Looking Inside: Room Portraits of St. Louis explores, through illustration, writing, and research, interior spaces in St. Louis. Looking at St. Louis through the eyes of her interiors uncovers new stories and histories that diverge from the same narrative of decline and decay that has come to shape so much of the city’s identity. Looking Inside offers another side to the fatalistic and depressing rhetoric that the city has been battling for such a long time. Illustrations and accompanying text immerse readers in beautiful spaces inside the city, while also connecting these spaces to the larger economic, social, and political histories of St. Louis and the surrounding metropolitan area.

I traipsed across the city while working on this project. Sifting through the rubble wrought by racially motivated urban renewal policies, I found historic homes saved from demolition by local preservationists, a former YMCA reimagined as a hotel and museum, and a neighborhood bar with a penchant for mid-century fireplaces and avocado green. I intentionally set off to visit some of the places I feature in this book, while others I stumbled upon while exploring. My unexpected encounters with inspiring interiors were my most exciting moments, and each new discovery led to new questions about St. Louis.

In this book I offer only a fraction of the many interiors St. Louis has to offer. I’ve only brushed the surface of what stories and histories each interior can teach us about St. Louis, this charming, confusing, and quirky city that, yes, has its slew of problems, but is also full of beauty, hope, and creative possibility. The interiors in this book cast a spell on me. I hope they enchant anyone who picks up this book as well.

Read the full book here →

MFA in Illustration and Visual Culture Exhibition →