Sometimes it takes an earthquake to change one≠s life path, but in Polly Chandler's case, it only took a few nights and weekends spent in a local college photography lab.

Chandler, a graduate student in photography at SIUC, will display "A Photographic Essay by Polly Chandler" at Mungo Jerry's Fat Cat Café, located at 1023 Chestnut St. in Murphysboro, beginning Nov. 3.

Chandler, who has a bachelor's degree in graphic design and general studio from SIUC, began a career in St. Louis, Mo., working at a local graphic design firm shortly after graduation.

While she lived in St. Louis, she said her attraction to photography became increasingly apparent.

"Through photography, I try and explore the experience and shared moments that we, as individuals, collect in our lives," Chandler said.

Soon after cameras, film and darkrooms consumed her spare time, Chandler decided she wanted to work toward a life in photography.

"Photography has become the most fitting and expressive medium due to its unique ability to so clearly mimic reality," Chandler said in an official press release. "It [photography] is a matrix that can be reproduced and manipulated into a representative and meaningful image."

Listing Sally Mann≠s unshakable belief in her own work and the striking images of Francesca Woodman as her influences, Chandler labels the core of her work as expressive in nature. Using her own life as a primary source of inspiration, she conveys her emotional responses to the surrounding world through her work.

"Communicating through words has often been complicated for me and I have always been drawn to express myself through an artistic medium, whether it is with drawing, printmaking or photography," Chandler said.

The inevitable occurrences of grief, pain, joy and the search for serenity are often topics of Chandler's works. She said the exhibit explores the different forms in which these emotions manifest.

She uses these images of agitation, whether forced or gentle, to convey the universal essence of the human experience and through this exhibit, attempts to convey that to the viewer.

"I think that we all have a common thread, and that [common thread] is that we have all been through difficult times and we are all striving to fill a void in ourselves," Chandler said.

Through this exhibit, viewers just may find the solace to start filling that void.

Chandler's exhibit is a prelude to her Masters of Fine Arts Thesis and will be shown from Nov. 3 through Nov. 23 with an opening reception on Nov. 7 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.