PHOTOGRAPHY

MID— (2013-2015)

4x5 Negatives, Archival Pigment Prints


ON THIS PAGE:

project statement

Mid— explores a personal and cultural tension between rootedness and restlessness, set against the backdrop of my native Midwest. The large-format portrait and landscape photographs reflect a paradoxical longing to pull up stakes and put down roots, and the liminal state we often dwell in as a result. Playing on the conception of the Midwest as a transient zone to be passed through en route to somewhere else, the work refers to the pervasive belief that our greatest hopes and potentials can only be realized in some other place, at some future or past time. It’s a syndrome I’ve grappled with myself, centrifugally lapping the country in perpetual search of the impossible landing pad. As American society drifts increasingly towards untethered mobility and develops a homogenized temporary landscape in its wake, our identifications with distinct regional home places are more likely to reach mythical proportions. As such, the Midwest becomes not just my centripetal anchor, but also my stage — a metaphorical intersection between movement and stasis drawing from observation, experience, memory and fantasy. Here, my personal myth of place unfolds. 

PROJECT PORTFOLIO

Click image link below to view the body of work.

SELECTED DOCUMENTATION

DOCUMENTATION OF SELECT EXHIBITIONS AND PUBLICATIONS

  • INVITED. Booooooom is as an online voice in the new contemporary arts scene, highlighting emerging talents around the world. Launched from Vancouver, Booooooom is Canada’s highest traffic art platform, and one of the largest on the Internet.

    In 2020 Booooooom featured my work Mid— through the online publication of ten images from the series and an introduction by photo editor Anna Schneider.

  • SELECTED. Sager Braudis Gallery features rotating monthly exhibits of regionally, nationally, and internationally acclaimed artists, representing masters from Pablo Picasso and Leonor Fini to contemporary artists working in diverse media. Ten large-scale pieces of work from my series Mid— were exhibited in a five-artist show.

  • INVITED. In the summer of 2018 I traveled across China to co-present a series of Arts Integration Teacher Training Workshops with Mido Art Education, as part of the Peking University Overseas Master Teacher Forum Lecture Series. Within this series, I gave three Artist Talks on my project Mid— and presented follow-up discussions on artist statement writing at the high school through college and adult levels.


    Tsinghua University, Beijing, June 21-22
    Shanghai, June 28-29
    Guangzhou, June 25-26

  • JURIED. Juried by Lisa Volpe, Associate Curator, Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

    30 photographers were chosen from over 350 national and international submissions to participate in this exhibition coinciding with the 10th Annual Filter Photo Festival and Expo Chicago’s Art After Hours. My image “Leap” was included in the gallery and exhibition catalog.

  • INVITED. Curated by Wesley Verhoeve, photographer, writer and founding curator of ICP Projected, New York. ICP Projected is a weekly thematic exhibition of artists from the United States and abroad. I was invited to participate in the 45th installment, featuring works on the body from 38 artists, including my own image “Camper”.

  • INVITED. Kansas City Flatfile is a biennial series of emerging and established Kansas City-based artists. Visitors peruse flatfile cabinets holding over 230 custom-made artist portfolios, and guest curators selectively appoint salon walls each month. Work from my portfolio Mid— was curated into the wall exhibition all four months of the program, including the pieces “Bread Winner,” “Leap,” “Morning, Bed,” “The Bather,” and “Sidewalk, Road Watching.”

  • SELECTED. My MFA thesis, Mid—, was selected for inclusion in RISD’s first edition of the Book of Thesis Books—a guide featuring excerpts of 37 exemplary recent thesis books. The theses were chosen and annotated by staff of the Center for Arts & Language following recommendations from Graduate Program Directors and faculty and review of about 300 theses. Mid— was also one of five thesis books selected for inclusion in the abridged shortlist of The Book of Thesis Books. 

  • INVITED. Curated by Matt Rahner, Photography Faculty, Missouri Valley College, Marshall, MO, this exhibition of Missouri photographs traveled to three galleries across the state: Evelyn E. Jorgenson Fine Arts Gallery, Moberly, MO, Morris Gallery of Contemporary Art, Marshall, MO, and Sidney Larson Gallery, Columbia, MO

    The exhibition included photographs from the Works Progress Administration archive to the contemporary, including three pieces from my series Mid—. My piece “Leap” was featured on the cover of the exhibition catalog, and my piece “Sidewalk, Road Watching” was used for promotion of the show.

  • JURIED. Juried by members of the Kansas City photography collective, Archive Collective.

    Archive Collective held an open-call for submissions to exhibit in projection form at Front/Space gallery in the Crossroads Arts District. Twelve images from my series Mid— were chosen for a solo slideshow opening on First Friday in July and running for a week, visible inside and outside Front/Space.

  • JURIED. Juried by Eliot Dudik, Photographer and Founding Editor One Day Projects, Williamsburg, VA

    Featuring work from 24 artists exploring the relationship between landscape and identity, including my image “Sidewalk, Road Watching”.

