absent.”

Casimo is currently engaged in the early stages of a senior thesis project which will combine her abilities in studio art with her psychology minor. Her work is currently aimed toward an exploration of mental illness and depression through sculpture. This project will culminate in an exhibition of her work in the spring.

After graduation, Casimo said she plans to attend graduate school to continue pursuing art. She said she hopes to earn a degree in art therapy and work with children with special needs.