Press release copy attached below:
Contact: Anne Connor, Anne Connor Photography
[email protected]
Cell: 608-235-6888
Photos available on request
PRESS RELEASE For immediate release
What does home mean to you? What connects us to place? Wisconsin artist Anne M. Connor answers these questions with her new outdoor photo exhibition and installation, Raised by the Land. Open to the public, the inaugural reception will be held from 2-6 pm on Saturday, September 7, 2024. The event is hosted by the Malcolm Stack Foundation, 3780 Ridge Run Court in Ridgeway, WI, 30 minutes SW of Madison.
Raised by the Land is a unique walking installation that explores Connor’s connection to Wisconsin’s Driftless Area. The exhibition will include 20 large-scale images, interactive props, and a hands-on cyanotype workshop…and more. Her photographs will be installed along mowed paths (think gallery walk, but through fields and along the woods), appearing on large wooden frames. Live music and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided. In the event of severe weather, the reception will be moved to September 14.
Connor’s photographs document her connection to the 160-acres that she stewards for the Malcolm Stack Foundation and the Driftless Area Land Conservancy. Connor started exploring the idea of home over a decade ago, when she was studying photography in Madison. Raised by the Land is the result of years of image-making and investigating, photographically, what home means to each of us, whether “home” is a house, a person, or a place.
“I’ve been managing conservation programs for this property since my dad died [in 2006],” Connor said. “At first I thought my role was to take care of the land, but quickly realized that the land was taking care of my family and the many people who spend time here.” Under Connor’s leadership, the Foundation hosts a handful of educational field trips, artist workshops and corporate retreats at each year.
Because she likes to connect her shows to a local non-profit, Raised by the Land will serve as a fundraiser for the Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program (SWCAP), which deals with food and housing insecurity.
Connor’s work has been exhibited nationally, internationally and is held in private collections. This is her first outdoor installation.
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