Welcome to Project Unincorporated MN
Welcome all to Project Unincorporated MN ! I'm excited to officially launch this project—whoohoo—and even more so for you to join me on this photo documentary journey—exploring 33 unincorporated towns in rural Northern MN ---located in (number of unincorporated towns follow the county name): Hubbard: 10, Beltrami: 10, Clearwater: 3, Lake of the Woods: 9 and Mahnomen: 1.
A little back story on it is: in the winter of 2022, I started working on a photo documentary focusing on Northern MN man made structures, rural spaces and the visual stories they tell about rural culture and history of these areas. The photo above served as a cornerstone for this project and inspired me to apply for funding to further develop the photo documentary project. These photos are a mix of unincorporated communities and rural towns spanning from Emmaville and Dorest, MN to the Upper Penninsual MI, all the way down to the rural town of Spikard, MO.
I was awarded a grant in 2023 from the Minnesota State Arts Board, to launch a project creating a new body of work focusing on rural spaces in the 5 counties listed above, served by the Region 2 Arts Council, with a particular interest in the 33 unincorporated towns therein. I thought it would be fun to incorporate a virtual journey on Facebook and Instagram for people to not only follow along while I shoot the project but it is also my hope that people will also engage with the project on social media by sharing their experiences, stories and history of rural MN spaces they live in or have visited. Last week I official launched, Project Unincorporated, on Facebook page here and Instagram page here.
Being a documentary photo project---I will let the project speak to me and tell its own story as I go. My background is photojournalism and after I moved up here, I started creating more art/conceptual art with my photographs, so I am excited to reclaim my photo documentary roots. I will be creating a new body of work through this project and will be presenting the work with a presentation about the project later this winter.
I would love for you to share any history or memories of the places, towns or nearby ones that I will be covering. Comments, questions and feedback are always welcome, feel free to contact me through my contact page. I’m excited to start this journey with you and can't wait to see how this project unfolds.
I am very grateful this project is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. --Thank you!
