Chris Verene has been documenting his birthplace - the town of Galesburg, Illinois - for the past 18 years. Although Verene has produced a number of acclaimed series (including “Camera Club” and “The Self-Esteem Salons”), it is the Galesburg work that is the most revered and historically significant. A. D. Coleman, writing for the New York Times Book Review, states, "Chris Verene is a most appealing newcomer, a diamond in the rough whose square color pictures record his family and friends in candid, unvarnished fashion. The tacky interiors, worn clothes and forlorn expressions in the pictures suggest that not all is well in Galesburg, but Verene adds a commentary that tries its best to be upbeat and compassionate. ...the larger shadow hanging over Verene's work belongs to Diane Arbus, and that is not a bad thing."

Poignant, empathetic, touching, and humorous, The Galesburg Series is also frequently challenging. Verene has been compared to Walker Evans, William Eggleston, and Nan Goldin. An indication of the dynamic complexity of The Galesburg Series is the oft-debated potentially-exploitative aspect of these candid pictures. Depicting a “...semi-rural underclass that is seldom represented elsewhere, these images participate in the tradition of socially-conscious documentary-photography as well as the offbeat regionalism associated with William Eggelston,” asserts Philip Auslander, writing in ArtForum in 2004. Auslander goes on to ponder the fine line between representation and exploitation, as each viewer is also left to reach his own conclusion.

Chris Verene’s work is in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center, the High Museum of Art and others. Verene was the first-ever photographer to receive a Pollock-Krasner Grant for full support (2002-2003). Verene was represented in the 2000 Whitney Biennial, and his “Self-Esteem Salon: The Orphanage” was an invitational feature in the 2005 Armory Art Fair, New York. His work has been exhibited in countless museums and galleries worldwide, and his bibliography includes PARKETT, ArtForum, Harper’s Magazine, Flash Art, Aperture, Vanity Fair, Art in America and the New York Times, among many others. His work was last seen locally at The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, in a mid-career retrospective exhibition in 2004.