Farwell Railings - Detroit, Michigan

from the series Institutional by Sean Galbraith, 2010

Artwork Statement

The eight-storey Farwell building in downtown Detroit is modest in size, but was a real treat to explore. At its peak, the building was adorned with marble walls and was famous for its Tiffany Glass chandeliers, mosaic tile lobby, and stained glass windows. Almost none of these features still remained when I visited and it had been abandoned for a quarter century. What remained was the amazing light well down the middle of the building, shown in this photograph. The cast iron railings and staircases were definitely the defining feature of the building. In 2019, a restoration of the building was completed.

Artist Biography

Sean Galbraith is a self-trained photographer and urban planner in Toronto. With a background in urban design, he looks for patterns, lines and forms that give structure to urban environments. Sean has exhibited in Toronto at the Art Gallery of Ontario Rental + Sales Gallery, galleryDK, Pearson International Airport, Hangman Gallery and the Department of Canadian Heritage, among others. Sean uses medium and large format film. In addition to loving the feel and deliberative process of shooting film, Sean notes that the resulting negatives all for high resolution scans that greatly exceed the capacity of current digital technologies. Sean is a founding member of the DK Photo Group and co-owner of galleryDK. He is also part of a large community of fellow architectural explorers. In 2010 Sean was selected as a winner of the Magenta Foundation’s Flash Foward international competition for Emerging Photographers.

Learn more about Sean >

Purchase Details

The prints you receive are archival, photographic prints on a semi-matte paper with a longevity of 100+ years under normal light conditions.

Each print ships with a Certificate of Authenticity signed by the artist, which serves as proof your artwork is a bonafide member of its limited edition. You should keep this in a safe place.

All prices are in American dollars (USD).

Framing

Canadian customer orders are framed in Toronto; orders from the United States are framed in Texas. All frames come with D-rings for installation. All orders come with our free downloadable installation guide.

Shipping

Upon receiving your order, we will send you an order confirmation. Your artwork(s) will be printed and framed to order. Expected lead time is 3-4 weeks. Delays are possible and depend on the shipping provider. Feel free to send us an email anytime about your order!