The Photographic Performance was created to feature the works of artist with completed bodies of work and a strong narrative. Julia Arstorp and Leland Smith’s exhibition Ellis Island: Abandoned Echoes is the last of four performances to be exhibited during 2025. Julia and Leland’s exhibition is discussed in this GalleryTalk.

Artist Statement

In 2024, a shared fascination with the abandoned Immigration Hospital on Ellis Island became the cornerstone for this project.

As photographers, however, aim was never simply to document this landmark. We sought something more: a visual narrative that evoked the emotional resonance of the decaying hospital and the enduring immigrant experience.

We began without a predetermined outcome, sometimes working together, sometimes apart. We were not only captivated by the physical structure but equally by how our individual creative visions would emerge.

Would they mesh? Would they overlap? Would they tell different stories?

Ultimately, we discovered that Leland’s images — with their soft, rich textures, colors, and tones — evoke a sense of wonder, almost as if seen through the eyes of a newly arrived immigrant on their first morning.

In contrast –

Julia’s black and white collages and diptychs inspire narratives of the past that reveal the hospital’s enduring presence as both a physical and symbolic place.

For both of us, engaging with this historical place created a powerful link between the hopes and dreams of past immigrants and the contemporary issues we face today.

Abandoned Echoes invites you to walk alongside us, to listen to the whispers of history, and to bear witness to the enduring human spirit that once thrived within these walls.”

Julia Arstorp and Leland Smith, 2025

Bio Julia Arstorp

Based in Connecticut, fine art photographer Julia Arstorp explores memory, history, and impermanence through her black-and-white images. Her work evokes a sense of nostalgia, weaving together narratives that feel both deeply personal and universally familiar.

Arstorp’s creative process is heavily influenced by her research. She often incorporates historical artifacts like old photographs, letters, and maps into her layered collages and diptychs. These elements create a rich dialogue between history and her contemporary vision. Beyond her photographic prints, Arstorp also creates handmade books and intricate assembled pieces.

Her work has been shown in group exhibitions at galleries throughout the U.S. and featured in publications like Hand Magazine, Photo Trouvée, and Shots Magazine. Notably, her series, Coquettish Decay, was selected as a 2025 Photolucida Critical Mass Finalist, and her cyanotype work can be seen in the book Cyanotype Toning.

website: juliaarstorp.com
instagram:  @juliaarstorp

Bio Leland Smith

Leland (Lee) Smith is a photo-artist. In photographic circles he is considered a “generalist”. As such his images encompass a wide range subject matter – landscape, architecture, still life, abstract.

His inspiration and approach are grounded in the compositional moods of pictorialism and the subtle color gradations of tonalism. His final images are a blend of monochromatic stillness and delicate color shifts -they create a
dreamlike transactional feel that emphasizes the beauty of subject matter rather than the mere documentation of reality.

Coming from a background of directing high profile television commercials, his photographic style has been shaped by the masters of advertising photography and by the classic cinematographers that he has had the good fortune of working with.

Lee lives in Connecticut.

website: lelandsmithphotography.com
instagram:  @lelandsmithphotography

link to online exhibition

link to exhibition catalogue