  • JURIED. Juried by Maggie Blanchard, Director, Twin Palms Publishers, Santa Fe, NM

    The Center for fine Art Photography’s Portfolio Showcase is an annual award and publication, featuring photographers who demonstrate a remarkable commitment to their work and the strength of vision to produce a cohesive series of photographs. Fifteen portfolios were chosen for inclusion in Portfolio Showcase 9 physical and online exhibitions and exhibition catalog, including selections from my series Mid—. 

  • JURIED. Juried by James Estrin, founder and co-editor of The New York Times Lens blog

    CPW’s Photography Now is a preeminent annual juried show of contemporary photography. In 2016, James Estrin chose 11 photographers from almost 500 entries, with a common theme surrounding identity and representation. Two of my pieces, “Leap” and “Sidewalk Road Watching” were included in the group show.

  • INVITED. Founded by Aline Smithson in 2007, LENSCRATCH is a premiere photography blog featuring the work of contemporary photographers. The States Project invites one photographer from each of the United States to guest curate new and exciting work from their state; I was one of five Kansas photographers featured by curator Daniel Coburn. The article included an introduction by Coburn and 15 images and text from my series Mid—.   

  • INVITED. Rabbit Rabbit is an annual curated journal of emerging artists by Katie Harwood and Big Bad Bettie Press. Conceived as a "portable exhibition", the design interweaves imagery, essays, and interviews. My images and writing from Mid— were included in this volume on Transition.

  • SELECTED. Pony Jacobson and Helen Jones, ”Elise Kirk, from the series Mid—,” Incandescent Issue 9: To Save and To See, (Portland, OR: Pine Island Press, January 2016): 7-11.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

EXHIBITIONS
2019 Divergent Paths, Suite B, Columbia, MO
2019 August Exhibit, Sager Braudis Gallery, Columbia, MO
2019 Flyover Country, Midwest Center for Photography, Wichita, KS
2018 Show-Me States, Evelyn E. Jorgenson Fine Arts Gallery, Moberly, MO
2018 Re/member/construct, Filter Space, Chicago, IL (Juror: Lisa Volpe)
2018 Highlights, Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, RI
2018 Show-Me States, Morris Gallery of Contemporary Art, Marshall, MO
2018 Kansas City Flatfile, H&R Block Artspace, Kansas City, MO
2018 ICP Projected: Talk in Images: Body, International Center of Photography, New York, NY (Curator: Wesley Verhoeve)
2017 American Collective, Stitches and Pics, Sackets Harbor, NY (Juror: Eliot Dudik)
2017 Show-Me States, Sidney Larson Gallery, Columbia, MO (Curator: Matt Rahner)
2017 Slide Show: Elise Kirk, Archive Collective @ Front/Space, Kansas City, MO
2016 Thinking / Making / Creativity, The Kansas Board of Regents, Topeka, KS
2016 Portfolio Showcase 9, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO (Juror: Maggie Blanchard)
2016 Photography Now 2016, The Center for Photography at Woodstock, NY (Juror: James Estrin)
2016 4th International SPE Combined Caucus Exhibition, Red Rock Resort, Las Vegas, NV (Juror: Aline Smithson)
2015 Still No Mountains in the Way, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
2015 Punctum, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA (Juror: Julia Dolan, Second Place Juror's Choice)
2015 Second Open, Peter Miller Fine Art Gallery, Providence, RI (Juror: Paula Tognarelli)
2015 Center Forward 2015, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO (Juror: Hamidah Glasgow)
2015 Six Degrees, ClampArt, Chelsea, NY
2015 RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition, Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, RI
2014 RISD Photography Department Triennial, Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI

AWARDS & HONORS
2017 5th Annual New York Portfolio Review, Selected
2015 Lucie Foundation Emerging Artist Scholarship, Shortlist
2015 Working Artist Org, Art Purchase Award

PUBLICATIONS
2020 Booooooom
2018 Re/Member/Construct, Lisa Volpe and Jennifer Murray, Filter Photo, Exhibition Catalog
2018 Book of Thesis Books, Jennifer Liese et al, Rhode Island School of Design
2016 Lenscratch, The States Project: Kansas
2016 Center for Fine Art Photography, Portfolio Showcase 9
2016 Rabbit Rabbit: 01 Transition, Katie Harwood et al., Big Bad Bettie Press
2016 Incandescent Issue Nine, Pony Jacobson and Helen Jones, Pine Island Press
2015 Aint-Bad Magazine
2015 Lenscratch
2015 Pool Resources
2015 Center Forward 2015, Hamidah Glasgow, Center for Fine Art Photography, Exhibition Catalog
2015 We Begin When We Finish When We Begin, Jennifer Liese, Rhode Island School of Design, Graduate Studies Journal

COLLECTIONS
2015 Working Artist Org, Tacoma, WA
2015 Rhode Island School of Design, Special Collections, Providence, RI