Suzy Poling "Systems of Impermanence" New Photographs @ Zg Gallery, Chicago

Suzy Poling
Systems of Impermanence: Entropy as Impetus for Patterns in Ecological Transformation
New Photographs
Opens Friday July 10th 5-8pm
July 10 - August 29, 2026

Suzy Poling's collection of photographs of ice caves, melted ice formations, and recycled metal and automobile fragments examines patterns, structures, and poetic gestures within ecological, geological, industrial, mechanical, and existential systems. As the Earth warms and society rapidly transitions from an industrial age to a digital one, these images invite reflection on the beauty, grief, and wonder found within the delicate balance between order and chaos in both natural and human-made environments.

Poling's art draws upon the principles of Cybernetics, the interdisciplinary study of how biological, mechanical, and social systems communicate, regulate, and adapt through the exchange of information. She references entropy, both as defined by the Second Law of Thermodynamics and as a broader measure of disorder, randomness, and the dispersal of energy. The melting ice, subterranean ice caves, and decomposing metal structures depicted in these photographs are all manifestations of entropic processes unfolding over time.

These images explore the relationships between ecology, geology, entropy, and the cosmos, and how these forces intersect with the imprints of human activity. Ice caves serve as a powerful metaphor for the temporary emergence of order within an inherently entropic universe—a state that can exist only through continuous energy exchanges. Likewise, industrial remnants reveal parallel systems of construction, decay, adaptation, and transformation.

Poling is particularly interested in the intricate designs and fractal-like forms that emerge within melting ice and weathered metal. These recurring patterns suggest worlds within worlds, revealing visual connections between the conscious and subconscious, the microscopic and the cosmic. By examining networks of order and disorder across natural and manufactured systems, this work considers how such structures both reflect and support human existence.

The recycled metal structures were photographed outside of Los Angeles, while the ice caves and winter ice formations were photographed in Northern Michigan and Detroit during the winter of 2026.

Suzy Poling is a polymath and interdisciplinary artist working with sound, video, film, photography installation, sculpture, painting, collage, and performance art. She researches the multi-dimensional interferences between optics, mirrors, sonic resonance, electrical synthesis, video experiments, human/alien identities, and inspections of geological anomalies. Pod Blotz is Poling’s Modern Electronic / Sound Art/ Abstract Techno solo project that explores posthumanist concepts, cathartic gestures, and otherworldly sound sources signed to Dais Records.

Poling’s artwork has been seen in The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, Dazed Digital, and a Metropolitan Museum of Art Book. She is a recipient of the Mike Kelley Foundation Grant and was a nominee for the SECA Award at the SFMOMA and has had 8 solo art exhibitions in Chicago, Detroit, and San Francisco. Visually, her work has been exhibited at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Disjecta, Cal Polytechnic University, Chicago Cultural Center, Henry Ford Museum, Australian Center for Photography, Aperture Foundation, Cult Exhibitions/Aimee Friberg and Zg Gallery. 

Originally from Michigan, Suzy Poling received her B.A. in Photography at Columbia College Chicago. She has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles for two decades and now resides in Detroit.   Suzy Poling: Systems of Impermanence will be her 2nd solo exhibition with Zg Gallery in Chicago and is on view from July 10th through August 29th, 2026.