I was awarded my third Minnesota State Arts Board grant (2016, 2018, 2020). With the support of a 2020 Artist Initiative Grant, I look forward to creating new work for my project, The Unchosen Ones, documenting adolescent subjects four years later and plan to continue my visual storytelling with the introduction of audio and video documentation (VR tools, perhaps). I am curious to document how values and attitudes have been retained and maintained in the lives of these 70+ adolescents. In addition, a traveling exhibition of the subjects photographed four years prior will introduce the project to Minnesota county fair audiences.
Riley Poppel summed it up well at the Clay County Fair in 2016 when asked what life skills she had learned and how those skills shaped her life:
I’ve learned the importance of never giving up, always helping others learn, and the importance of teamwork when working with my animals. It has taught me about the goodness of hard work and how to care for others through love.
Marcus and Sheep, Mahnomen County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 from the series The Unchosen Ones.
The Unchosen Ones — A Community Exhibition of Photography, Mahnomen County Fair, 2018