Over the last decade, Corine Vermeulen has built out a quiet niche for herself as one of the premier photographers in Detroit, with an emphasis on capturing the essence of her subjects, semi-staged and in their element. Her meticulous approach to portraiture-as-documentation draws upon a long tradition of semi-candid photography, and has showcased such Detroit populations as the tenants of the Mies van der Rohe’s settlement in Lafayette Park (a series featured in the New York Times), and DEMF attendees.

“Breanna and her son Perrion (Catherine Ferguson Academy),” from the “Walk-in Portrait Studio” series. Image courtesy of the artist

Notably referential among her work, “The Walk-In Portrait Studio” (2009-2014) is a project that directly evokes Walker Evans’ License Photo Studio in New York. Vermeulen initially opened the studio to any walk-ins within her own Eastside neighborhood, yielding a wide cross-section of subjects, some of which are notoriously absent from coverage or representation in the conversation about their city. Subsequently, Vermeulen has taken the portrait studio on tour to various schools in Detroit, including the Catherine Ferguson Academy, whose population is entirely composed of recent or expecting teenage mothers, and the Grace Lee Boggs School, an alternative education center that has cropped up amidst an initially skeptical and now enthused near-Eastside community. Supplemental perspective is available on the DIA’s website, where the response of citizens to seeing their portraits on display in the show is recorded and presented.

“Zana” from the “Walk-In Portrait Studio” series, 2009.

A cross-section of these portraits and more are on display at the Detroit Art Institute, in a special photography exhibit that opened on Friday, November 14th and will run through May 17th of next year. For more information about Vermeulen, you can read about her at Essay’d – a brand new site profiling some of Detroit’s most amazing artists, spearheaded by 9338 Campau gallerist Steve Panton (whose contributors also include Wayne State professor Dennis A. Nawrocki and your intrepid Knight Arts blogger, Rosie Sharp). Panton’s essay on Vermeulen is a great first stop for anyone hungry for more information on this gifted and enigmatic artist.

The Detroit Institute of Arts: 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-833-7900; www.dia.org