I grew up in rural Wisconsin, outside of a village of 1,000 people, where my family has lived for seven generations. I left at 18 with no expectation of calling the state home again, but after the loss of a close family member, I relocated to my childhood home, seeking a part of myself that had been latent in my adult years. I spent still mornings feeding mules, fleeting afternoons power-washing barns, long nights running hounds, and many days alone on the road–knocking on unknown doors–hoping to reach a new understanding of regional and personal history through the subjects I photographed. Offering more questions than answers, the resulting series is an exploration of the contrasting realities of an evolving agrarian world. Created with family and strangers, the work portrays connection and isolation through fleeting moments of the modern midwest, where the story of self and society intertwines with the life cycles of the land. Textures of domestic life and illustrations of familial dynamics provide intimate glance into a realm that is both surreal and certain. Like regionalistic paintings, these mysterious and familiar tableaus reflect upon exterior and emotional landscapes to underscore a personal narrative within a larger American experience. Suspended between past and present, Dormant Season is a portrait of the intergenerational bonds of rural America: a mental space and physical place at the heart of an old dream and at the edge of a transformation.

Read about Dormant Season in The New Yorker.
Order Dormant Season through Charcoal Press.