"In thrift shops, I can capture lost excitement and overwhelmed, subsumed moments. " —Brian Ulrich

Chicago, Illinois, 2005 is the very first picture Brian Ulrich made in his Thrift series. Part of a larger project titled Copia , a direct response to the 2001 encouragement by the then administration to go out and spend to boost the U.S. economy, the project examines our consumer-dominated culture. In Thrift, the artist has made a series of photographs taken in thrift stores—which have become the depositories of our recycled consumer desires. The work in the words of the artist, "explores not only the everyday activities of shopping, but the economic, cultural, social, and political implications of commercialism and the roles we play in self-destruction, over-consumption, and as targets of marketing and advertising."

Aperture is pleased to offer this very special limited-edition photograph to our collectors by the recent 2009 Guggenheim Fellow, Brian Ulrich.